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BEAVER — Racing straight up steep mountain sides and along scenic ridge lines for miles upon end is just what a group of extreme trail runners will do in the Tushar mountains of Southern Utah in August.
The Tushar 100 event will include a 100-mile “sky marathon,” 93-kilometer run, marathon and half marathon and will take place on Aug. 1. It will start and end at the Eagle Point Ski Resort at an elevation of 10,000 feet near Beaver. Runners will summit peaks, cross glaciated valleys and run through “unbelievably scenic areas few people get to see,” according to race director Matt Gunn.
The race course traverses the Tushar mountain range and tops peaks like Mount Delano at 12,000 feet while passing several alpine lakes, mining ruins and waterfalls, Gunn said.
The Tushar 100 is also part of the 2015 U.S. Skyrunner series and will be the first race in Utah to be featured in the series, which sponsors several Skyrunning events across the nation. The sport of Skyrunning — running long distances over mountains— originates from Europe, but is gaining popularity in the U.S., said Ian Sharman, director of the U.S. Skyrunner series.
Sharman said he is excited to see Utah finally be part of the global Skyrunning community with the Tushar 100.
“Utah is a spectacular state with the mountains and the scenery there,” Sharman said. “We’ve always had Utah on our radar, and now I’m happy we will have an event to showcase some of the beautiful geography of the state to the world.”
Gunn said the Tushar 100 course is “unique from anywhere else on earth” because of how challenging and scenic it is.
“The hope for adding this race to the (U.S. Skyrunner series) is that some of the Skyrunning elites will come to Utah,” Gunn said. “We already have some big-name runners signed up like Timothy Olson, who won the Western States 100 race twice.”
Utah is a spectacular state with the mountains and the scenery there. We've always had Utah on our radar, and now I'm happy we will have an event to showcase some of the beautiful geography of the state to the world.
–Ian Sharman, director of the U.S. Skyrunner series
Gunn said he fell in love with ultra running when he discovered he could experience vast amounts of terrain and scenery in a short amount of time.
“Instead of doing a backpacking trail like the 48-mile trail across Zion in five days, I could do it in a single day and be back home in the evening,” Gunn said.
Gunn started organizing long-distance trail races as part of his “Grand Circle series,” which includes races at the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Monument Valley, Capitol Reef and Antelope Canyon.
Sharman said Skyrunning may seem intimidating to many runners, but it is achievable for runners who put in the right amount of training.
“Skyrunning can be very difficult, but it’s worth building into gradually instead of jumping right into the deep end with it,” Sharman said. “I don’t know anyone who has done a Skyrunning event and hasn’t just loved the fact that they were able to get into the beautiful high areas that they wouldn’t have otherwise seen.”
Sharman suggested runners should start with smaller races like a 5 kilometer run with 1,000 feet elevation gain before progressing to longer Skyrunning events.
Spencer Ricks is a KSL.com news writing intern and student at Dixie State University from Snoqualmie, Washington. Contact him at newsintern@deseretdigital.com.
