[Author’s Note: This article is the second in an 11-part series in AJW’s Taproom celebrating under the radar races.]
Rising practically 2,000 ft above the desert ground in central Arizona, the Mogollon Rim dominates the skyline east of the sprawling metropolis of Phoenix. Dotted with huge rock outcroppings and wealthy forests of ponderosa pine, “The Rim,” because it’s referred to as domestically, is a well-liked escape for Phoenicians searching for reduction from the summer season warmth.
As well as, since 1990, The Rim has been the house of the Zane Gray Highline Path Runs. The routes traverse the historic Highline Path, a Nationwide Recreation Path, which was established in 1870 as a route to permit journey between homesteads, and for teenagers to get to highschool in Pine, Arizona.
The weekend’s marquee occasion, the Zane Gray 50 Mile, has hosted a who’s who of ultrarunning luminaries through the years, together with Scott Jurek, Nikki Kimball, Karl Meltzer, Dave Mackey, Diana Finkel, Anton Krupicka, Geoff Roes, and Ian Torrence.
Runners approaching the end of the 2021 Zane Gray 50 Mile. All photographs courtesy of Zane Gray Highline Path Runs.
Held every year in late April, the Zane Gray 50 Mile has undergone a number of iterations through the years, because it included a 100k choice a number of occasions, and was previously held on a point-to-point course. Immediately, the race contains a modified out-and-back course, starting and ending on the Mountain Meadows Ranch in Christopher Creek, Arizona.
The race is 100% singletrack and consists of stunning vistas of rim canyons, brushy hills, and distant mountains. A portion of the path between the Washington Park Trailhead and the Pine Trailhead can also be a part of the 800-plus-mile Arizona Path. Rocky and rutted for a lot of miles, the Highline Path will check any path runner’s mettle.
I not too long ago caught up with Zane Gray race director, Joe Galope, to speak about his occasion. When it comes to the obstacles for placing on the race, Joe had this to say:
“Path stewards have maintained and improved the path through the years, however in doing so, have lengthened the path. Whereas we admire all they’ve finished for the realm, it has affected the race course. Moreover, the ecosystem of path operating has considerably modified through the years, which has generated obstacles with placing on the occasion.”
Volunteers working an support station on the 2017 Zane Gray 50 Mile.
He elaborated, “The saturation of competing path operating occasions, some on the identical month or weekend, not solely attracts from the market of runners, but additionally from the pool of volunteers and assets wanted to placed on an occasion.”
For years, Zane Gray has been recognized for its low key, community-centered vibe, and Joe says that’s by design: “We restrict the entire variety of members of the occasion, which supplies the race a way of group. We acknowledge that for some members this can be essentially the most difficult factor they ever do.”
He went on, “The race needs to make it possible for each participant seems like they’re particular for having achieved such a difficult occasion, and likewise needs their day to be an superior expertise. We try this by having veteran ultrarunners as support station volunteers and employees.”
As a veteran race director for over 25 years, Joe has nearly seen all of it, however he nonetheless seems ahead to race day yearly.
He mentioned, “I most sit up for seeing the enjoyment not solely on the finishers’ faces, but additionally their households’ faces on the end line. It’s a shared expertise via the months of coaching, the day crewing out on the path, and persevering via the problem… and at last reaching their objective.”
This 12 months’s Zane Gray Highline Path Runs, which is able to add a marathon distance, might be held on April 27, 2024, and there are nonetheless areas obtainable in each distances. If you wish to take pleasure in a traditional old style race with a Wild West vibe, come out to The Rim and run this spring.
Bottoms up!
An early begin for the 2010 Zane Gray 50 Mile.
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from That Brewery in Pine, Arizona. That Knotty Nut Brown Ale is a wealthy British fashion brown ale, that’s barely candy and uniquely brewed with pinecones, giving it a scrumptious piney end. When you make it to the Zane Gray 50, make sure to cease by That for a style.
Name for Feedback
- Have you ever finished the Zane Gray 50 Mile or any of the Zane Gray Highline Path Runs, and, in that case, what did you suppose?
- Does this type of low-key occasion attraction to you, or do you favor greater races?
