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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. GarzaJust in case: David Patterson, executive director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau, describes how the new climate-controlled medical building south of the LaVern Gibson cross country course’s finish line will accommodate the needs of runners after a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday.
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. GarzaOn course: David Patterson, executive director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau, cuts the ribbon next to Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, right, for the new climate-controlled medical building south of the course's finish line on Wednesday.
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. GarzaJust in case: David Patterson, executive director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau, describes how the new climate-controlled medical building south of the LaVern Gibson cross country course’s finish line will accommodate the needs of runners after a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday.
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch said Wednesday state efforts to improve the quality of life will attract people to the Hoosier state.
And one of those efforts includes the nationally known LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, at 599 S. Tabortown Street, east of Indiana 46.
Crouch on Wednesday helped officially dedicate a climate-controlled medical building south of the course’s finish line. In 2020, the Indiana Destination Development Corp, part of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development, awarded a more than $58,000 matching grant for the project.
The building, with air conditioning and heat, has training tables, an ice machine, hot water, plus large cabinets for water containers and supplies. It also has garage doors to allow a utility vehicle to bring in athletes straight to trainers.
“The grant was huge in making this happen,” said David Patterson, executive director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau, which funded half of the project cost.
The building, at 20 feet by 40 feet, was completed this year, as were updates to the finish-line structure, at a total cost of $116,466.
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. GarzaOn course: David Patterson, executive director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau, cuts the ribbon next to Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, right, for the new climate-controlled medical building south of the course's finish line on Wednesday.
The championship course opened in 1997. Over its 25 years, the Gibson course has hosted 15 national NCAA Division I cross country championships and 14 state championships.
More than 40,000 people attended events at the course last year.
“This is one more quality of life asset in Vigo County that not only supports runners … and competitive sporting events … but the 40,000 visitors that come to see the events here leave Indiana with a positive feeling, not just because of this course, but because of everything that is connected with it,” Crouch said.
“It is that impression that we leave upon other people that will cause them to want to come back again and again and hopefully locate eventually here in Indiana,” Crouch said.
Crouch said state destination grants “continue to offer those opportunities throughout Indiana because we recognize that quality of life asset that is really is the economic part of the equation that is becoming more and more important. It used to be that people followed businesses, but today businesses follow people. And people want to live and locate in places like Vigo County that has these quality of life assets,” Crouch said.
Patterson said events at the Gibson course have a regional impact, typically selling out hotel rooms in Vigo County and helping to fill hotel rooms east to Greencastle and west across the Illinois border.
The new, climate-controlled building is needed, Patterson said, as the start of the cross country season is in August.
It will be beneficial immediately, when temperatures are hot and most issues with athletes are related. Yet by October and November, cold temperatures arrive and the building will help with those, too. Garage doors, for instance, mean a utility vehicle can bring an athlete directly into the building and let trainers quickly begin treatment.
“Physicians and trainers also have some privacy for the athletes in a climate-controlled environment,” Patterson said.
Terre Haute businessman Greg Gibson said the 250-acre complex was specifically designed for the sole purpose of cross-country running. The course has an extra-wide finish/start line, an enclosed finish line shoot, spectator visibility on 90% of the course and a distinctive award stand/ceremony area.
“Construction and development of this cross country course has been a labor of love from my family for the past 25 years,” Gibson said. “To build a dedicated cross country course that at the time was generally unheard of,” he said. The course is named in honor of Gibson’s grandfather.
“It has exceeded our original dreams and continues to get better and better each and every year,” Gibson said. “Of course, success brings competition and our success with the course has started a flurry of [cross country] dedicated courses at colleges across the country, so we have to always work to improve this facility so we can continue to be considered the best championship cross country course in the nation.
“This unique medical building helps us do that,” Gibson said.
This season’s race schedule begins Aug 15. There will be 16 meets through November.
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