Completed Event: Men's Golf versus Columbia Autumn Invitational on September 28, 2025 , , 2nd of 13 (-11)
Final
Men's Golf
vs Columbia Autumn Invitational
2nd of 13 (-11)
Running Routes
This page lists many popular distance runs. The descriptions have been compiled from a variety of current team members and alumni.
Additional information on running in the Hanover area can be found at Hanover Area Running Courses (an interactive map) or at the official map of trails maintained by the Hanover Parks Department.
Rollercoaster: A hilly 7.5-mile trail that circles the Storrs Pond recreation area. One of the cross country team's favorite maintenance runs.
Big Country: Go out Greensboro Road towards Etna, but cut across through the woods to Trescott Road. You'll cross the Appalachain Trail, as well as some spur trails. From time to time this run has been known to play host to the Big Country Invitational.
Pine Park: A nice 4-mile loop down by the Hanover Country Club. It's the best way for us to get our mileage up or warm up for a golf course workout. It contains a part of our XC course--Freshman Hill--which is the largest hill on the course. Pine Park Plus is the 5 mile version.
Hospital/Boston Lot: A sweet 9-miler out by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The women call this route Indian Ridge. Add the Lake and it becomes 10.
Safe 6: Basically just a combination of our Rip Road and Occum loops. Great for an easy run before indoor meets. It's really only 5.5 miles, but who's counting....
Wolverine: An indoor track bread-and-butter run. This 7.5-miler loops through scenic Norwich, Vermont. The women call this one Double Norwich.
Etna: The road version of Big Country, it's 10 miles if you add on Grasse Road. Also a big indoor track run.
Toymaker: Another Vermont run that's about 7.5 miles long. It involves a huge hill, but for some reason we still run it.
Montshire: Trails located behind the Montshire Museum over the Connecticut River in Vermont. The standard out-and-back is about 9.5 miles and ends up at the Wilder Dam. If you're going to attempt this run in the fall, late in the afternoon, with leaves on the ground, you'd better be light on your feet or you won't have ankles left.
Sound of Music: An Indoor Track classic. At 13 miles, this can either be a scenic maintenance for the distance team, or a long run for the milers. Mostly on paved roads through Norwich, with parts on dirt roads and some big hills. During the fall there are also some trails that run parallel to the paved road, but you'll get some nice views no matter which way you route you take.
Blood Hill: A 9-miler in Vermont. This run starts off along the Connecticut River before turning up a logging road on a large hill. It's a great run, especially in the rain when the logging road is almost totally submerged.
Spank: A quick 8-miler in Vermont. Starts off along the Connecticut River, and then there is a trail portion. This run ends up bringing you through the center of Norwich, Vermont, before crossing the river back into Hanover. The women call this one Upper Loveland.
Buddah: Another Vermont run. You can get to the top of this hill by either coming up Blood Hill or running Spank. At the top of this hill is one of the best views of the Upper Valley. A really good run in the Fall if you're into looking at leaves.
Boogie: A 10-miler with a large hill in the first half then trails and dirt roads for 5 more miles or so.
Oak Hill: All ski trails. Run till you get lost, then run some more till you find your way out. Run can be from 6 to 12 miles.
Occum Pond: Our warmup loop for indoor and spring track. This 2.5-mile route goes around Occum Pond, named for Samson Occum, a Native American who was one of Eleazer Wheelock's prize pupils. (Eleazer founded Dartmouth in 1769) Occum saved the College by preaching in England and raising funds so that Wheelock could keep up the College in the face of fiscal difficulties.
Big Green: The middle distance version of Occum.
Rip Road: A 3.5-mile loop good for adding mileage or an easy day in the winter. Also a good way to warm down after a long cross country workout when it's too dark to run back through Pine Park. One of the highlights of this run is that you get to run past the house of Dartmouth College legend Barry Harwick '77. Some have been known to stop by while doing Nenows (night runs).
Mink Brook: Mighty Mink Brook separates Hanover from the Boston Lot trails. If you don't want to brave its treacherous waters, you can stay on the Hanover side and run a nice 2.5 mile loop. It's typically used as an Outdoor Track warmup loop, or as an add-on.
Storrs Pond: A six-mile loop which goes through Hanover's Storrs Pond Recreation Area. This is a great spring run when the leaves are coming out and the mud has dried up on the trails.
Pumpkin Patch: Storrs Pond, but instead of running through the Recreation Area, you cut up a wooded hill behind the middle school. There's a little shack and a pumpkin patch at the top of this hill.
8-Ball: A Vermont loop. Good for an easy day. This run takes you out along the Connecticut before bringing you up a small hill and through Norwich Center. After going back across the bridge and back to Hanover, this one's about 5 miles long. Also popular as an add-on to other indoor track favorites
Ted's Loop/Foodstop: A run that Ted FitzPatrick used to do as an alternative to Occum. This run takes you down Lebanon Street and the lower part of Main Street before turning left at Foodstop and going through the neighborhood behind it.
Cemetery Loop/Water Treatment: Two loops which run along either side of Mink Brook and then past the water treatment plant.
