Types of cross country courses

Not all cross country courses are created equal. Here's an overview of the general types of course conditions you'll encounter. Note that some courses, like ours, are not all one type or another, but a mix of different types. 

Grass Track Meet - smooth, good footing, dry, relatively flat terrain:

Rollercoaster - courses that deviate significantly from the horizontal. In other words, up and down figure prominently. Add in rocks, roots, sand, etc. and it can slow things down significantly:

Approaching the finish of the Loon Mountain Race on the Upper Walking Boss ski trail.

Road races - Not at all in the spirit of the sport, but in some cases there's no choice but to have some or most of the course on pavement. Typically course designers try to keep pavement to a minimum. Rarely seen around here, thankfully:

Southern California

Utah

Mudbath - add water (in liquid or frozen form) and lots of foot traffic to even the smoothest course and slippery conditions that slow everyone down is the inevitable result:

Franklin Park in Boston - finish of the 1992 IAAF World Championship Senior Women's race, won by Lynn Jennings who grew up in Harvard, MA! The course they ran was 6 km in length.