This race's course reminded me a lot of the Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra in Kansas, but only better. The trail was more scenic, a little more rural, and had a … MORE
This race’s course reminded me a lot of the Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra in Kansas, but only better. The trail was more scenic, a little more rural, and had a lot of history. It also had slightly more incline, but only ever so slight. So little in fact, that you hardly knew you were going uphill. The trail this year was rock hard though, even the unpaved portions that were covered with crushed limestone. The limestone seemed to set up like concrete. I wore my trail shoes, but wished I had wore my road shoes. There was absolutely no way you could get lost on this trail. It was just a 15.5 mile out and 15.5 mile back course. The trail was well marked with sign posts every 1/4 mile. The aid stations were great with Honey Stinger products, bottles of Gaterade, water, and much more. We received a long-sleeved technical shirt at the packet pickup, and a wooden finisher’s award, a coffee mug, a 50K car magnet sticker, and a boxed lunch at the finish. The organizers of this race went all out, and I never would have guessed that it was an inaugural race. They started us in three waves, and had us stand on circles at the start to make sure we maintained social distance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The runners also wore masks at the start. My favorite sight on the course was a pair of old rail cars that had derailed into a creek bottom near the small town of Mineola, IA. One rail car had a couple of trees growing through it, but I was never able to find out how long ago the derailment occurred. All in all it was a delightful fall run with black squirrels along the trail, Northern Cardinals, and leaves falling all around.
Flat and fast course
This race's course reminded me a lot of the Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra in Kansas, but only better. The trail was more scenic, a little more rural, and had a … MORE
This race’s course reminded me a lot of the Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra in Kansas, but only better. The trail was more scenic, a little more rural, and had a lot of history. It also had slightly more incline, but only ever so slight. So little in fact, that you hardly knew you were going uphill. The trail this year was rock hard though, even the unpaved portions that were covered with crushed limestone. The limestone seemed to set up like concrete. I wore my trail shoes, but wished I had wore my road shoes. There was absolutely no way you could get lost on this trail. It was just a 15.5 mile out and 15.5 mile back course. The trail was well marked with sign posts every 1/4 mile. The aid stations were great with Honey Stinger products, bottles of Gaterade, water, and much more. We received a long-sleeved technical shirt at the packet pickup, and a wooden finisher’s award, a coffee mug, a 50K car magnet sticker, and a boxed lunch at the finish. The organizers of this race went all out, and I never would have guessed that it was an inaugural race. They started us in three waves, and had us stand on circles at the start to make sure we maintained social distance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The runners also wore masks at the start. My favorite sight on the course was a pair of old rail cars that had derailed into a creek bottom near the small town of Mineola, IA. One rail car had a couple of trees growing through it, but I was never able to find out how long ago the derailment occurred. All in all it was a delightful fall run with black squirrels along the trail, Northern Cardinals, and leaves falling all around.