By HPRS Staff Columnist Christopher Mellott
When I first started running, It was easy to find 5Ks to run every weekend. Every middle school and non-profit hosted a race. I had more free chapstick, and cotton t-shirts than my junk drawer or closet could handle. It seemed that every Wednesday at run group we were hearing about the three different 5Ks that were going on the upcoming weekend. A friend and I actually once ran four different races in a weekend. We also ran three 5Ks in one day. Races were easy to find. When I started looking at marathons, they were fewer and farther between, but I still found them.
When I left the sidewalks, and roads for trails, I didn’t have any useful resources other than local running stores to find races. The internet was a cesspool of wrong information, previous years race information, and missing race details. When you start running trails and ultras, you have to start thinking about things like cutoffs, elevation gain, navigation, crew access, pacers, aid stations, and other variables.
I have raced enough in the last few years to have sifted through the refuse and unreliable websites to discover resources that help runners find trail and ultra races. I generally do a quarterly search and add races to a calendar as a quick reference. I put races of all kinds in my calendar. I put anything from the Pikes Peak Road Runners monthly Nielson Challenge to potential dream races in other states. At the end of this document, I have attached links to various resources that may help you find the race or races that motivate you to put in the work.
Some of the best ways I have found to find races are listed below.
Find a Race Director or series of races that you like:
I run races without knowing much other than the course and the start line. Sometimes it works out well, and other times I run the race and choose not to race it again. Once I discover a race I that I liked something about whether the course, the swag, the organization or all of the above I try to remember what organization hosted the race. I look at their website and their race calendar and add them to my calendar because I know what I am going to get out of them. Once I ran Stories, I knew I wanted to run other HPRS races and have added several to my calendar. I have run multiple Trail Maniac races in Spokane and Mad Moose Events. I know I am going to have a good experience and the courses are going to be challenging and worth it.
Join a local running group:
Local running groups are a great way to find out about races. Often I find hidden gems of races from local running groups. It is also a way to get involved. Find your local running groups and see if they publish a calendar or periodic newsletter with race announcements. Bloomsday Road Runners which is the running group I am part of in Spokane maintains a calendar of all the races within about a two-hour drive of Spokane. It is updated regularly and has all the links to the race website. I use it when I am looking for smaller races to participate in while training for more prominent ultras. In May of 2018, I ran the Priest Lake 50K in Idaho which was advertised in the Bloomsday Road Runners quarterly newsletter.
Social media:
A cool way to find out about races is to follow athletes on social media. I follow a variety of athletes. These runners post where they are running and racing. I find fun races that might be dream races for me. I have raced the Hayden Lake Marathon in Idaho twice, and I only found out about it because I followed a runner who was training for it. Social media can be an excellent way to find new races and maybe even make some friends at the races.
Strava:
Strava can help you find races all over the world. When you log on you can click the “explore” button and then search for races. You can look at Strava for all the race details, and then look at the official site. Strava can show you the route, the elevation change and maybe even some segments. Strava can help you find races but also friends who may be running the races as well. You have an online community cheering you on as you train for a race.
Race management websites:
If you run trail or ultra races chances are you have heard of https://ultrasignup.com/ or https://www.active.com/. Both of these sites provide online registration options for races and are an excellent place to look for races in your area. You can search by area, by type of race or other criteria.
Warning: It is probably not a good idea to search these websites while drinking or when you are feeling outstanding after another race because chances are you will end up signing up for another race.
American Trail Running Association
ATRA has a race calendar which has trail races from all over the country from 5K to ultras. You can see what races are ATRA approved and is another valuable site for planning out your year.
Friends
Talk to your friends. Ask them for what races they are running, what race directors do they like and who has the best swag. Your friends are looking for different races and maybe looking in different areas than you are.
There are lots of great ways to find out about races. I have given you some, and at the end of this article, there are others that I didn’t mention. Searching and finding information about races can be daunting. I have also attached a screenshot of my race calendar that I use to keep the information easily accessible and has the information I want without going back to the website. If anybody wants my calendar to let, me know.
My last piece of advice for finding a race is to sign up for the races that get you going, that motivates you to train. Find the race that makes you feel terrified and exhilarated all at once. I wish you all the best on finding those races.
Resources:
http://humanpotentialrunning.com/
https://trailrunner.com/race-calendar/
https://calendar.ultrarunning.com/
https://www.pprrun.org/calendar/2019