Trails Collective

Weekly Rundown, January 1, 2021

Trails Collective Weekly Rundown

January 1, 2021 (thank God)

This Past Weekend

This past weekend saw the running of Virginia Happy Trails Boyer’s Furnace 40 miler, limited to 40 and club members only. Looks like a beautiful day on the trails. Some in Connecticut through down efforts for the Egg Nog Mile, and a winner was made in Hacksaw Howie Breinan in the CT Trailmixer’s Solstice Slam. The Virtual 5^th Annual TroMMers of Trail Runners of Midcoast Maine Christmas Even Trail Run was embraced despite the independent format.

And in West Virginia registration opened for Trivium Racing’s new Highball to Thurmond Ultra.  Both races finish in Thurmond, West Virginia.  With a population of 5 at the 2010 census, Thurmond is the least populated railroad town in the nation and part of the New River Gorge National Park, you’d better hope you make the time cut to catch that train home.

 

FKT’s

MA:

Iain Ridgway 4h 49m for the for an opening mark on the newly created Mount Greylock Round. Iain’s route sounds beautiful: “This “Round” route aims to traverse the 7 named summits and 2 ledge overlooks in the Mount Greylock State Reservation. Mount Greylock is the oldest state protected land in Massachusetts, and the route covers the 4 highest points in Massachusetts (Greylock, Saddle Ball, Fitch, and Williams, though Saddle Ball and Fitch are of questionable prominence). Terrain is quite technical as you’d expect in this area, but runnable, with many beautiful vistas in all directions and some steep climbs/descents. The AT runs over the top of Greylock and the route I took covers several miles of it.”

NY:

Justin and Olivia Kousky, 8h 46m 24 mile Bear Mountain State Park 7 Summits. A 27.5 mile stout circuit on which Justin set the men’s unsupported mark in November. This is an opening mixed-gender mark on this route.

Year End Trail-Giving

Finger Lakes Trail Conference – making over 800 miles of trails throughout upstate and western NY available to all of us: https://fingerlakestrail.org/

Green Mountain Club – founder and maintainer of the Long Trail in VT, the oldest official long trail in the nation. https://www.greenmountainclub.org/

Connecticut Forest and Park Association – with an army of volunteers, donors, and partners, making 825 blue-blazed miles of trails possible. Before December 31^st, every dollar will be matched. https://www.ctwoodlands.org/

New York New Jersey Trail Conference – serve more than 100 park units in the greater New York metro area, with an amazing array of trails in NY and NJ. For a year end donation challenge, every dollar donated through December 31^st will be tripled by match donors. https://www.nynjtc.org/content/donate-new

And into 2021, keep an eye out for Trail Races and Series which donate back in dollars and/or time towards the trail entities that truly do the heavy lifting with regards to trails in our region. One new opportunity is through New Jersey’s Sassquad Running and to benefit the New York New Jersey Trail Conference. Here to weigh in is Kim Levinsky.

New Year’s Eve Live Show

Please join us for this Thursday’s New Years Eve show, streaming live to our Facebook and YouTube Channels starting at 7:30 and with a full lineup of guests from throughout our regional trail community, check out our Facebook community page, and hop on the Strava / Instagram groups to vie for some New Years Eve episode prizes.

And to take us out this week, I’m going to plug in last week’s segment regarding race registrations about to open, with a good number slated for New Year’s Day. Hopefully catch you all Thursday night, and looking forward to turning the page into 2021.

 

Registrations Opening

January 1st

Trail Methods Last Runner Standing, scheduled for March 6^th in Rochester, NY. Uses a 1 mile trail loop with the time limit for loops getting shorter after each round. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=76480

HAT Run 50k scheduled for March 20^th in Havre de Grace, Maryland. This is a classic, going back a bit under 30 years. It runs a mostly single-track course with 5,100’ of climbing and multiple stream crossings. Field capped at 200 (outside of yet unknown COVID / permitting impacts) and will go in a hurry. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=80781

Eagleton Trail Challenge 10k / 25k / 50k running April 10 in Lock Haven, PA, a bit less technical and intense course vs what has become trademark in central PA. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=79373

Many on the Genny 40 miler slated for June 19th in Castile, NY. The all-trail course traverses singletrack, fields, forests, and foot bridges on either side of the famous Letchworth Gorge. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=78045

Clear Creek Ultrafest 21 and 34 milers set for June 19^th in Sigel PA. Held in conjunction with peak-Rhododendron blooming season, the course runs through deep spring fed groves vibrant in pink flowers. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=80600

Table Rock Trail Challenge Last One Standing set for June 26^th on a 1.2 mile trail within Clark’s Reservation outside of Jamesville, NY https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=79693

The 7-11 Free Slurpee Day Ultra 60k, set for July 11^th in Meriden, CT. Pulling from their US page, they title in with “Do you like dumb ideas?”. This is a fat-ass style, mostly-road course. The organizer writes “If this sounds like a stupid idea, you’re right. I be you’re rolling your eyes. That’s good. It is probably the dumbest idea I’ve not only had but executed. 2019’s run was just three awkward dudes drinking small cups of cold sugary slush and eating bags of Doritos and those weird single serve pickles”. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=80155

The Groton Forest Trail 6.2, 15, and 26.5 Mile Trail runs, running September 11 in Groton, VT. The event uses a 15-mile configuration with 3200’ of elevation gain with several summits and lake views, with the shorter 10k and 26 mile options. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=79687

Shawnee Peak Ultra Challenge 2h / 6h in Bridgeton, ME. With over 1,200’ of elevation gain in 1 mile, followed by a 1 mile descent, 2 – 6 hours on the ski slopes of Shawnee Peak is bound to be quad and spirit crushing. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=81111

Midstate Massive Ultra Trail 30 / 50 / 100 Milers, set for October 9 & 10 in New Ipswitch, NH. UTMB points races, the course runs point to point through mountains, fields, roads, and rivers in central Mass with border crossings in NH, RI, and CT. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=81098

Cook Forest, Highland Fall Scramble point to point 12 miler, running on the North Country Trail  through Cook Forest on October 31 in Cooksburg, PA. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=80598

Rim to River 100, a beautiful out-back course winding from the rim of the New River Gorge to the New River, running on November 6 in the New River Gorge of WV. The page mentions a course of natural beauty of waterfalls, whitewater, dramatic views, ghost towns, centuries old cemeteries, and abandoned mine shafts. Check out post-race segment from this year with inaugural women’s winner. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=81105

The Tuckahoe 25k, a coproduction of the Centreville Crushers and Algonquin Ultras, run over non-technical and fast trails, scheduled to run on November 20^th in Queen Anne, MD. This may become RD Trent Swanson’s new favorite in short order. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=81296

January 15^th

Hills Creek Endurance Challenge 3h/6h/12h set for May 8^th in Wellsboro, PA. It features a mostly single-track 3.1 mile loop with 200’ of elevation gain around Hills Creek Lake https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=81620

The View 25k set to run November 7^th in Hyner PA. An additional option to give runners a fall-opportunity to hit the Hyner Trails and with around 3,000’ of elevation gain. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=81223

February 1st

Twisted Branch Trail Run 100k, set for August 21 in Naples, NY. A runner favorite and Western States Qualifier, it fills in a hurry, and with rolls from 2020, guessing all the quicker. A classic point to point course run in the Finger Lakes of western NY, this is a great destination event. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=80862

Blue 2 Blue Challenge 50k slated for September 25^th in New Haven, CT. Offering some of CT’s most technical and gnarly trails, first with the Regicides, then the Quinnipiac Trail, this is a true #BeastCoast event. https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=80368