Photo Credit Scott Rokis
Greetings Runners,
With just under three weeks to go, I wanted to check in, and extend an early welcome to everyone. I will, as usual, be sending out our final / week-of ‘2024 Superior Spring Trail Race Runner Welcome’ email, with final updates and more, but I wanted to quickly share a handful of things with you…
Superior is on Saturday May 18, 2024. As always, if your plans have changed and you can no longer make it to the race, there is no need to contact us. We will know you are not running if you do not show on race day.
Now is a good time to study up on the Superior race website – everything you need to know about getting to the race, the distance you are running, and the race course can be found on our website.
We had a much different winter than the previous two, with very little snow and as a result very little lingering snow pack to melt. We have been getting a fair amount of rain on the north shore of late, but even so, things had been so dry that the trails are in decent shape. We are hoping for a break in this wet weather pattern however. We have been out clearing trails and will have everything clear / passable by race day as usual. There is still the real ‘janky’ boardwalk you will encounter in both the 25K and 50K races in the Moose / Mystery valley (right at the base of Moose Mountain outbound – and again on the way back). As always please exercise caution on this boardwalk (walking it is suggested). The good news… we will be replacing that boardwalk this Summer! We worked with the SHT to procure material for this project using annual donation(s) from the race. We are excited to be heading up this project. The end result will not only be of value to the Spring and Fall race(s) / racers, but all trail users that enjoy this section of trail!
—-
While we are getting the itch to get back to t-shirts for the event giveaway, we still have not done everything we want to do with hats. Over the Fall and Winter we spent a ton of time designing, from the ground up, what we think is the perfect running hat. It hits on all the technical features you want in a running hat; breathable, lightweight, crushable and stowable, while still maintaining enough shape to look great. All runners and volunteers will receive this good looking hat. We ordered some extra so if you want to pick up an extra for crew, friends or family, you can.
—-
Another project we undertook over the winter is something we have wanted to do for a very long time. We are excited to introduce and offer for sale these super cool Superior Spring Trail Race course map and elevation chart art prints. We are producing these prints with a close friend of ours, in his local shop. Each print starts its life as a full sheet of plywood that we are going and picking up, transporting, ripping to size, routing, sanding, printing, packing and transporting to the race(s).
These are being printed with super durable UV inks, on high-quality pieces of 1/2″ baltic birch plywood. Please note that plywood has a lot of character – kind of a contemporary / industrial look. Each print will have its own unique variations of wood grain, and ‘imperfections’ (character). Please note that race courses are subject to change over time, with temporary or permanent reroutes. As a result the race route, elevation, distances and data represented on the print is not meant to be empirical / may change slightly over time. Over time we will update the artwork that we use to print these representing any significant course changes that end up becoming permanent.
17″W X 11″H Superior Spring Trail Race course map $45, elevation chart $45, and 8.5″H X 11″H RSR logo art print(s) $30 each. Place your order by Friday May 10 at 11:59PM and we will have your map / chart (s),ready for you to pick up on Superior Race weekend. We will only have time / material to produce 75 orders – so this is on a first come first served basis. We accept cash, check, PayPal and Venmo on race weekend.
If interested, you can place your order HERE https://forms.gle/j7EcSyRbw31KgtFG7
FYI, in the future we hope to get to the point where we will stock a few of these and have them available on our website for purchase as well, but expect them to cost about $10 more due to packaging and shipping.
—-
As always, a huge thank you to sponsors and partners. Please take a moment to click the link and check them out https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/sponsors/
If you are not quite ready to get back to what you were doing, linger a few more minutes and get stoked for what’s to come (and maybe say a quick prayer for some sun!) https://www.superiorspringtrailrace.com/photos-2023-highlights/
That is all I have for you today – thank you for your time. We can’t wait to see you all in (just under) a few weeks!
Thank You,
John Storkamp
Race Director
Superior Spring Trail Race