The family friendly Something Wild Trail Running Festival offers an Ultra, Marathon, Half Marathon
03/08/2019
Join the Wild Running Dartmoor Trail Running Festival this October Run some of the best trail routes on Dartmoor: ultra marathon half marathon & 10km
2 Aug - 4 Aug PL20 6SB Malborough Devon United Kingdo
The Something Wild Trail Running Festival: Ultra Marathon 12 Marathon 10K 5K plus kids races camping speakers evening Forest School and more
The Summit Wild Ultra is back at the Something Wild Trail Running Festival It is the ideal distance for your first ultra even though it is by no of Sportiva Events is also co-organiser of the Something Wild Trail Festival a half marathon a marathlon & a Trail Ultra plus speakers evening camping
Something Wild Trail Running Festival - Half Marathon takes place in Yelverton on 4 August 2019 Get full event details including website entry form and online
03/08/2019
Reconnecting with Nature: Trail Running Aficionados Find Peace in Pushing the Limits
Two weeks ago over 2000 runners rose early on our national Independence Day to attend South Highland’s Firecracker 5K Several smaller events of its kind happen each month in the Shreveport-Bossier area However the latest thing in running is actually the oldest thing: trail running
It is growing rapidly throughout the urbanized world including here locally According to a writer for Outside Online (opining negatively about the phenomenon) the trail running population doubled nationwide from 2007 to 2017 and now stands at over 9 million This “phenomenon” was simply business as usual for humans in hunter-gatherer times The ability to run at a controlled pace along recognizable routes for long distances and in sometimes extreme weather was indispensable to survival
Perhaps just when it seemed that we were a generation away from making the entire world concrete plastic and LTE humans found a sudden urge to reconnect with the wild animal within Trail runners almost universally describe the act as therapy: refreshing mind-clearing mind-stimulating stress-relieving It provokes the question as to whether endorphins and nature are more deeply associated than we think
Photograph from the Screaming Monkey 100
Roughly half a percent of the American population has run a marathon The average American runner or non-runner probably thinks running a marathon is a crazy idea Heck even a marathon runner may agree But even within the ranks of marathon runners there is a bubble of extremists who run even longer distances determined to put human determination and endurance to hitherto unthinkable tests These people are called ultra runners and in April of this year over 200 of them gathered at Keithville’s Monkey Trails for the inaugural Screaming Monkey 100
Officially an ultra marathon is any running race longer than a marathon Some typical distances include 50K 50 mile 100K or 100 miles Some are even longer Because they are more time consuming and draw smaller crowds than conventional marathons they tend to be done in the wildest possible places or on small closed circuits if they happen to venture into cities
Generally it takes more than fitness and endurance to accomplish these feats Most athletes come prepared: they bring extra shoes and other clothes in case conditions change or something gets wet headlamps and pillows (although some are known to run continuously over 24 hours without rest) if the race involves running at night various trusted drinks and snacks and even ibuprofen or first aid items to cope with blisters and chafing They often venture through extreme habitats and conditions such as over mountain tops and through Death Valley sometimes without markings or staff support on the courses A rare new race featured athletes running a 41 mile circuit in “”last man standing” format every hour on the hour with some competitors lasting over 60 hours all to discover the inspiring power within their bodies minds and spirits
Photograph from the Screaming Monkey 100
The inaugural Screaming Monkey 100 was a two-day trail running festival drawing athletes from 15 states and even the Western Canadian province of Alberta The course delivered the adventurous atmosphere of ultra running on many fronts: skirting the perimeter of Chimp Haven where its furry residents make their voices heard It included a multitude of ponds creeks and some of the most dramatic elevation change in Caddo Parish Runners passed by old grain silos and straight through the halls of an abandoned prison Some attempted one of two courses slightly exceeding a half marathon or full marathon some took on the much longer 100K and just under 30 athletes negotiated the unforgiving 100 mile distance With many of them still running there were also encore 10K and 5K races the following morning Some helpless running addicts participated in some form of the “twofer” meaning they participated in a race of their choosing on both Saturday and Sunday The participation was almost evenly split between men and women the largest age group being those in their 40s
Race director and founding member of Get on a Trail Shreveport Michael Puyear
Already open for registration for next year the Screaming Monkey 100 is the brainchild of Michael Puyear and Catherine Michelson Their journey to race directing began over two years ago when they became teammates at a relay race in South Louisiana As Puyear recalls “I posted on a local Facebook running group Of the 1500 members only one person responded: Catherine” After being unable to form an entire team locally it became their mission to form an enthusiastic Shreveport-Bossier based trail running community By all accounts they have succeeded with flashing medals
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