Clarksville Hosts its Second Cross Country State Championship

Event Brings 1,112; Generates $131,772 in Visitor Spending

Clarksville, TN – More than 1,100 athletes, coaches, and spectators visited Clarksville on Saturday, October 8th for the Class A and AA Boys and Girls Cross Country State Championships.

Packing tents, coolers and plenty of water, family members cheered runners along the two-mile course at the Hilldale Baptist Church Family Life Center.

“Sports marketing has been, and continues to be, one of our top priorities,” says Visit Clarksville Chairman Louisa Cooke. “We have first-class venues for such a variety of events, we’re easily accessible from throughout the state, and we have plenty of hotel rooms to accommodate state-wide events. This makes Clarksville a great sports competition destination.”

Two local runners, both seventh graders at Rossview Middle School, placed in the top 10 among 90 total runners in the AA Girls competition. San Lincoln-Velez earned a fourth place finish with a time of 12:06.38 and Kalisha Dent placed tenth with a time of 13:00.30.

Rossview seventh grader Blake Deterding placed 11th among 97 runners in the boys AA race with a time of 11:28.76.

The 2016 marks the second year for Clarksville to host the cross country state championships, which nearly doubled in attendance over 2015. Visit Clarksville officials estimate that visitor spending surrounding the event this year totaled $131,772.

“We could not hold this event in Clarksville without the hard work and dedication from the APSU Cross Country coaching staff and players, the Clarksville CVB and Hilldale Baptist Church,” said Richard McWhirter, TSSAA Assistant Executive Director. “We always want our competitors to have a first-class experience when they make it to the state level, and Clarksville’s volunteers and venues help us meet our expectations.”

During the 2015-16 fiscal year, Visit Clarksville hosted 18 sports events for basketball, soccer, cross country, track & field, softball, horseshoes, bowling and fishing. These events brought 47,760 visitors to Clarksville-Montgomery County who spent an estimated $7.5 million while here.

About Visit Clarksville

The Clarksville-Montgomery County Tourism Commission was established by the State of Tennessee in 1979 to positively influences tourism in the Clarksville-Montgomery County area by promoting tourist attractions, hosting conventions, group tours and engaging in large-scale marketing efforts.

In 2015, the organization adopted the Visit Clarksville brand. Visit Clarksville is governed by nine board of director members who are selected jointly by the City of Clarksville and Montgomery County Mayors, and is funded by a portion of the local hotel-motel tax.