If you're looking for something to do in June for, say, a full 24 hours and don't mind running up to about 100 miles, then Tsalteshi Trails has the event for you.
A group of organizers is planning to host Alaska's first official Backyard Ultra event at Tsalteshi Trails starting June 10 and running into the next day. In general, an ultramarathon can be any event that covers a long-distance running event further than 26.2 miles, which is the official length of a marathon. Ultramarathons can take a number of shapes, but the Backyard Ultra is unique in that runners don't necessarily run it all in one stitch, and the winner is the last person standing.
"There hasn't been a backyard ultra style race in Alaska," said Doug Hogue, one of the organizers for the event. "We already take advantage of (Tsalteshi Trails) with so many things, between mountain biking and cyclocross riding, the Salmon Runs, the skiing that goes on in the wintertime…. it's kind of like the next opportunity for the trails. It 's a way to do an ultramarathon on our trail system without trying to figure out how are we going to get 100 miles."
Essentially, the way a Backyard Ultra works is this: Every hour, runners start at the top of the hour and run exactly 4.167 miles. How long that takes is up to them; technically, it's possible to walk that far at a fast clip in an hour. However, if they finish sooner, they get a break to eat, sleep or rest before the next hour comes. Then, at the top of the next hour, they start again. They repeat this process for a full 24 hours, or until there's only one runner left. The runner that completes the last lap is the winner.
To save you the math, if you run all 24 laps, that's about 100 miles.
Hogue said he has participate in a Backyard Ultra before-- from his treadmill.
"I had been kind of reading about some different ultramarathons, and this one was intriguing," he said." It is kind of open to everybody, because a lot of people who run casually-- you can do 4.167 miles. That not a super difficult thing to do, but it's in that consecutive nature of doing it at the top of every hour that brings in that ultra piece. So that was really appealing to me, it's a different kind of training of course, and of course, it's mental training as well, not only doing it on a treadmill, but doing it on a treadmill."
He said people from all over the world participated in that race, and like him, not all finished it. That's the idea for the Soldotna event, too-- you don't have to be an elite runner to show up, and you don't have to plan to finish the whole thing. The event is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. on June 10, and it may go for the full 24 hours, or it may not, depending on how many laps runners make. Hogue said some races have ended after ten laps, and others have dragged on for days as runners just kept going.
Participants will complete a loop, with no aid allowed along the run. They'll have some staging areas and food, rest areas, water, and other support at the start and finish of each lap. The winner will receive a ticket to participate in the Tartarus Backyard Ultra, scheduled for July 30 in Spokane, Washington. If they win that event, they can proceed to the national one.
Running grew in popularity during the pandemic, with many people looking for a way to exercise outdoors without having to buy a lot of equipment. There are Backyard Ultras being hosted all over the world--from Europe to South America to the Middle East. Hogue said this will be Alaska's first sanctioned event, and he hopes it will draw people to Soldotna to participate.
"People are doing this now where your vacation is kind of wrapped around some kind of big exercise or a running race or something like that, so there's a lot of travel that is kind of associated with that now, and so many people want to come to Alaska," he said. "So it kind of gives that other opportunity for coming to a really gorgeous corner of Alaska to do a running race, and then they're done. They can choose to go fishing, or there's great hiking or mountain biking or all kinds of stuff to do."
Interested runners can find information about the event and registration at Tsalteshi.org. Registration is $75, and there are only 50 spots available.
If you're not interested in running so far but still want to get in on the race action, the Kenai Watershed Forum is hosting a race that same weekend to raise money for its programs. The annual Run for the River is scheduled for June 11 in Soldotna Creek Park, with distances of 5K or 10 miles. Registration on the day of the race is at 8 a.m. If you register online beforehand, it costs $25 through May 31. There's also a virtual option for runners who can't or prefer not to attend in person.
More information about Run for the River is available on the Kenai Watershed Forum's website, kenaiwatershed.org.
Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabethearl@gmail.com.
