This Saturday, the world’s elite distance runners will be at the Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida, for the first World Athletics Cross Country Championships held on American soil in over 30 years. However, beneath all the anticipation among the track and field fans, the course’s unique design will challenge these elite athletes.

As reported by FloTrack on Instagram, the whole Apalachee Regional Park has been completely altered from its familiar layout to more of a theme-park adventure. The race will begin with a fast, downhill sprint from a start line in front of a replica of the Florida State Capitol. However, this speed will be short-lived as the participants will encounter the “Rollcoaster.”

It’s a manmade hill that will serve as a sharp climb challenge to the participants. However, this particular section of the race will also be the best part for the fans to take a look at the athletes, as there’s an accessible wooden staircase that will be right above the athletes when they cross this part of the course. But what’s Florida without its iconic beaches?

The entire rollercoaster section is followed by a coastal theme. It has palm trees, lifeguard stands, and, of course, the sand, giving the full atmosphere of Florida’s beaches. Following this, the athletes would need to take a 180-degree turn, as they will be heading towards a literal pond.

Reports suggest that the pit full of water is up to 17 inches deep at a certain point, so the athletes have to navigate this obstacle carefully.

Then athletes will come across the “Alligator Alley.” And just like its name, the obstacle course will feature four wide logs with alligators on them. Of course, not the real ones, but enough to catch an athlete off guard. These barriers are around a foot high, with the last one being the highest of them all. However, there’s more to be concerned about.

Running enthusiast and editor David Monti on social media shared that recently, he ran into two course workers who were following up on a poisonous snake sighting. The more concerning part about this is that Tallahassee has four venomous snakes: the Coral Snake, Cottonmouth, Copperhead, and the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. So, runners might have to be extra aware their surroundings while competing, to avoid any run-ins with a venomous snake.

As we head towards the final part of the event, it will feature a mud pit. The organizers named it the “Florida Everglades,” and the course also has an airboat on its side. However, the main challenge lies after this mud pit.

The runners will need to take a hard left turn, and then it will be a 150-meter downhill run to the finish line. There are more details to the race, too, that the audience must take a look at.

The World Athletics Cross Country Championships will be a massive event in the US

This 46th edition of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships will be the third time that this event has been held in the US. Previous editions, which were held in the country, were in 1984 and 1992 in New York and Boston, respectively. However, this will be a huge event, as it will feature 500 athletes from 65 different countries.

These runners will compete in their own respective events: the men’s and women’s U20 and senior events and the mixed relay. The Cross Country Championships will kick off with the mixed relay event at 9:45 am local time and will end with the senior men’s race at 12:20 pm. There’s also a difference in the race lengths.

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While the men’s and women’s races are 10 km (~6.2 miles), the U20 men’s race will be just 8 km (~5 miles), which will be 2 km more than the U20 women’s race at just 6km (~3.7 miles).

The senior races will feature individual events’ prize money up to $30,000 for the gold medal winner, with the sixth-place finisher getting $3000. For the team’s event, the lowest, which will be the sixth-place finisher, will receive $4000, while the gold medal winner will get $20,000. Changes in prize money can be seen in the mixed relay event, where the fourth-place finisher will earn $4000, while the gold medal winner receives $12,000.

Furthermore, the fans that will visit the event will also be allowed to run or walk at the Worlds Fun Run: Florida Edition, an event that is organized just for the community.