Drop Bags and Crew Access

Drop bags may be left at the Beck's Road aid station.  Runners will access this aid station 4 times during the race.  Please mark your bag for Beck's Road and leave it at the start line prior to the start of the race for transportation to the aid station.  You may also leave a drop bag at the Zoo turnaround and start/finish.  You can access your vehicle here at the halfway point as well.

Crews should have access to the Magney-Snively and Becks Road aid stations.  However, please be aware that Skyline Parkway is rough due to runoff and Becks Road is under construction.  We would encourage crews not to go to these aid stations if possible.  Access is poor and your runner will have access to drop bags at Becks Road and fully stocked aid stations. 

Packet Pick-Up and Post Race at the Zoo

The packet pick up on Friday night from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. will be at the Duluth Zoo under the tent.  Post race lasagna feed will also be held at the Duluth Zoo under the tent.  Same great meat and vegetarian lasagna from Cozy Cafe in Carlton as always.  We may try to server the lasagna a little earlier this year as well to get some food in our early finishers a bit sooner.

We will try to get out updated race packets to you via e-mail in the next day or two.  Please remember that the Voyageur starts this year at 6:00 a.m.

Course Direction Update

It has been determined, in an effort to keep things a little less complicated, that we will run the TWO loops of the new Voyageur course in the SAME DIRECTION.  This will not be an out-and-back type loop as previously stated.  This should help reduce the confusion a little bit and keep the course markings a bit easier to manage.  The aid station distances below have been changed to reflect this development.

2012 Voyageur 50 Aid Station Distances

2012 Voyageur 50 Aid station Distances:

Skyline:     4.1
Ely's Pk.:   3.4
Munger:   3.1
Munger:   4.9
Skyline:    4.7
Zoo:          4.4
Skyline:    4.1
Munger:   3.4
Munger:   3.1
Ely's Pk.:   4.9
Skyline:    4.7
Finish:      4.4

These distances are for a double loop in the same direction - NOTE the change

Voyageur 50 Maps and Profile

Voyageur 50 maps and profile below.  Please note the differences between the Half Voyageur and Voyageur 50 courses.  We will most likely be running the loop backward for the second loop to make it sort of like an out-and-back, so the arrows on the trail will denote the first loop of the course.

2012 Minnesota Voyageur Trail 50 Course:

2012 Voyageur 50 course profile:

2012 Voyageur 50 North:

2012 Voyageur 50 South:

NOTE:  Disregard the Harder n' Hell Half Marathon titles at the top of the maps...these are the Voyageur maps

2012 Half Voyageur Trail Marathon Aid Station Distances

Aid Station distances for the 2012 Half Voyageur:

Skyline:     4.1 miles
Ely's Pk.:   3.4 miles
Munger:   3.3 miles
Munger:   4.7 miles (powerlines section)
Ely's Pk.:   3.1 miles
Skyline:     3.4 miles
Finish:       4.1 miles

2012 Half Voyageur Course Map and Profile

Overview map of the 2012 Half Voyageur Trail Marathon course.  The Voyageur 50 maps will be uploaded tomorrow.  The full Voyageur 50 course will be quite different with fewer out-and-back sections.  Click on the map to enlarge.  PLEASE NOTE:  Maps below have been updated (7/11/2012) to reflect additional aid station and change of direction through powerlines.

Half Voyageur course profile

Half Voyageur Course North

Half Voyageur Course South

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.