Grin and Bear It celebrates 30 years

Join in the history, support the future

What do you do when you come across a bear in the woods?
RUN.
At least that’s what Keith Austin, an Englishman living in Crested Butte at the time, did when he came across a bear in 1983. According to a news story from the Crested Butte Chronicle, Austin was on the Green Lake trail when he encountered a bear. After a couple charges by the bear and a couple rocks tossed and kicks from Austin, Austin turned and started running down the trail. The bear followed but, ultimately, never caught him.
“Perhaps the bear, a small black bear, realized that Austin would be more sport than a meal and scrapped the idea of devouring the lank Briton. Such a meal, afterall, would probably not have furnished much nutrition anyway,” reads the article.
Ironically, Austin’s bear encounter was at the same time that he and Vic Shepard were discussing the idea of a trail running race on the Green Lake trail. Shepard was a big fan of the trail for running.
“I lived over on Whiterock and it was just out my back door, up the bench and up,” says Shepard. “There weren’t many people trail running then, certainly not on that trail, and Keith and I discovered that we both liked running the same trail and we thought, let’s do a race to Green Lake and back. Do it as a fun run and see who’s out there doing this stuff.”
As they discussed it further, the question remained: What should they name the race? Then Austin had his incident and the name was settled—the Grin and Bear It.
On Saturday, July 20 the Grin and Bear It will celebrate 30 years of trail running starting at 9 a.m. at the Crested Butte Nordic Center.
In the beginning, the race started and finished at Second and Elk in downtown Crested Butte in front of Shepard’s restaurant, Le Bosquet, providing runners “bathrooms and carpeting to stretch out on” says Shepard.
The course was 9.2 miles long with 1,700 vertical feet of climbing and descending, including Baby Head Hill at the west end of the Bench and two stream crossings.
The race attracted a mix of talent. Austin was successful on the national trail running scene, with an Imogene Pass title to his name. Olympic biathlete Josh Thompson from Gunnison raced, a winner of the Empire State Building Run-Up won the Grin and Bear It and competitors of the Pike Peak Ascent and marathon would come to Crested Butte for the event.
“People would hear about it, come over here and run,” explains Shepard. “It was good training for the Pikes Peak race. Winners would do it in more or less one hour.”
Volunteers came out in droves, often marshaling the course, providing medical support and transporting water to aid stations via horseback.
“It’s easy to turn an ankle when you’re slamming downhill and wind milling,” says Shepard.
Runners were then treated to proper recovery products following completion of the course.
“We’d have some free beer at the end and buy some bananas,” says Shepard. “I don’t even know if Gatorade had been invented then.”
According to Shepard, the race also spurred the creation of the Crested Butte Mountain Runners trail running club and eventually, the running club took over the organization of the Grin and Bear It.
At its height, the race would bring in as many as 120 runners but it has since dwindled over the past decade down to fewer than 50 runners showing up each year. Nevertheless, the event still drew the kooks and hardcores, often mixing the two as some of the top runners in the valley have been known to line up for the Grin and Bear It in jeans.
Record times for the event have changed as the course was moved to different start/finish areas and the trail rerouted due to the Trappers Crossing development.
Sifting through his files on the race, Mountain Runner Martin Catmur believes Tim Parr has the most current course men’s record time of 64 minutes, 23 seconds, and Najeeby Quinn holds the most recent women’s record time of 78 minutes, 18 seconds, though Catmur’s personal recollection says otherwise.
“I know someone has done it sub-one hour,” says Catmur. “But course records are fluid because the course has changed over time.”
The Crested Butte Nordic Center took over the event for the past five years and is looking to bring it back to its heyday for the 30th anniversary and in the years to come.
“This year will be a building year,” says Drew Holbrook, director of events for the Crested Butte Nordic Center. “We’re putting a lot of positive energy and effort into it this year. We’re hoping to get 50 this year—that would be great.”
According to Holbrook, a similar post-race supplement will be in place this year, with Oskar Blues Brewery providing post-race liquid libations.
“It might be a little early for beer drinking but maybe not in Crested Butte,” says Holbrook.
Acli-Mate, Clif Bar products and water will be available at the aid station just before the final section of trail from the Trapper’s road to Green Lake. The first 50 to register will get a Team Griggs Orthopedics/Grin and Bear It pint glass, Flashflight products and a sandwich from the Sunflower Deli after the race.
You can register for the 30th Annual Grin and Bear It at www.cbnordic.org. Online registration will close on Friday, July 19 at 5 p.m. Proceeds from the race will benefit the Crested Butte Nordic Team.
As for the bears, Catmur says the original bear’s offspring has been seen in the past week on the trail.
“The bears are still out there,” says Catmur. “They’re still out there waiting for the runners.”