The Sharlie Shuffle 6-hour and 12-hour race is a brilliantly beautiful FUNdraising trail run through one of the best parks in Idaho, for as many hours as you see fit! (ALL proceeds/registration fees go to Ponderosa State Park trails.)
With gorgeous views of Payette Lake and towering ponderosa pines, varied terrain, and a festive atmosphere, we think this is a race you [and your family, and friends, and well-behaved, leashed dogs] will just keep coming back to, one 4.79-mile-loop at a time. Sign up and run for twelve hours, or run for eight or six or four. Run as few or as many hours as you like! Every single runner will get something awesome simply for showing up to run, but this isn’t your typical medal-laden sort of endeavor.
We love timed loop events, and we’ve been enthusiastically putting them on for years. The Sharlie Shuffle’s run on a clockwise, 4.79-mile loop in McCall’s Ponderosa State Park. Here’s what to expect on each loop: Rolling trails, rocky trails, flat trails, stairs and boardwalks, lots of serene single-track, some stride-widening double-track, and even a little pavement, to keep things interesting. Some trails will go up, and some trails will go down. Each loop contains just enough gain to keep you honest (~640′), so expect to (have fun, yes!, and) be challenged.
In addition to being heaps of F-U-N, and great training for longer summer and fall endeavors (think: IMTUF 100, Pine to Palm, Bighorn 100, Run Rabbit Run, Bear 100, Wasatch 100, etc.) our races are also low-impact: You won’t find any paper products at the Sharlie Shuffle, and we strive to have less than one full bag of trash at day’s end. As with all of our races, we also avidly support local businesses, which means as much aid (and prizes!) as possible will come from the McCall area. Speaking of aid, we’ll have some of the best out there. We’ll supply awesome fuel as your legs run loop after epic loop, and we’ll also provide reusable mugs for you to use throughout the day (though if you have a favorite mug, you’re of course welcome to bring your own).
Part of the fun of the Sharlie Shuffle is how low-key and old-school it is, which means we like to keep the course a secret for participants until race-day, and we don’t sweat the small stuff (and hopefully you don’t either!). We hand-make our bibs, count laps with star stickers, and we’ve worked with the Park to hand-pick a brutally beautiful and sustainable course for you to run. Basically we’re trying to tell you that you’re in for a really really FUN day.
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Beautiful course in Central Idaho
The scenery and wildlife were the best part of this race. It was a tough one though. There were some steep hills, some with switchbacks, but there were some short, … MORE
The scenery and wildlife were the best part of this race. It was a tough one though. There were some steep hills, some with switchbacks, but there were some short, steep climbs too. There were also stretches with nothing but solid golf-ball sized sharp rocks. The worst part of this was that because it was a 4.79 mile loop, you had to run the hills and the technical sections multiple times. The first 1.2 miles of the course were relatively flat and smooth though. It was when we got near the end of the peninsula where things got interesting. This was where the switchbacks started that led up to the overlook, which was a new addition to the course this year. The addition was a short side loop to the top of a rocky knoll overlooking Payette Lake. Even though it was a tough climb, the view was worth it. Even though there weren’t many other runners to keep me entertained, I enjoyed watching all of the wildlife including mule deer, red squirrels, ruffed grouse, sandhill cranes, bufflehead, chipping sparrows, ravens, American robin, and yellow-rumped warblers. The race was very low key, with no bling, but if you like to run by yourself in the great outdoors with spectacular scenery, this is the one for you.