This is where it ends. In Chino. Just across the way from old Los Angles, the city of angels. But no one’s flying in the 100-degree heat after six heavy miles. Feet pound. Hands shake. Sweat flies off hair, runs into eyes, stinging. Hot air explodes with every hard step. Lungs burn. The wall looms, dead ahead. Don’t stop. Break through.

You’re a cross-country runner, XC, and it’s nationals, 2005. You’re on the Western State College of Colorado team, and you have a lot to live up to. The men won seven out of their last eight titles, the women have never taken less than third. And yet, this year, injuries, sickness and defeat plagued your team. You haven’t won a single ranked event. It’s been loss after loss, and there’s added pressure. A crew has been filming the entire year, and with over 40 hours shot, you have one last chance to make your mark before the cameras turn off and your time is gone, forever.

So you churn toward the chute. Your body is in revolt. Someone goes down to your left. People are screaming. Don’t look. Concentrate. Is it possible for your heart to rupture? Everything is sharp, colors exploding with every step. So close. Breathe. Someone tripped over the finish line! They’re swaying, no, crashing! Gloved hands pull them up; they’re waving their paper number back and forth, screaming for someone to help them. I can see their number. I’m almost there, I can make it!

And so you do.

This is where it ends.

But XC, the new documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Justin Zimmerman and former XC state champion Scott Drum, begins where all seasons begin: practice, time trials and coach speeches. Through the course of the 2005 season, interviews and unobtrusive cameras capture the magic and the hardships of a national championship team. In the locker rooms and on the airplanes, in the hotel rooms and in the school vans, the coach and runners give unparalleled access to the cameras.

XC is the product of a joint-partnership between two Western professors, the students of WSC-TV and a host of sponsors. With over 45 hours finally shot, the production team logged, captured and backed up every minute of footage. Now the editing process begins.

But we require your help to finish this seminal work.

We are in need of over $5000 to finish this project during the fall of 2006. For corporate sponsors we hope to gain a minimum of $500 per donation and for individual sponsors we are looking to a minimum of $100 per donation. Whoever donates will be listed in the credits of the movie as a corporation or individual who made the movie possible. Large donations of over $1000 will be recognized with logo placement in the credits.

Please send corporate or individual monetary donations to:

WSC Foundation
Att: Pam Johnston
PO Box 1264
Gunnison, CO 81230.

In the memo line of your check write: XC documentary.
All donations are tax deductible and the WSC Foundation will send you all appropriate paperwork.

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Justin Zimmerman has been an Assistant Professor of Cinema, the School-Based Programs Coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Athens County, and has directed Bricker-Down productions for six years. Zimmerman was the youngest, and most recognized, independent artist by the Ohio Arts Council during the 2003 - 2004 cycle, and his films have won multiple awards, including best documentary at the Chicago/IFP film festival and two international Telly awards. Zimmerman’s films have been aired on public television and are distributed nationally. Zimmerman, 28, is currently an Assistant Professor at the Western State College of Colorado and holds the feature-length screenplay rights to a Stephen King story to be filmed in Maine in 2007. More information about Zimmerman can be found at his website, Brickerdown.com.

Scott Drum is an Assistant Professor or Exercise and Sport Science and Director of the High Altitude Performance Lab at Western State College of Colorado (WSC) in Gunnison, CO. He’s been a competitive runner since the age of 10 years and captured three Wisconsin State High School Championships (one in cross country and two in track) in the late 1980’s. He trained and volunteer coached with the WSC cross country team during the filming of the documentary and experienced the trials and tribulations of the team intimately. He aspires to continue to work with the men’s and women’s XC teams at WSC along with perfecting high altitude, physiological training through sport testing and teaching.

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