ON YOUR MARK RUNNERS MAKE DO FOR NOW.

Byline: Julio Cortez Staff Writer

With an alternative three-mile course, the College of the Canyons Cross Country Series is in its 28th season of allowing people in the community to race at a low cost.

This year's series, which is held on Thursdays through Aug. 9 at $3 per race, features a course that takes a scenic route through the campus and concludes inside the football stadium.

In the past, the race has been held on the cross country course on the hills behind the college buildings, but the course was modified because of construction of a new parking lot.

Event coordinators, COC cross country coach Lindie Kane and assistant coach Luie Bernal, were forced to change the course in order to accomodate the running crowd of roughly 100 competitors.

The course, however, does feature a portion of the cross country dirt trail that Bernal calls ``killer hill,'' a steep climb near the two-mile mark.

``The feedback from the runners is good,'' said Kane. ``The response from them seems to be very positive. It is a change of scenery and it's good that we can still have a part to the rugged cross country course.''

Sabino Beltran, who finished last year's series finale in second place, has been nursing an injured leg since November. He is using the cross country series as a way to get back into running shape.

Beltran, who ran for Moorpark College and is now at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, said he liked the temporary course.

``I like this course because it is not as hard as the original one,'' said Beltran. ``The other course had hard hills and it was tougher. This one is easier and it doesn't have many hills.''

The parking construction has event coordinators excited for future series because it will be adjacent to the new cross country course. In the past, onlookers had to make a long and steep hill climb just to get to the starting and finishing lines.

With the addition of the parking lot, runners and spectators will be able to reach the course without the workout. Participants currently park in the lot on Valencia Boulevard next to the football stadium.

``I am happy because we are not trying out the runners before the race,'' said Kane. ``This way, runners can warm up and be ready for the race and not worry about walking all the way up the hill to the starting point.''

The first two races had two different winners in the male and female races. The opening race saw Brian Spangenberg, 37, cross the tape first at 16:50, and Jennifer Overlock, 25, won the female division at 20:00. Manuel Ruiz, 17, was the overall winner in last week's race at 16:09 and Anissa Seguin finished first in her division at 19:49.

Seguin, a 29-year old who is the returning champion from last year in the female division, finished second in the first week at 20:29.4. Last week's race was the first time she finished the three-mile race under 20 minutes since her 19:06 finish at last year's finale.

``There is no negative responses from runners,'' said Bernal. ``The temporary course is OK and people agree that it's OK. Most people are just glad that we are having the series this year.''

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Photo:

(1 -- 2) COC long-distance runners will compete on a temporary course until contstruction work on the old one is complete.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer