Greetings all,
What can we say other than “thank you?” The first in-person edition of the Fire Tower Trail Races was a huge success, and we couldn’t have done it without you! Without you showing up, we would have been two very lonely race directors, sitting at a picnic table all day, eating an awful lot of hamburgers.
While we’ve hosted races before – our other race, the St. Croix 40 Winter Ultra, has been around for a few years now – we knew we needed to step up our game here. We had a vision of what we wanted to provide, and it was on us to take the right steps to build that vision.
Looking back on the day, we think we might have achieved it. We wanted to build a trail race where everyone could feel welcome and find a place to fit in. More than that, we wanted to help foster a COMMUNITY that supports those ideals. Seeing the camaraderie throughout the day yesterday was so meaningful for us, and we were thankful for every smile! (And most of the grimaces, too. We understand.)
There are a few things we know we need to work on for next year, like making sure we get loads of photos and remembering to raffle off all these gifts from our sponsors. (More about this very soon! Once we’ve unpacked here, we’ll get these distributed.) Our list of “Things to do better” is growing as we talk through the day, and if you have any thoughts, we’d love to hear them!
Now, the rest of the nuts and bolts: Race results are now on the website and at UltraSignup! If you’re posting about your experience on social media, please consider tagging us, or use the hashtag #firetowertrailraces so that we can see how the day went for you. Also, if you’d like to share any race reports, we’ll provide a link to them on the website.
Finally, if you took a picture at the top of the fire tower, please send it to us! It would be neat to make a collage of the views that you all worked so hard to see. (Selfies welcome!)
Congratulations to you all for toeing the line and staring down the challenge before you. Whether your day ended in a triumphant run across the finish line or concluded with lessons learned for another day, you’ve accomplished something worth celebrating! We hope the good moments were glorious, the bad moments were informative, and the whole experience was one worth having.
And it’s only fair: One of your RDs managed to sprain an ankle while sweeping the rutted, chunky Bear Creek Trail after dark. Solidarity.
Fire Tower Trail Races 