Our course planners and controllers spent a busy weekend in middle and long terrain finalizing the courses. We have published the course distances and climb here:
http://dontgetlost.ca/files/2013courseinfo.pdf
As you will see this will be a hilly weekend of racing. The Dundas Valley is not flat but the woods are generally quite open. Over 70% of the forest is very runnable with almost no rock features.
A set of photos of the middle and long terrain is shown here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25966801@N08/sets/721...
(click on the pics to read a caption about the photo and mapping style)
While the terrain is generally very open, recent windstorms mean there are a number of fallen trees in the terrain. These tree fall areas have been mapped quite well and so runners will face the decision to navigate around these obstacles or take them on like a tough mudder. :-)
White pine plantation forests have a lot of trees and branches on the ground but this year's wet spring and warm summer have led to a lot more undergrowth than normal making it hard to see the logs on the ground. We expect the undergrowth to die back before the race weekend.
We are quite excited about our middle and long courses. The middle terrain utilizes some detailed contour areas of the Dundas Valley while the long courses will focus a lot on route choice.
Sprint update coming in a 2-3 weeks (lots of construction and frosh parties on campus making course testing difficult). :-)
UPDATE: Here is a summary of Hans Fransson's testing of the womens' elite long course today. "The course is more physical than technical, but there are some areas one needs to slow down a bit. The woods were really nice today and it will only get better with the fall weather. There are some rough areas one must fight through, but if the map is read properly they will be few and far between, and what is waiting on the other side of these thicker areas are worth fighting for".