CROSS COUNTRY TRAVELS NORTH FOR 34th ANNUAL CHILE PEPPER FESTIVAL

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – The Northwestern State cross country teams will head north on Friday to race in the University of Arkansas's 34th Annual Chile Pepper Festival.

The Chile Pepper Festival is one of the largest cross country meets in the United States with more than 1,400 athletes competing.

Because of how large the meet is, the men's and women's races are both split into two sections to ensure that the course does not get over-congested during the race.

The Lady Demons will be racing in the first women's collegiate 5-kilometer race which begins at 3:15 p.m. The men's team will then race in the first men's collegiate 8-kilometer race at 3:45 p.m.

This weekend's race is the first Friday meet of the season, and the typical training week was cut a day short.

"We had to hit it hard early in the week, and on Tuesday I saw really great practice from everyone," head coach Dillon Dawson said. "We took these two days leading up to the meet to take it easy to prepare and recover before Friday."

After a weekend of staying behind in Natchitoches to focus on training, the men are ready to run their first 8k race of the year.

"The men are eager to finally run this 8k," Dawson said. "There was some disappointment at the last race when the men found out that ULM had cut the course to a 7k, so they are excited to get a crack at their usual race distance."

The Chile Pepper Festival is the last regular season meet before the Oct. 28 Southland Conference Championship meet.

Dawson said, "With conference closing in, this meet will be a good indicator of how we compare to the teams we will be seeing late October."

Friday's race can be live streamed on RunnersSpace.com, provided by HOKA.