What’s Up in Ultra This Weekend — April 20

In this week’s What’s Up in Ultra, we travel to Ohio for a rugged spring classic, get lots of vert in one Virginia race and run for a great cause in another, and celebrate Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday in New Mexico.

Leave Your PR at Home

We start off in Loudonville, Ohio, for the 14^th running of the Forget the PR Mohican 50k. As the name suggests, this is not a course to go chasing your personal best. Taking place in Mohican State Park, the race tests runners with rocks, roots, muddy trails, river crossings and steep hills combining for over 4,800 feet in elevation gain. Forget the PR is one of the classic Ohio ultra races and attracts an amazing group of area trail runners each year who come for the challenge as well as the comradery. Over the years, the race has donated over $46,000 to local groups and charities, including the Delaware County Special Olympics.

A Promise of Hills

Next, we travel to Bedford, Virginia, for the 23^rd running of the Promise Land 50k. Part of the Lynchburg Ultra Series, this popular event averages close to 300 finishers each year. The race begins and ends at the Promise Land Youth Camp, which lies between Bedford and Big Island, Virginia, where runners are invited to camp and enjoy free pizza the night before the race. On course, runners can expect to encounter a variety of terrain, lush spring scenery and plenty of climbing and descending, with just under 8,000 feet of elevation gain over  (slightly longer than) 31 miles. As a bonus, participants who finish in under 10 hours are rewarded with a pair of Patagonia running shorts.

24 Hours for a Great Cause

Staying in Virginia, we head to the coastal city of Hampton for the 21^st running of the Virginia Run for Cancer. The 24-hour run/walk event takes place on 3.75 miles of flat, dirt trails located in Sandy Bottom Nature Park, a 456-acre environmental education and wildlife management facility. Participants can run the event solo or as part of a team, with wooden plaques awarded to all runners who complete 50, 62.5, 75, 100 or 125-miles in the 24-hour period. Since it’s inception in 2004, the Virginia Run for Cancer has raised over $300,000 for the American Cancer Society!

Wildcard

For this week’s Wildcard Race (where we feature an event you may not be familiar with), we travel west to Capitan, New Mexico, for the Capitan Mountain 34 Hour. The event caught my attention because it takes place near the home forest and final resting place of none other than Smokey Bear, and celebrates the legendary black bear’s 80^th birthday. The course is a soft and runnable 4-mile loop with an aid station at the start/finish of each loop. Capitan Mountain is a no DNF event, meaning you can run as much or as little as you like, but runners who make it 80 miles will be rewarded with a Smokey 80th birthday buckle. The 100-mile runners will also receive a 100-mile buckle (in addition to the Smokey buckle). As we enter into warmer months and camping season, Smokey would like to remind everyone that “Only you can prevent wildfires.”

Some other events we’re keeping tabs on include: Capitol Peak (Olympia, WA), Yakima Skyline (Yakima, WA), Citadel Marines Ultra Marathon Bulldog Challenge (Charleston, SC), The Firefly Trail Run (Henderson, NC) and the Loud Thunder 50 (Illinois City, IL). There are a whopping 68 races taking place this weekend. Be sure to check out the Ultra Running Magazine calendar for a complete list of all the amazing events being run across the country.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!