We’re so stoked to welcome you all back to L.B.A. park this weekend. The trails are just as twisty as you remember. The woods are ready for all you racers, and so are we. Below are all the important things you need to know to have an amazing and successful race. Read up, see you Saturday, bright and early!

Last year we planted 100 trees with ONETREEPLANTED. For every runner running our races we take one dollar and we plant a tree in a National Forest in the US. We decided to do this instead of handing out cheap, throwaway swag you often find in race bags. Trees are awesome, and this feels right and good.

For the year 2022 we are aiming for 300… maybe even 500 trees? So, for every race you run with Rock Candy Running, one tree is planted and the world is just made a little better. Come join us!

Wow! What an incredible race day we had this weekend. Thank you, thank you thank you all for coming out to Hoodsport and racing Mount Ellinor with us. What an incredible experience to stand at the finish line, and after month of preparation, welcome you all back from your adventure on these epic trails up and down this beautiful mountain. You all did so well!

Thank you to our amazing volunteers, on the summit, at the aid station, and back down at camp. Thank you to the National Forest for maintaining these wonderful trails and sharing them with us. And thank you to our sponsors. I will be in touch soon with our DFL racers for coupon codes to next year’s races.

Below are your 2022 podiums for both the summit race and the forest loop. For full results check out website and UltraSignup.

A few amazing volunteers took to some photos I posted here. You’re free to use them for your personal use. Thank you Amanda, Justin and Robb. 

See you all in 2023!

It is really happening, folks.
This Saturday, July 23rd will be the 12th running of the Beast of Big Creek, and the first hosted by Rock Candy Running. We’re honored that race director John Johnson trusted us to carry that torch into the future. We also want to acknowledge that the race is on the traditional territories of the Twana/Skokomish, Coast Salish and S’Klallam people.
The Olympic National Forest granted us a special use permit for the event. Thank you!

Need a cool podcast to get you in the mood while driving to Hoodsport?

It is almost time to race. Beast of Big Creek is just around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited. To share a bit of the history of the race and what makes it such so a special event, I have fellow podcaster, trail runner, and Olympia local Ben Mead with me this week. Look for Ben at the summit turnaround.

Summer is in full swing, we might even get some sun around here, and preparation for our first two trail races, Beast of Big Creek and Little Backyard Adventure Six Hours are keeping us awake at night brimming with excitement.

A couple notes I wanted to pass on, especially for the trails at Mt. Ellinor.

• There is still snow. How much, especially as things melt out with the incoming hotter weather I won’t be able to share with you, due to my second point.
• The National Forest is closing the trail for yet another round of ‘goat removal’.

The good news is that goats will be off the mountain by the time the race is happening. The unfortunate side effect of this is that I won’t be able to give you a clearer picture of the conditions of the trails. As soon as I have more info, I will let you all know. Fingers crossed snow will all be gone and running will be smooth. Or as smooth as it gets, I can’t do anything about the vert.

Except a full pre-race briefing update by next week!

Hello summer!
Our races are knocking at the door and we’re super excited to bring you The Beast of Big Creek, Little Backyard Adventure Six Hour and the Twelve Hours at Rock Candy.
To make this all happen we’re looking for a few friendly helpers who’d be willing to volunteer at these events.

Our biggest needs is for Beast of Big Creek (July, 23rd, Hoodsport, WA). This year’s our first time organizing this event and we want to make sure we got plenty of people taking care of our runners.
We’re looking for some amazing folks willing to climb to the summit and check runners off. We need some help at the mid-point aid station and at start and finish.

For LBA (August, 6th) we’re looking for folks who can help with check-in, time keeping and the aid station. This race is right in Olympia and easy to get to.

As a thank you, we’ll provide free race entries to any of our races.

Please get in touch if you can help out and if you have any questions:
volunteer@rockcandyrunning.com or 360.401.9308.

Thank you in advance!

