MBSEF outlines new PPP trail run course

The Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation has released the details of the new 2.34-mile trail run course that replaces the Nordic leg of next Saturday’s 2015 U.S. Bank Pole Pedal Paddle due to low snow conditions at Mt. Bachelor.

“Generally, this is a fun, rugged run” on service roads and mountain bike trails around the mountain, said race Director Molly Cogswell-Kelley, who added, “It is also a very visible, fan-friendly course.”

It descends from the Alpine leg finish tag zone – which by the way will be several hundred yards up the mountain from its typical spot this year, she said.

Runners then will cross each other at the bottom of the initial descent, then head east in front of the West Village Lodge. Course monitors will be stationed at the crossing, she said.

The run course then gradually climbs on service roads, east of the Sunshine Accelerator lift, then crosses under the left, heading west to a “fun downhill run on a winding mountain bike trail with banked turns and a nice smooth running surface,” Cogswell-Kelley said. The course then crosses back in front of the West Village Lodge.

After passing through the base of the tubing hill, runners will cross out into the parking lot for about 200 yards and back onto trails around the back side of the parking lot, then back to the Nordic Center.

“This is the most rugged section of the course, and work will be done this week to improve this section,” Cogswell-Kelley said.

After a short loop on the Nordic trails, the run finishes in the traditional Nordic/bike exchange, outside the Nordic Center.

Mt. Bachelor and MBSEF will be working until race day to mark and improve the course, Cogswell-Kelley said, adding that “there may be slight course adjustments, depending on snow melt over the next week.”