Cross country: Edgecombe's vision becomes reality

The idea had germinated in the mind of Al Edgecombe for more than a decade.

"I was driving by with my (Proviso West) high school cross country coach and said to him, "This property would make for a good cross country course," Edgecombe said.

The property in question was the Kane County landfill, situated along Fabyan Parkway, slightly west of Kirk Road, in Geneva.

With the county generating significant income from its garbage-disposal fees, the powers that be sought to expand its potential for community-related activities.

"The county solicited ideas for the use of the landfill," Edgecombe said. "There were five or six competing ideas - cross-country skiing, a concert venue, bicycle racing. For one reason or another, all of those other ones went away."

The terrain is an unquestioned anomaly as area golfers who have hit tee shots at the dramatically downhill par-3s or equally demanding uphill approach shots on the scenic par-5s at the adjacent golf course, Settler's Hill, can attest.

Edgecombe, a recently retired Kishwaukee Community College physics professor, had a vision of sculpting a cross country venue.

"I have been around this sport for over 50 years," Edgecombe said. "I ran high school cross country in 1967. Cross country is one of the top spectator sports in the state."

Edgecombe unveiled his creation to the public and local boys and girls programs on Saturday at the Kane County Invitational.

Christened the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course, both St. Charles East programs captured team titles in the first of five planned competitions this fall.

St. Charles East will serve as the host on Saturday for its annual invite, the Leavey, and will also host a Class 3A regional in October.

The course will cater to all age groups as the fourth and fifth meets will be a middle-school competition and a collegiate competition hosted by Aurora University.

"It was a challenge," Edgecombe said of designing a venue suitable for all skill levels competing at varying distances.

"We needed to have an 80-meter starting line, we needed to have 250 meters straight at the finish line. All of these things went into the challenge."

At the county meet over the weekend, some athletes had advanced intelligence due to reconnaissance efforts in the days leading to the season-opener; others went in blind.

"I thought it looked like it was a lot of down hills," said the boys champion, St. Charles East senior Micah Wilson. "But when I was running it, there was lot more up hills."

"It was a harder course than I assumed it would be," said St. Charles North senior Bella Dicrosta., who won the girls race. "We were told it was flat, so the hills were surprising."

Brooklyn Walker was third overall in helping the St. Charles East girls cruise to a dominating win over runner-up Batavia.

"There were some brutal hills," Walker said. "It's just a starting point, so I'm happy to improve from here."

"I knew it was going to be tough with all the hills," said South Elgin junior Angelica Harris, who led the Storm girls to a third-place finish."

Local athletes accustomed to inescapable elements of traditional forest preserve layouts received a decidedly new look.

"We knew from the beginning there weren't going to be any trees," Edgecombe said.

Vince Neil, who oversees both Burlington Central programs, was impressed.

"It was just awesome to be out here," Neil said. "They have done a great job of laying this out and setting it up for the kids. They really made this a great spectacle. It's great for cross country, it's great for the community."