There is an excitement in the air as the Niles cross country team prepares for the annual season-opening Viking Stampede.

That excitement stems from the fact that Niles has its own home cross country course.

The Vikings have been using the Dowagiac cross country course for several years now.

They have had a couple of close calls when it comes to having their own course, including one that would have been located near the Plym Park Golf Course.

But that has all changed and Niles will debut its new course in Bertrand Park on Adams Road Friday.

Niles boys cross country coach Tony Todd said that the new course will be a challenge for runners.

“I kind of feel it is kind of a throwback course,” he said. “We have been looking for a home course ever since I took over the job six years ago. We appreciated Dowagiac letting us run there, but that is Dowagiac and not Niles. We tried to get the old course back that ran near Plym Park Golf Course and that fell through. We were out there by Howard and that fell through.

“Finally, Bertrand stepped up. It is a little bit of a rough start because it is really narrow, but I really love the course. Cross country is cross country. It is not track on grass. A lot of the runners these days have gotten used to having track on grass and they are probably going to complain a bit. But you know, it is a true cross country course.”

Todd said his runners are happy to finally have a course of their own.

“They really like it,” he said. “They have run it three or four times because we had to have them test it out. They are just really excited to have a home course.”

Jami Foster, the girls cross country coach, also likes the new course.

“We were pretty excited,” she said. “The kids were excited to have a course in Niles and a course we could practice on. Driving up to Dowagiac was difficult other than the days we had meets. Having something local is nice.

“The first mile is going to test a lot of different runners because it is a tough one. They are going to have to sprint to certain areas to be a leader on this course.”

Joining the Vikings for the stampede will be Plainwell, St. Joseph, Lakeshore, Michigan City and Watervliet.

Dowagiac was originally scheduled to compete, but has withdrawn.

St. Joseph was a big winner in the girls portion of the meet last year, while Bridgman won the boys title.

Niles’ top finisher in the girls race was Taylor Altergott, who was 11th. Kailey Skarbek finished 18th overall.

Devin Tomlison led the Viking boys with an 11th place finish. Jeremiah Kendall finished 35th.

The boys race is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. with the girls race to follow at 5:45 p.m.

The top 10 finishers in each class will receive medals, while the top boys and girls teams will receive trophies.