This Weekend In Georgia XC: September Racing At It's Finest

Georgia XC Coverage
Ryan McClay

The Championship boys race from OrthoWest last year

Well here we go, now the real racing starts. That's not to say we didn't see some good races in August. And I think August races serve a very important purpose in terms of introducing us to teams and individuals we may have overlooked in the pre season. Or letting us know which teams or individuals improved the most over the last year. But there are also always teams and individuals who are holding back in the month of August for various reasons. But that's rarely the case when we get to September. Now that it's September, everybody is here for real and there's not as much hiding. Yes we still have kids missing for SAT/ACT or illness/family emergency from time to time. But for the most part September is when things start to take shape. There's a reason we don't do any team rankings until after the first round of September races. 

And the biggest and most important race for this weekend is the Carrollton Invite as it's the first (and only) race on the state meet course during the regular season. There are two different coaching strategies when it comes to Carrollton. some coaches are adamant that their kids see the course before the state meet. Those hills are no joke and running them once in a less intense setting can be good for the kids to mentally prepare for state. Then there are other coaches who have the exact opposite point of view. Racing on the hills now would hurt your mentally for state because it you might get scared of them the 2nd time around if you remember how hard they were the first time. Both valid arguments and I can't say which is better. Last year this meet ran surprisingly fast and then that was backed up at state with some fast times. Although I should say "fast" deserves a clarifier as times are never actually fast at Carrollton, but I mean fast compared to other years. This year we will see if the same thing happens, and Saturday is our first look at the state meet course. And as always, it's loaded with talented teams and individuals that it's definitely the big meet of the weekend.