Line up for the inaugural Grand Traverse summer endurance races

The Elk Mountains Grand Traverse, a staple on the winter adventure ski racing circuit, has expanded to now offer a summer race, the Gore-Tex Grand Traverse Mountain Bike & Run, this year on Saturday, August 16. “The winter athletes are also trail runners or mountain bikers so we carved out this event on the same course,” explains Grand Traverse co-race director Bryan Wickenhauser. The concept first emerged four years ago among the stable of Grand Traverse race organizers and participants. Three years ago a handful of individuals took part in an unofficial Fun Run along the Grand Traverse course, at which point the idea was given the green light. Unfortunately, while organizers hoped to kick off the new event last summer, permitting was not in place far enough ahead of time, so they opted to push the inaugural summer Grand Traverse race to this year. The summer race is nearly identical to the winter course in that it starts in Crested Butte and finishes in Aspen, it still hits the 40-mile mark and still includes 8,000 feet of climbing. There are a few tweaks, though. For one, it starts in downtown Crested Butte from in front of the Brick Oven, leaving town limits via Elk Avenue and Tony’s Trail. Racers then get a section on the Upper Upper Loop before turning onto Brush Creek Road and head for Aspen using the Canal Trail, the “Death Pass” section, and eventually climbing to Star Pass via Trail 400. In the winter, racers then descend close to the valley floor before turning up for Taylor Pass. The Summer GT returns to the “old” Grand Traverse course staying on the trail available. “We’re going with the old, original course where you stay high and to the left off of Star Pass,” explains Wickenhauser. After that section, racers return to the Grand Traverse course up to Taylor Pass, along Richmond Hill and then descend Ajax Mountain (the Aspen ski area) into the town of Aspen. There will be aid stations along the way but competitors must provide their own drinking vessels, i.e., water bottles, CamelBaks, etc. “It’s a ‘cupless’ race in an effort to mitigate garbage out on the course,” says Wickenhauser. The race is open to both running and biking and can be done as individuals or in teams of two. Just like in the winter race though, teams must stay together for the entire race. As of press time, more than 160 have registered for the inaugural summer race with most of the early registrants from out of valley but Wickenhauser expects the number to grow as the locals join in. “Right now it’s 90 percent out of valley people which is great for the local business economy,” says Wickenhauser. “We also know that lots of local athletes wait until the last moment so we’ll probably be at 200 by August 16.” Ultimately, Wickenhauser and the Grand Traverse organizers hope to split the summer event into two and create a “triple crown” of skiing, trail running and biking. “It would be the only triple crown series of its kind in North America,” says Wickenhauser. For more information or to register check out elkmountainstraverse.com/summer. There will be racer check in and registration at the Four-way Stop from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, August 15 as well as a vendor expo. Early Saturday morning the runners toe the line for a 6 a.m. start and the bikers head out at 9 a.m. from downtown Crested Butte in front of the post office. Wickenhauser expects the winning bike time to be in the neighborhood of four hours with the winning runners hitting Aspen around seven hours after starting. “A lot of that is weather-dependent, of course,” says Wickenhauser. One thing is for sure, there won’t be any avalanche hazard so, rain or shine, racers will start in Crested Butte and finish in Aspen.