-
Runners in the Summit Trail Running Series take part in the first race of the summer of 2018 near the Breckenridge Recreation Center. The 2019 series will begin on Wednesday with the Breckenridge Recreation Center Morning Thunder 5K/8K.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com
-
Runners participate in the Summit Trail Running Series event at Horseshoe Gulch in July 2018 near Breckenridge. The 2019 series commences Wednesday.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com
The 17th annual Summit Trail Running Series in Breckenridge will commence Wednesday with a slightly altered route for the first race of the series due to lingering effects from a long, wet winter season.
Vince Hutton, of the Breckenridge Recreation Center, said the alteration was for two reasons:
No. 1: With much snow on trails until recently, series organizers received feedback from the community that a more tame first event of the season would be ideal, as many racers haven’t had the chance to run on trails as much as they’d like.
“It’s more of a race for everyone this year,” Hutton said. “It’s a true beginning-of-the-year beginner’s run.”
No. 2: Parts of last year’s first race of the season — mainly segments such as the Four O’Clock trail headed up toward the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center at Breckenridge Ski Resort — will remain under significant snowpack through Wednesday’s first race of the season. As such, this year’s more tame race won’t ascend as far up the hill. Hutton said this year’s short course will be a 3.16-mile race with 411 feet of vertical gain while the long course will be 4.89 miles with 564 feet of vertical gain.
Hutton said town of Breckenridge recreation staff, including himself, recently spent several days clearing off snow from trails known as Claimjumper and Pence Miller near the rec center. Hutton said Wednesday’s short-course race mainly will be on those trails.
“We usually don’t have to clear the trails at all,” Hutton said, “but we just cleared them to kind of minimize the damage and to be safe. North-facing areas were icy, covered in snow. This way, we cleared them off to have no trail damage. There were definitely spots knee deep around switchbacks, a lot of ice we had to chip off the trails, and it was just very sporadic.”
Starting with Wednesday’s race, each Summit Trail Running Series event this summer will begin at 6 p.m. Hutton said registration will begin at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on the outdoor basketball courts at the rec center, though he encouraged racers to save money by registering online at BreckenridgeRecreation.com/activities-programs and clicking on Special Events and Tournaments. The race will begin at the Kingdom Park parking lot near the rec center.
Hutton said anyone who signs up to take part in the full series will receive a gift including running socks, a hat and a water bottle. To qualify to win either the men’s or women’s short- or long-course series, Hutton said runners must partake in at least five of the Trail Running Series’ events.
This year’s series will be sponsored by Mountain Outfitters, and Hutton said the company will provide gifts to division winners at each race as well as raffle giveaways at each event. Hutton also said each series event will feature an after-party at a restaurant in Breckenridge.