Alright, here’s the announcement we’ve been waiting for. Beast of Big Creek (The Summit Race) is a UTMB Index race! No stones (yet!) but finishing Beast will get you finisher index. More details on the UTMB website.

So incredibly stoked over here! Come race with us on July 23rd, 2022.

The Six Hour Challenge we’re bringing to LBA park is something new for Olympia.
Let’s break it down what it is and why we decided to change the format for the popular trail race in Olympia’s coolest city park.

Initially we offered 3 distances to allow the widest possible audience to get a taste of trail running. Trail is more than ultra and we really wanted to share the amazing experience of running trails with as many new people as possible.

Then in 2021 when we had the second LBA event we noticed lots of folks wanting to change how many loops they ran. Some folks ran a single loop and then went out and just enjoyed the woods casually on a second one. Some folks had signed up for 3, but felt out of shape and only ran one. Some were signed up for 5, but called it quits after 3 or 4. This created a bit of confusion at the finish line, and while we got it all sorted we felt this needed some improvement and a solution for this.

The other thing we considered is that over the years several runners approached us asking for timed event like this. By turning the LBA race into a timed event we would solve the finish line mixups, offer a new race style to the area, and give runners full flexibility on how they wanted to approach their LBA race. Thus the LBA Six Hour was born for 2022!

Here’s how this will work at race day

• We’ll have a clock counting down from 6hrs.
  Each loop is about 4.5miles (we’ll give you exact numbers, including vert very soon!)
• We’ll be tracking every loop you complete.
• You can be done after 1 or go the full 6 hours.
• Only completed loops will count, so be mindful of when you’re heading out on your last loop (will let you know!)
• We’ll have fun prizes for runners completing the most loops and raffle off prizes among all participants.
• Each finisher will receive a finisher reward, if you complete one loop or run the full six hours.

Here are a few ways on how you can approach this race:

• Six hours doesn’t mean you gotta stay on the course for six full hours. This race is meant as a personal challenge for you to run your own race.
• You could commit to a single loop and give it your all and go fast.
• Or come out and join us for awhile. Run one, walk one, be party of the trail running community and celebrate movement, the great LBA woods and spend time with your friends.
• Go for glory. It’s totally possible to run an ultra at LBA. A 50K divided by 4.5m loops is 7 loops. 7 loops in 6hrs is 51min per loop. Totally doable. Who is going to be the first person to run an ultra distance at our Little Backyard Adventure?

Got questions?
Let’s hear them.

See you at LBA Park in August!

Taking over a race with an awesome history like the Beast of Big Creek is a huge honor. I’ve ran this race twice and love this mountain and these trails dearly. Thank you RD John for envisioning this race, directing it these past 11 years and passing on the torch. It’s a relatively short race, but the the vert is relentless and the upper section gnarly. The trails in the Olympic National Forest are beautiful and beckon to be explored. And so we’re continuing the tradition, keeping the race for this year mostly the same (with just an updated logo, of course). Learn all about the two distances and all the details here, and sign up to race Mt. Ellinor with us.

COME RACE WITH US!

Listen to the latest episode of Singletrack to hear a bit more
about the race and the plans for the future.

Thank you all for challenging yourself this past weekend and participating in the Virtual VERT Winter Challenge.

For full results, right this way.

Some highlights:

• Lance Dayton got the highest results with 198 points. Wow!
  He also did the most repeats and climbed the most vert with 11986.
• Dimitri Hunter ran the most miles with 42.
• And Scott Michie and Lou Donofrio each did 40 repeats on their local hill. Wow!

Amazing work everyone

So, now for the fun part:
I got enough goodies to send everyone something for their effort.
If the addresses you provided when registering are not a good shipping address, could you please reach out to me with an updated address, so I ship things to the correct place!

You’ll get one more email from me when packages are finally out the door as I am still waiting for a couple of items.
Thanks again for joining at at this early season challenge with the crazy formula.
This is the Virtual VERT Challenge!