The Voyageur 50 is ON!

After some careful consideration to make sure that we could create a safe course for our runners, we have determined that we can go ahead with the 31st Annual Minnesota Voyageur Trail 50 on July 28. We'll have access to our aid stations and for emergency vehicles should an emergency occur.  Runner crew access to our aid stations this year may be extremely limited or non-existent as well.  We are still figuring out these details.

While the race is on, this year, you won't run the Voyageur course as you know it.

This is actually part of Skyline Parkway.

This will be a completely different course that will only be used this year. The race will start AND end at the Duluth Zoo. We won't be going into Jay Cooke State Park (it will be closed until October 31 due to severe flood damage) or Carlton this year. We are hoping to be able to go back to our traditional course next year. There will be a few parts of the Voyageur course that you'll recognize - the powerlines, running across Spirit Mountain, some of Skyline Parkway, parts of the Magney Ski Trails and a couple of other short stretches.

We also have to emphasize that this course will be harder than the traditional Voyageur course. You will have to run the infamous "Jarrow's Beach" section that is a part of the 1/2 Voyageur course, climb the ski hill at Spirit Mountain and run a couple of other gnarly singletrack sections that you haven't run before. This will be a HARD course!

We want to strongly encourage all runners, especially the faster ones, to just slow down when running through areas like Jarrow's Beach with many extremely slippery boulders to run through. No one will run fast on this course, no one can set a course record since this isn't the traditional Voyageur course, but everyone can still have fun. Just slow down and enjoy your day!

Getting the route ready for the 1/2 Voyageur

The full Voyageur 50 course will be slightly different than the 1/2 Voyageur course. We will have maps of both courses up tomorrow.  This course will also show some of the damage that occurred to the area and the power of nature. What you'll see is only a small portion of the damage that occurred to the area.

Both courses will feature several out and back sections with "lollipop" type loops. These sections will potentially be confusing, so please review the course map carefully and pay close attention when you're running. We will try to mark these sections carefully and also have marshals on the course at the most confusing locations.

This years race will start 1 hour earlier at 6:00 a.m. with the same ending time so there will be 1 hour added to the cutoff time this year. We are still figuring out some other details such as where we'll have packet pick-up, where our post race lasagna dinner will be held and whether we'll do two loops of the course or do an out and back type course on the loop. We'll provide updates to these details as soon as we have them.

Come prepared for an adventure, don't worry about your time, be prepared to get lost and have fun. This won't be the same Voyageur that you all know and love, but it will be a unique opportunity to see some new trails, view some of the effects of the Great Flood of 2012, run with your friends on some rugged trails and challenge yourself.