Preview the 2025 MARS Maryland 5 Star Cross-Country Course
Elkton, Md.—Oct. 16—Thanks to CrossCountry App, you can check out new course designer Pierre Le Goupil's cross-country courses for the CCI3*-L and CCI5*-L at the MARS Maryland 5 Star!
There are 46 jumping efforts on the CCI5*-L course this year and 30 numbered obstacles. The speed is 570 mpm over a distance of 6,270 meters, which equates to just under 4 miles. The optimum time is 11 minutes.
Le Goupil, along with course builder Tyson Rementer and his team, have refreshed Ian Stark's course with some new fences, and some of the major complexes have a new look and feel. The track follows the same general direction, with the first major combination coming at 7abc, the Chesapeake Beasts (a pair of keyhole brush corners shaped like owls) and Bay Bridge.
The Yanmar Sunken Road at 11abcd looks like a maze of fences, and riders can choose their own line before heading onto the next major complex, the Cascade Keyhole and Canoe at 13ab. This combination features a picture frame jump with a waterfall as the drop in, then across the water to an angled canoe out.
The Middle Hay Field will be a great place for spectators to watch the the coffin, Pierre's Puzzle, as well as the final combination, 29ab, Maryland Sports' Final Turn, and the last jump, a beautiful new table at 30, the Fair Hill Finale.
Trek up the hill, and you'll see some of Maryland's feature fences in Saw Mill Field. The Rollercoaster at 28, the Fair Hill International Drop at 27abc, and a new combination, 20 and 21ab, the Brown Advisory Saw Mill Water. This combination is a brush drop into water followed by a bounce of frangible verticals out.
Finally, Maryland's feature complex, Mars Sustainability Bay, or "the Crab Water," fence 23 abcd, has a new, huge angled brush drop into water folllowed by a brush corner in the water to a bank out over a brand new carved crab. Clink the images below to check out what he's holding in his right claw!
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