Power Sap: Named after alums James Sapienza and Frank Powers, this steep six mile run yields a great view of the Dartmouth campus at the top of Balch Hill. Rumor has it that these two running greats hammered each other every morning until Coach Vin Lanana ordered them to stop. It also has a reputation for being a very romantic get-away.
Sweet 16: For those mileage junkies, this beautiful 16- mile loop will truly test your endurance. An extension of Gun Shop, Sweet 16 will take you even further into the dense woods of Vermont, offering gorgeous views of the Upper Valley and beyond. Not recommended for those with weak bone densities.
Lochness: Also an extension of Gun Shop, Lochness is in danger of becoming but a distant memory to Darmouth XC. If there was ever a sufficient alternative to a Sunday afternoon jaunt on Sound Of Music, it's most definitely Lochness. This 13 mile loop has it all, from roads to trails, to steep climbs and long downhills.
Late Night Snack: Perhaps one of the loneliest and most dreaded runs for DXC, Late Night Snack is a venture undertaken only when all other options have been exhausted. This 10-mile loop is all on roads and has been known to be extremely chilly during the winter months, and extrememly boring year round. Nobody seems to where the name came from, as you would have to crazy to even consider trying this run after dark.
Boup-A-Loop: One of the lesser known long runs, Boup-A-Loop starts out the same as Boogie but loops around in the opposite direction. A 13-miler that's all on the roads, Boup-A-Loop has occasionally been used as proving ground for the transition from the 10k to the Half-marathon. In fact, Padilla and Wallace blazed through it one year after Heps in speedy 1:19:00. All challengers are welcome.
Black Jack: This run is exactly what it says it is - 21 miles of pushing your luck. Accordingly, it's no surprise that this flat, scenic route along both sides of the Connecticut River has yet to make it into an edition of Barry's Weekly Practices. Only the true legends of DXC have been able to add this to their running resume.
Tertiary: 20-miler which combines Boston Lot, Big Country, and Roller Coaster. A McArdle, Shaw and Duyan orginal, only for the eccentricts.
Trespass: A run whose name describes its legality, however, the beautiful trails take you through some hills and finishes down the Appliachan Trail. A Brian Greenough discovery.
Pinneo Hill: The longest hill in the Dartmouth area. However, it is an enjoyable long run after that. You also get to see historic 119 Lyme Road where Chalmers, Hyland, and Qebat lived.
Sampler/Taylor Loops: A bit of everything. There's some debate about the creator of this poor excuse for a run. Tom McArdle claims Sampler, but some alumni insist that these were really called Taylor Loops long before Tom tried to claim them as his own. One example might be Double Cemetary, Double Sachem, out and back Boston Lot, and Water Treatment.
Deliverance: Start on Montshire, then head out into the backwoods of Vermont. At times, you might feel as if you've wandered onto the set from the movie, but don't worry. Nobody's heard the sound of dueling banjos.... yet.
Gunshop: (As described by Mike Cohen '00) 10+ out that Goodrich Four Corners road, then back the main road into Norwich. This used to be a standard winter run, but I've heard it's fallen into disrepute. On a freezing January Tuesday, hammering with Don Conrad '99 and Aaron Schumacher '98, as your body moved ever deeper into lactic acid debt, you would ascend to a higher plane of transcendence as you painfully climbed up those long gunshop hills. The girls would run this one backwards. Weak.
The River Run: This run starts like Deliverance, but avoids that run's steep climb by continuing south down the ridge, with some nice views of the mighty Connecticut River. Eventually you arrive in Hartford, cross the bridge into Lebanon, and come back through Boston Lot. 14 miles, give or take.
Jericho: (As described by Mike Cohen '00) 15.5 miler that goes out past Boup-a-loop (Boupaloop is the version of this run for those who can't take it) into "real" Vermont backwoods. Some huge hills, up and down. Not for the weak of shins.
The Baron: A true mileage junkie's run, this 20-miler is easy to find. Just miss the turn for Jericho Road (see above) and repeat to yourself, "we can't be going too far out of our way..." Named in honor of the late-but-legendary convertible, purchased by John Welsh '04 in this very section of Vermont.
Sudden Death: (As described by Mike Cohen '00) This run is sort of a combo of Big Country and Big Etna--you run BC, but you stay on the Velvet Rocks trail over the other side of Trescott Road, and take that out eventually to Pineo Hill, then back Lyme Road. Length is something like 16.
Rodeo: (As described by Mike Cohen '00) 15 miles, goes up McKenna Hill off of Greenwood Road on Etna, you eventually work your way back to Greenwood and Trescott. Chris Langan '96 was the biggest fan of this run.
Stairway to Heaven: (As described by Mike Cohen '00) A quasi-mythical run, perhaps never attempted. All I know about it is that the legend runs from Frank Powers '86 to T-Fitz to Mike Fourtier '97, that's who I heard it from. Supposedly you run along the Connecticut out to the Wilder dam area--then make a left and run up some mammoth hill, eventually working your way through Thetford and back into Norwich along 10A. No one that I know of has ever run this, but the legend is out there--we have to keep it alive! 25 miles. You can see the hill if you're driving on 91 to Thetford.
