MTC Weekly News: 6/13/2016

Missoula's John Fiore (shown here at Bighorn 2015) will be among the Montana contingent at the Bighorn 100. Credit: Steve Brown via Facebook

At the Races
Unless you took to the roads, you probably didn’t race this weekend. The lull in an otherwise busy summer racing season gives us all a chance to rest for a host of events coming up this weekend, which has become one of the busiest on the regional trail running calendar. If you are one of the lucky runners toeing the line at the Trail Rail Run, Bighorn, Wulfman’s, Old Gabe or River of No Return, here are some old MTC posts get you excited for what’s to come:

●     Wulfman’s: “Want to Go Wulfin’?” A feature on the Wulfman's CDT 14K

●     Old Gabe: Jeff Rome’s 2014 race report “Mountain Men and their Blankets” and Peder Anderson’s 2015 “Catharsis at the Old Gabe 50K”

●     Bighorn: Jesse Zentz 2015 50K report.

World Mountain Running Championships
Turning our attention much farther afield, I’d like to wish MTC board member Kristina Pattison luck as she races for Team USA at the World Mountain Running Championships this weekend. Kristina was recently featured in Run Wild Missoula’s “Member Spotlight.” Of course, Kristina is not the only Montanan in Slovenia for the championships. Bozeman’s Ted Farley and Whitefish’s Matt Shryock, a longtime Missoulian now living in Alaska, both earned spots on the U.S. Mountain Running Team and will be racing against some of the best in the business.

Trail Shots
For anyone preferring to seek out solitude rather than competition, check out our most recent feature “Trail Shots” by Missoula’s Justin Grigg. He’ll be culling social media to bring us up-to-date trail conditions from mountain ranges throughout the state to give us some useful beta on what we can expect in the high country. 

The Rattlesnake Mountains

Summer Running Routes

Also, find some inspiration and route ideas from these Montana Trail Crew classics:

●     Sheep Mountain

●     Wrangle and Lake Creek Loops

●     Boulder Lake

●     Bear Creek to Big Creek

●     Glacier Park Loop

Trail Work
Apart from running events, it’s never too early to make room on your calendar for volunteer opportunities. Here at MTC we’re coming up with plans to improve our adopted trail in the North Hills, so stayed tuned for more information on that. But in the meantime, consider lending a hand to MTB Missoula, Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation or other groups that have a number of trail work days coming up.