“If you want to throw a good party but aren’t sure where to begin, you might ask Dan Grossman, cross-country meet director at Thetford Academy. For the past eight years, Dan and most of the town of Thetford have played host to the Vermont and New England cross-country running championships and the school’s own Woods Trail Invitational. Though some might have difficulty envisioning running as a party...the community volunteers of this hilltop town and the 2,000 runners who come from around the state and as far away as Maryland and New York for these events will tell you that in Thetford, that’s exactly what it is.

...Dan hatched the idea. He saw that the 1992 Championship would be held in Vermont at ‘a site to be determined.’

‘Why not Thetford?’ Dan thought.

But when he and local trail designer John Morton wrote their proposal to host the New England Championship at Thetford, the most improtant ingredient for the party-a course suitable for hosting such a large event-was missing.

Though they considered widening Thetford’s existing trail to make it marginally acceptable, once Morton, a former Olympic biathlete, had run the trail himself, he decided that Thetford could do better. He and Grossman proposed 4.5 kilometers of new trail (out of a total of five kilometers or 3.1 miles) that would be at least 12 feet wide its entire length...

Before construction could begin, however, they needed approval to run part of the trail through Thetford Hill State Park, which is next to the academy...The state agreed and Morton got to work.

Using the natural pathways and skid trails in the recently logged park, Morton designed the trail to have minimal impact on the land...Once he had staked off the proposed course, all that remained was to put out the call for volunteers...
Alumni and community members lent bulldozers and labor, some wrote grants, others did the back-breaking work of pulling rocks with pickaxes and shovels...
The result is what many consider one of the finest running courses in New England.