Sure, running for 23 miles across, around and over a mountain range never sounds like a simple task, but race organizer Jeff Westcott said those who do so in the Breck Crest Mountain Marathon on Sunday won’t have any regrets.
“It’s of a tremendously high level of difficulty,” he said of the marathon, “but the runners are rewarded with some of the best scenery possible.”
Beginning Sunday morning, runners will take off from the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge for the 14th edition of the race. Participants can choose from either 23-, 13.3- or 5-mile loops on trails through the Tenmile Range.
The marathon and half marathon begin at 7:30 a.m., and the 5-mile race starts 15 minutes later.
Registration for the race is available at the Riverwalk Center today from 2:30-6:30 p.m. or before the race Sunday morning beginning at 6:30 a.m.
Despite not being the typical 26.2-mile length for a marathon, Westcott feels the Breck Crest offers avid runners a stern test.
“In a trail marathon, you don’t need to have the length set at 26.2, because of the difficulty,” he said. “There’s a great deal of climbing, you’re above the treeline, and it crosses the over the Tenmile Range twice. It just doesn’t need to be any longer.”
After leaving the Riverwalk Center area and heading up toward Peak 9, runners travel the entire way on trails from Peak 9 all the way down to Peak 3, much of the running coming on the Breckenridge Ski Resort.
Both the half-marathon and the 5-mile races have the same start as the full marathon, but loop back to the mass finish area at the Riverwalk.
“The course for the 5-mile is spectacular,” Westcott said. “You go up the Burro Trail, then loop on rolling terrain through the ski area then back down. It’s a great course.
The Breck Crest Mountain Marathon was started by the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center 15 years ago. The BOEC ran the event for 11 years, before it took a year of hiatus in 2006. In 2007, Westcott and his company Maverick Sports Promotions helped the event get rolling again.
“(The BOEC) did a really great job putting it together for so long, and we’re just trying to keep that going,” he said.
Last year, the top times for the races were three hours and 48 minutes for the full marathon, two hours and two minutes for the half and 52 minutes for the 5-mile.
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