WATCH: Dangerous or just classic XC chaos?

XC season is finally back, and at the Dave’s Greater Toledo XC Classic 2026 high school meet in Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday, athletes faced what many of the old guard would call “ideal conditions” for a cross-country race. Footage from the event shows runners slipping and sliding across a course and colliding with metal stakes intended to guide athletes. Other footage shows the lead vehicle (a golf cart) sliding down a hill as it attempts to keep up with the lead runner, nearly crashing into spectators. While some online called them the perfect conditions for an XC race, others questioned whether the setup was safe, pointing to more than just the adverse weather and course conditions.

This is pure recklessness and unacceptable.

And it happened because some adult idiots “wanted to get the meet in.”

Seriously, watch these videos closely.

Kids sliding into poles, losing their footing and about to be trampled. How about the golf cart nearly taking out a kid,…

One X user was particularly clear about what they believed were the race’s dangers.

“This is pure recklessness and unacceptable,” @TrustTrost said on X. “Kids sliding into poles, losing their footing and about to be trampled. How about the golf cart nearly taking out a kid, who had no idea what was about to hit her until the last second?”

Before Trost’s post, however, much of the online conversation focused on the funny side of the conditions, with one Instagram user highlighting the golf cart’s unexpected trip down the hill.

“It was so muddy at the meet today,” coach Sean Murray said on Instagram, “the official ended up Tokyo Drifting down the hill.”

From the source When @TrustTrost’s post drew attention to the potential dangers on Monday, the internet divided quickly.

Many pointed to the metal stakes and the bottleneck near the bottom of the hill, arguing that the course setup could have been better organized. Others pointed to the use of a golf cart to lead the race, saying it is uncommon and was particularly questionable given the conditions.

At the same time, others argued that the chaos was nothing unusual, calling it classic XC—and part of what makes the sport so much fun. Some commentators compared the conditions to races in the United Kingdom, where cross-country courses can be considerably more challenging than those typically seen at North American meets.

“I’d love you to see some of the UK cross-country races,” one commentator said on X. “This looks like good ground compared to what I’ve seen when my son used to race in cross-country.”

One race in particular kept coming up. A viral clip from the 2020 English National Cross Country Championships showed runners powering through knee-deep mud to keep racing.

While the internet may be divided, one common theme rings true: a little mud can make an XC race all the more exciting. Slippery hills, deep mud and athletes embracing the chaos? That’s XC. A golf cart sliding toward spectators, metal stakes beside a slippery course and a bottleneck at a turn on a hill? Maybe that’s where the line between classic chaos and questionable race setup starts to blur.