Post-fire course status
I’m sure most reading this already know that two weeks ago Lory State Park had a pretty major wildfire incident. Given that the Quad Rock Trail Races start and end in Lory and use the trails extensively, you’re probably wondering how the fire has impacted the event. The short answer, thankfully, is that it really hasn’t. We are not expecting to have to implement any kind of re-route, our start/finish area at Soldier Canyon is still intact and now that the fire is out, it appears to have largely been a grass and scrub fueled incident confined to the lower valley area of the park. So that’s the good news.
Training run
The not-so-good news. Footbridges, water bars and fencing in the valley and on the valley trails have largely been burned out. This means lots of grunt work before the park can re-open (see below if you want to help out), and the timeframe the park is looking at is about three weeks from now (3/28), which means that we will not have access to Lory State Park and its trails for our planned April 6 training run. However, the good folk at Larimer County Open Spaces have agreed to let us use the pavilions at the main Horsetooth Mountain trailhead for our meet-up and post-run barbeque, which means the training run will go ahead as planned on April 6th at 8:30 am, just from a different location.
The post-run BBQ is still planned for between 1:00 & 2:00 pm, and we will have samples of the new Pearl Izumi E:Motion line for people to try at that time. In addition, we will have Ultragen recovery drink available post run and some EFS Liquid Shot samples pre run. The coupon code on the sidebar of this website has been activated if people want to purchase First Endurance product from now until race day on May 11.
Parking at Horsetooth is first-come, first-serve and while the lot is large, if the weather is nice it fills up quick. If you plan on coming, we encourage you to carpool so that we’re not hogging a ton of spaces. For those that do not have an annual Larimer County Parks pass, parking is $6 per vehicle (regardless of residency). We will provide charcoal, burgers and veggie burgers; consider bringing something else to share. If you fancy a brew post-run, please make sure it is 3.2% or lower and in a can (per park rules). We will also have a donation jar at the BBQ for people who want to chip in for the cost of food supplies. All proceeds will be donated to restoration efforts at Lory.
As far as route options go, obviously people can run whatever they choose, but for organized options, we’ll run the Horsetooth section of the course as far as Loggers, cut back to Sawmill and then down to Stout to get back on course. One loop of that will put us in the 13-mile range, so obviously if you double down you’ll get a nice little marathon workout. Depending on demand, we may have a one-loop meet-up option.
Please email registration@gnarrunners.com to let us know if you plan on attending and if you’d like a later meet-up option for one loop. An idea of numbers would be very helpful, so please let us know! We’ll update the training page of the website with details as we have them.
Want to help out at Lory?
There are volunteer clean up days this Friday & Saturday March 29/30 starting at 9am at the Lory visitor center. If anyone wants to help, please RSVP to Mitch at mitchell.diede@state.co.us. There are 10 bridges in the park that will need to be rebuilt and Mitch will be recruiting smaller crews to help with the construction work. Please contact Mitch directly if you think you can help with any construction work, sourcing building materials, or just want to make a donation.
Thanks, and hope to see you April 6!
