The North Fork Trail Race is run entirely on trails on the Front Range of the Rockies, just 40 miles southwest of Denver.  The course is in the beautiful Buffalo Creek Recreation Area in the Pike National Forest, starting and finishing at Pine Valley Ranch Park in Pine, Colorado.   The course is hilly and it is very challenging for those who are not experienced mountain trail runners, but speedsters who are used to altitude find the course quite runable.  The friendly aid stations, beautiful scenery and generous time limits make North Fork an excellent choice for a first trail ultramarathon.    Come join us on June 30!! 

Registration and current list of entrants is on Ultrasignup. 
The fee for the 50K is $75 and the 50 Mile is $85.  Add $15 after June 1.
The race filled 6 weeks early last year.

All entries are non-transferable and non-refundable.  Limit 175 runners for both races combined.  No wait list will be kept.

    
The North Fork Volunteer Fire Department, the primary beneficiary of the proceeds from the race, protects the area where the race is run.  They have valiantly battled a number of fires in recent years that have changed the landscape, opening up broad vistas of the high country, as you see in the photo above, and giving birth to new growth. 

You will run through some of the burn areas, as well as through pristine forests of ponderosa and lodgepole pines dotted with fields of wildflowers.  Be sure to check out the photo gallery by clicking "photos" in the far upper lefthand corner of this page.  The course is 100% trails, mostly single track and some double track, with mostly good footing, at altitude ranging from 6,700 to 8,100 feet.  Elevation gain is about  4,500 feet for 50K and 7,200 feet for 50 miles.

Part of this year's proceeds will also go to the Evergreen Chorale, members of which will be volunteering on race day.  Learn about the Chorale at http://www.evergreenchorale.org/ .  


VOLUNTEERS

If you won't be running the race in 2012, please join us as a volunteer.  If you want to help and get a run in, you can volunteer to mark the course on the day before the race, to check course markings on race day, or to sweep the course after the last runners.  We need a lot of volunteers to help at the start, to help with the fabulous post-race barbecue and to manage the finish line.  Please email the race director at northfork50@live.com  to volunteer.


TRAINING RUNS

Very informal training runs will be held on the course on Saturday May 19 and Saturday June 9.  Both runs will start at 8 a.m. from Pine Valley Ranch Park in Pine, the start/finish of the race.  The May 19 run will be a 21.5-mile loop that covers miles 1 to 9.9 and 19.9 to 31.5 of the 50K.  (The 9.9 and 19.9 mile marks are both at the location of the Buffalo Creek aid station; we will not be doing the 10 mile loop from 9.9 to 19.9.)  The June 9 run will be 18.5 miles, the second loop of the 50 mile race, miles 31.5-50.  There will be limited aid--one aid station in each run.  The course will not be marked, so you will be depending on detailed turn sheets, which you should print below.  These runs are great opportunities to get familiar with the course and Pine Valley start/finish area.  Email the race director if you plan to attend.  

Turn Sheet and Instructions for May Training Run

Turn Sheet and Instructions for June Training Run    

Janice O'Grady
Race Director
(303) 903-3533
northfork50@live.com