Since the opening of North Atlanta’s new campus, cross-country and track and field athletes have sought a safe and soft place to run. Now, thanks to plenty of hard work on the part of students, parents and coaches, the new Running Warrior Trail is a reality as it winds through the woods on the campus.

From late-July up to early-September, the new running trail was under construction. Now that the trail is completed, Warrior runners have a place to run that is out of the way of cars and sheltered from the sweltering sun. The asphalt streets around the campus are hard and can present hazards for large groups of runners. Hard surfaces can result in injury and running on traffic-clogged streets always means hot surfaces and potential tussles between runners and drivers.

The trail is located deep in the Warrior Woods, which is located behind the football field. The trail is 800 meters long, which is about a half mile. With certain extensions, the trail can lengthen to 1,500 meters, a little less than one mile. The trail stretches through the back edge of the woods and opens to the grass field in front of the school. There is a view of cars passing on the highway, which makes for an interesting run through the woods. For runners, the trail offers a pleasant winding run through a shaded, soft wooded area.

George Sanderlin, the community cross-country coach, was deeply involved with the trail. “We still need to do some work on the trail like shore it up in certain spots to make a more level surface. Everyone who goes on the trail is amazed by the beauty of it,” Sanderlin said.

He said the trail features a wide variety of trees and flora and the athletes who use it occasionally see signs of deer that also inhabit the Warrior Trail.

He worked on the trail on weekends along with cross-country team members Philip Brahana, Graham Palmer, and Steven Spears. Mark Spears, a parent, also helped with trail construction, lending tools to make the job easier. The teams and coaches are looking into adding wood chips to certain trail sections and possibly expanding the trail in the future.

Now the Running Warriors can practice and bond more as a team while running through the shady trails that they worked so hard to build.