150 runners. 31 miles. 21 years.
One river.
Welcome to the home of the McKenzie River Trail Run, the final event in the Oregon Trail Ultra Series. Tracing a route along the beautiful McKenzie River Trail, this 50K offers runners a technically challenging course and the inspiration of some of Oregon's most breathtaking scenery.
The 23rd annual McKenzie River Trail Run 50K will be on Sept 11, 2010. We used an electronic registration service for the first time this year and received 38% more entries than last year. After studying prior year pre-race withdrawal and did-not-start numbers, the race directors were all set to accept all the entries we received and make everybody happy. Our estimates had us naturally dropping to around 200 runners (the number allowed by our permit) by race day. We contacted the Forest Service and they were ok with the plan, even if we ended up starting a few more than 200. But they also had some bad news for us--The road bridge into Carmen Reservoir is scheduled to be replaced this summer and won't be completed until October, significantly restricting parking at the start. And, the ranger station (finish area) is being remodeled and parking there will also be significantly reduced at the time of the race.
With parking historically having been just adequate at both the start and finish on race-day, the reduced parking levels will be unacceptable without a workaround. So after extensive discussion and deliberation, we decided this wasn't the year to push our number of participants up, so we held a drawing to reduce the number of entries to 200. Accepting 200 and forecasting the typical number of drops and DNS's, we would likely end up at about 130 starters on race day if no one was added from the wait list. Based on what we come up with for the parking workaround, we will decide if we are able to push the numbers back up to 200 starters or if we'll need to run the race with fewer people this year. The good news for those of you that don't like having a point-to-point course where the race organizers don't provide a shuttle, this may be the year you get one.
If you were not selected in the drawing, your credit card was not charged (or for paper entries, your check will be returned). All names not selected in the drawing will automatically go on a waiting list. When (if?) we are able to add runners, we will send invitations to the next-up on the list, with instructions on how to register.
Thanks for your support of MRTR and regrets to those who weren't selected in the drawing.
See you on the trails,
Brad Putnam, Mark Humphreys, Mike Milbradt
MRTR Race Directors
