Westminster Academy - West Campus

Address: 3701 NW 44 Street, Lauderdale Lakes, FL 33319

WESTMINSTER WEST CAMPUS: 3701 NW 44 Street. Lauderdale Lakes, Florida 33319 (Broward County) [b]Directions[/b] From the East, including I-95: Go West on Commercial Blvd. to US 441 (St. Rd. 7). Go south to NW 44th Street (look for McDonalds on left). East on 44th Street, then left into complex. From the Turnpike: Exit on Commercial East. South on US 441 (St. Rd. 7) to NW 44th Street. East on 44th St, then left into complex [b]Description[/b] One of the pleasures of the Westminster Academy Cross Country Course is that much of the picturesque lakeside course is visible to spectators from the start/finish area, or from the visiting bleachers. The course starts at the west end of the football field underneath the goal post, runs across the diagonal of the football field, across the track, and after 150 meters exits the fenced area underneath the big trees through The Gate (16 feet wide). Runners cross 50 meters of grassy field (which gets quite muddy in rainy weather), then diagonally cross the main driveway, onto the grassy roadside along the edge of the lake. After about 200 meters the runners elevate slightly onto a golf tee and turn left at the southeast corner of the lake. The next 200 meters weaves through The Palms alongside the lake and tennis complex, before runners enter the wild side of the campus. Fifty meters later, the trail climbs the first of U-Turn Hills. This tough up hill has a left turn on the top, and drops immediately back down -- followed by a hard right turn (often assisted by hooking an arm around the 4x4 post). The next climb over the bare rocky soil elevates about 9 feet before dropping down to Florida Peninsula -- a 200 meter sweeping left U-turn on a nice grassy trail. The 800 meter mark is at the initial up-hill of Rocky Double. This difficult double hill on bare rocky soil tests the toughness of most runners. The second descent off Rocky Double is followed by 100 meters of flat sandy trail, then a gentle left turn down through Sandy Hollow, and uphill into a gentle right turn. The next hundred meters is flat, but ends with a right turn up a newly created modest hill (called Two Mile Hill on the return trip), followed by only 25 meters flat before The Mound, with its quick up and down to a new 50 meter trail portion that ends at The Ramp –a very small sandy four step with a very steep downhill (two steps and done). Next is the longest and tallest hill on the course, Boulder Hill, with its name-sake boulders strewn all up and down the edges of the trail. Boulder Hill descends into The Trench. At the bottom of The Trench is a sharp sandy left hand turn climb out of The Trench up into The Trees, with a gentle right bend into Left Turn Turn. Runners see this Y shaped intersection three times during the course from three different directions. Left Turn Turn has one rule -- when entering Left Turn Turn, turn left. In this first encounter,runners take the sharp left onto the trail called Fence Row Run, 150 meters somewhat downhill toward the lake, ending with Splash Turn (only with flooding high lake levels, actually) -- a sharp left turn at the end of the fence at the edge of the lake. Runners now follow the meandering, undulating Lakeside Trail along the lake's edge for about 250 meters before they finally make it to the rock pile and signs marking One Mile. After 100 meters more of Lakeside Trail, runners split right at the Y, through The Dip, to return through The Palms and across the old practice golf green, crossing the main driveway with a left turn toward the practice football goal posts at the very east end of the campus. Runners continue alongside the Dirt Driveway, headed south. Just before the exit gate, a 4x4 post with a red right sign marks a sharp right turn up-hill onto The Berm. This narrow path through landscape vegetation on the top of the berm runs 250 meters west, behind the baseball grandstands, before turning right, back down off the berm just before the restroom building, and along-side the left outfield fence hedge (on the grass or the sidewalk). Upon passing the initial track exit gate and the first shot-put circle, runners cross the 1.5 Mile Mark, heading west across the grass east of the visiting bleachers, diagonally across the driveway, onto the grass alongside the lake, and around the southwest corner of the lake. Runners bear right after that right turn, following the trail weaving alongside the lake, just east of the main grass parking lot. At the big northwest corner tree, the trail continues straight ahead into the Northwest Passage Trail, then up and down the conspicuous Top Soil Hill, and into Left Turn Turn. Runners (of course) turn left in Left Turn Turn to run back down into The Trench. A sharp sandy right turn in the bottom of The Trench is followed by the long uphill of Boulder Hill, now running the Hills Trail in the opposite direction they ran in mile one. Up and down The Ramp, The Mound, and up onto Two Mile Hill, with the exact two mile mark directly on the top of the hill. Now beginning the third mile, runners continue on Hills Trail East-bound, through Sandy Hollow, up and down Rocky Double, around the Florida Peninsula, up and down both U-Turn Hills, and back toward the northeast corner of the lake. At the intersection of trails, runners take the square right turn and (at the Y) rejoin Lakeside Trail, now westbound again for 350 meters of trail. Runners take the square right at Splash Turn, uphill slightly on Fence Run Row and into Left Turn Turn, where (of course) they turn left, this time up onto Top Soil Hill, and down into Northwest Passage Trail. Runners exit that trail onto the West Lakeside Trail, now with 800 meters to go, headed back to the parking lot turn, behind the visiting bleachers, onto the grass past the shot put circles, with 400 meters to go. They make the very sharp right turn through The Gate by the big trees, and onto the backstretch of the track for the final 250 meters. The three mile mark is on the track directly at the northwest light pole. The finish line is on the letter R of Westminster painted on the track on the front straightaway in front of the grandstands. To all runners, Westminster Academy hopes you enjoy the challenge of competing on one of Florida's most difficult courses.

The higher the number the more difficult the course statistically.