Mountain Miles: GFS Cross Country’s Summer Training Trip to Park City, UT

The GFS cross country team is no stranger to long, tough runs. But the 16-mile loop on Jupiter Peak (10,000 feet in elevation) and back down—that was something else. 

“It was eight miles straight up, eight miles straight down, and the last couple 100 meters to the top were a scramble—that run was the culmination of the team’s training and it brought their healthy intrinsic motivations to life,” said Rob Hewitt, GFS Head Coach for Varsity Cross Country and Track & Field.

“The coaches did the run, too, and my legs were dead for the next 10 days,” he added, laughing. 

This advanced-level race was in the middle of the varsity cross country team’s summer training trip to Park City, Utah, a nine-day excursion in mid-July attended by Hewitt and his wife Claire, assistant coach Kate Henderson, and six boys and three girls from the team.

The purpose of this trip was two-fold: Hewitt and Henderson know that experiences like these build trust and create lasting bonds between teammates. And they also hoped that it would motivate the athletes who signed up to resolutely commit to their summer training, anticipating their impending altitude training in the mountainous terrain. 

“In June, I emailed them the summer training plan, and trusted them to hold themselves accountable,” Hewitt added. “They showed up in Utah prepared—you can’t fake altitude running, and the kids met the challenge amazingly.” 

With logistical help from Assistant to the Director of Athletics Mike Boorse ’89, the cross country coaches planned the trip with both structured activities, like scheduled runs and outings, and free time. They wanted the student-athletes to be able to make some decisions about their trail routes and run times. 

“There was an earned level of autonomy; if the kids wanted to try something, we had them seek it out,” Henderson said. “They discovered the free public buses in Park City, and a group doing  cross training would take the bus to the local rec center to use the gym every morning.”  

A somewhat spontaneous outing turned out to be Charlie Berk’s ’27 favorite run of the trip. 

“We took a bus up to a trailhead near the top of a ski mountain, and ran our way down back to the house we were staying in. It was awesome to run new trails and get ourselves a little bit lost,” he remembered.

Berk spent the earlier part of the summer recovering from an injury, following the coaches’ training plan and steadily building back his endurance. He wasn’t sure how much he’d be able to actually run on the Utah trip, but Hewitt encouraged him to train up, come along, and see what he could do. Berk was averaging between 10 and 15 miles a week before the trip, and once in Utah, was able to jump up to 40 miles per week. 

He did, however, have to hold back on the Jupiter Peak run; the plan was for him to drop out four miles in, then meet the team further along the course and continue the run. 

“The really difficult part was being able to let my teammates summit the mountain without me, without beating myself up about it,” he said. “It was still the longest I’d run in over a year, most of which was spent in physical therapy trying to get back to running. A win is a win!”

Declan Head ’27, another varsity cross country athlete, helped plan the trip, as he’d enjoyed running the Park City mountains before and wanted his teammates to have that experience. He trained hard all summer in preparation, but was still nudged out of his comfort zone.

“My most challenging run was the run on the first day,” Head said. “The altitude was hitting me, and the first mile definitely felt hard. I dipped into my race philosophy to get through that one.” 

Much of the team bonding happened off the trails, in the house that the group shared for the entirety of the trip. After the morning run each day, the group would come back to the house to recover in the cold plunge tank or hot tub, forage for lunch, hang out and talk, or walk into town. Finn Busser ’26 led the team in organizing three rotating cooking groups, which were responsible for meal planning, shopping, and cooking. The non-cooking groups cleaned up the kitchen and common spaces. This experience of co-habitating and sharing responsibilities, was another highlight of the trip for Berk.

“There's a lot of camaraderie in working together to plan and execute meals when you're cooking for a whole team,” he said. “It was really nice to all sit down together and share a meal, especially after some of the harder days of running.”

After nine days in the beautiful mountain town, living together, running daily, and being present with each other during the literal highs and lows of altitude training, Berk noted that the bonding was powerful.

“We had a lot of great conversations that enabled us to get to know each other better and feel even more comfortable with each other,” he said. “The trip wasn't easy, and doing hard things together is really invaluable, especially for a tough sport like cross country.”

Head echoed that sentiment, and said he would urge other GFS runners to join in if similar trips are planned in the future.

“I would definitely encourage people who have a genuine interest in cross country to train up and fully commit—this trip was really special, and I definitely formed a deeper bond with everyone else who went,” he said.

This is precisely what Hewitt and Henderson aimed for with this summer training session.

“Now we can reference this trip, and remind them what it meant to be out there together, to see each other, and to be in the moment with each other,” Hewitt said. “Tackling runs like Jupiter Peak together showed them that they’re able to do more than they thought they could do.”

Photos courtesy of Liam Riley ’26.