Registration is now open for 2012

Registration is now open for the 2012 Potato Creek Trail runs.

Please DO NOT call the park. The office staff is undermanned the way it is, and they do no appreciate all the phone calls regarding the race. If you have questions please email me at pctrailinfo@gmail.com
If You must speak with someone feel free to call me at 574-596-3860. Your calls are not sent to a call center in India, but are answered by me.

Changes for 2012-
There will be no race day registration for the Ultra or Marathon runners. The course will change very little. We will be running the hiking trail loop first this year. It is much wider than the mountain bike trail which will allow for passing and a chance for people to sort out their pace for the first 6.1 miles. The A/S that was on the old section of Orange road will be moved closer to the cemetery. This will provide two advantages over last year. 1) There are vault toilets out on the back of the course that can be used if needed. 2) This A/S will have road access; making it easier to stock and maintain, as well as allowing easy access for support crew and family on the back side of the course.
The course will be marked much heavier than last year. It is my hope that no one will get lost or confused while out on the course.

If questions arise, or if I can help any of you call or email me!

Thank You!

Registration Scheduled! Opening Soon!

Last week I got the permit back from the state, and it looks like we are set to go on April 28th at 8:00 AM. I have been emailing back and forth with Todd from T&H timing to get the online registration set up a.s.a.p..
Please check back soon as I hope to have everything set up this weekend!

As always you guys can reach me at any of these email addresses.

pctrailinfo@gmail.com

senatorb9@gmail.com

UPDATE: OCTOBER 3RD

Hello everyone. Fall is finally here and it is now time to get back on the RD horse and give you guys an update. After we paid all of our expenses this past spring (shirts, medals, food etc) we were able to donate $2,000 towards the scholarship fund. This is amazing to me. Around two weeks before the race I wasn’t sure that we would break even. What put us over the top were the 14 people that showed up on race day and signed up. This was a real blessing for sure.

I filled out the paperwork for the race permit, and turned in all the appropriate insurance info last month. I am expecting to get all the paperwork back any day now. TENATIVE DATE: APRIL 28TH, 2012 8:00 AM.

The course will be very similar to last year. It will have a few minor tweaks in order to make it less confusing, and have better flow. One change that was suggested was to run the hiking trails first due to them being much wider and easier to pass for the first 6.1 miles. Second, I will be moving the one aid station from the old orange road (the middle of nowhere) to closer to the cemetery where the A/S will have road access and the availability of bathrooms on the back loop of the course. Over the next few weeks I am intending to get out there with GPS to map it out exactly.

Check back here often as the race picks up new sponsors and I continue to post up more pictures. We will also be adding a FB page in the near future.

Good luck to all the runners at the Chicago marathon this coming weekend!

As always, you guys can reach me at any of these email addresses if you have questions, suggestions or want to gripe about something race related.

senatorb9@gmail.com
pctrailinfo@gmail.com

Photo's are here!

There is a quite a few. So have a looky at them; and remember you probably felt worse than what you actually looked. Copy and paste this address into a new window; http://www.flickr.com/photos/srsphoto1/ For whatever reason my new laptop is not allowing me to use a link.

Photo's coming soon!

I've been trying to contact the people who were there taking pictures. I think they are posted on photo bucket or something similar. I was told that one of them took 1600 pictures at the race. I will get you a link on the blog asap.

Results for 2011 and the "guess the gap" contest winner.

Thank you everyone for a great first year. Here is the link to T&H timing web page results T&H Timing

Looks like we had some superfast times!

The winner of the TIMEX IRONMAN Global trainer is...

DOUG MORRIS.(4:48.48) Please everyone check my math. The fist overall 1/2 runner was 99:20 and the first overall ultra runner was 392:32. By my estimation that is 4.88 and per the conversion it comes to 4:52:47. This is bad news for Eric Schumacher of Columbus Ohio who guessed 4:53. The second closest is Rachel Kaser with 4:44.44( first female in the half ). Doug please email me so I can set up a time to get you the GPS watch.
****EDIT***
OK...I just got off the phone with a fellow runner explaining where I went wrong with the math. In fact, Eric Schumacher is the winner. Apologies to Doug. I will be sending out a email to correct this. Thank you Larry for your timly phone call.

This years Potato Creek is in the books.

I'd love to sit here with a smug grin on my face saying we nailed it this weekend; but, I know there are many areas where we can improve. Please keep the emails coming with suggestions complaints, or compliments. Next years race will have more GPS info like mileage listed throughout the trail system, and mileage listed at each aid station. I was out this morning taking down the course markings and realized there was a two mile stretch with no pink blazes at all. I think on a conservative estimate, we lost somewhere between 20-25% of the course markings.
I had no idea what could have happened to the pink blazes until I found these two walking sticks.

Each of these sticks ( for mushroom hunting? ) had around 10-20 pink blazes on them.
Next year, I will use the old standby method; accuracy by volume. I also intend to put out less complicated signs...things like arrows seem to work better.
If you got lost, or were instructed to run in the wrong direction PLEASE EMAIL ME!!! I am very sorry your day was ruined. Speaking from experience it is no fun being lost.
www.pctrailinfo@gmail.com

I am working on getting our results posted online. It's a bit complicated as the contractor for the event used a sub-contractor from different part of the state. I have emails into both of them.