2024 Superior Fall Trail Race Recap

100 Mile Runner Kevin Montroy well supported at the County Road 6 Road aid station / Mile 42.6 – Photo Credit Christine Armbruster

The Superior 100 Mile Trail Race is held on the Superior Hiking Trail on the north shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. It was founded in 1991 and is the 9th oldest 100 mile trail race in the country. The list is; Western States (’74), Old Dominion (’79), Wasatch (’80), Leadville (’83), Angeles Crest (’86), Vermont (’89), Mohican (’90), Arkansas Traveler (’91) and Superior (’91). Today, we estimate that there are around 250 one hundred mile races held each year United States. Shortly after the inception of the 100, the Superior 50 was founded as a separate event, and the two were later combined. The Moose Mountain Marathon was added to the Fall lineup in 2004. In 2003 a companion event, the Superior Spring Trail Race was added, it takes place each May and has 50KM, 25KM and 12.5KM race distances. 2024 marked the 34th annual Superior 100. Due to both the Spring and Fall races popularity, registration for the races is held via a lottery registration process – not all runners who apply get in. This year 960 runners from 2 countries, 35 states and 180 Minnesota cities were selected to participate via the lottery. Approximately 45% were return runners, and 55% were new to the event. Whether you ran the 100, 50 or 26.2 this year, finished first, last, somewhere in between or did not make it to the finish this time, crewed, paced, spectated or volunteered, we thank you for being an equal and indispensable part of a special few days.

50 mile runner William Nolan enjoying full sun at Leveaux Pond – Photo Credit Scott Rokis

If I had a nickel for every time someone proclaimed, muttered, or mumbled something about the fantastic weather during this year’s race… I would have as many nickels as there are roots, rocks and climbs on the SHT. Thursday’s squalls, and periods of intermittent but heavy rain, gave way to two of the most gorgeous days we have had in some time for the Superior Fall Trail Race. 50’s and 60’s, moderate humidity, sunny, and breezy – it was stunning. Cold 30F temps overnight did keep runners honest, and moving however. Runners traded shorts for pants for the overnight, and volunteers huddle in Carhartt’s and blankets around campfires in between runners arrival. After a very wet summer and spring, that brought heavy damaging rains and corresponding flooding in June, we had a relatively dry month-and-a-half leading into Superior. The trails were in great shape, and fast. Well, as fast as the Superior Hiking Trail can be. We were graced with the most subtle tinges of fall color, a reminder that our trail running season here in the north, is entering its final phase before giving way to winter, when many of us trade running shoes for snowshoes and skis. Another refrain I heard over the two days of running, was, ‘why so many DNF’s with such perfect weather’. Even with the great conditions, the 67% finishers rate in the 100 fell within the average, the finisher rates in the 50 mile and marathon fell within their average(s) as well. Regardless of weather, you still have to convince your brain and your body to solve the puzzle of every root, rock, and hill – and there are countless.

100 mile race start at Gooseberry Fall State Park from above, a huge thank you to Gooseberry Falls S.P. and MNDNR for hosting us – Photo Credit Tone Coughlin

100 mile winner Cheryl Matson in the early miles nearing the Split Rock Aid Station – Photo Credit Howie Stern

A rugged section of trail approaching the County Road 6 aid station – Photo Credit David Markman

100 miler Nathan Hubert and marathoner Anissa Thompson working out the timing just right – Photo Credit Mike Wheeler

Scott Wopata and Cheryl Matson each felt the rush, and likely the stress, of leading the 100 ‘gun to tape’. Coincidentally, each had a dress-rehearsal for their Superior 100 victories having both won the Superior Spring Trail Race 50K on the same trails in May. Finishing second in the 100, Andrew Warg paced it to near perfection, occupying the following positions through the 13 aid stations; 12, 9, 8, 8, 7, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 2 – passing the 3rd and 2nd place runners on the final section. Second place women’s finisher Erica Thomas’ race unfolded much the same, although she had slid into second place around halfway. Andrew Weber and Erin Green each won the 50 – it is one of the hardest 50’s you will find anywhere. Tyler Morey (running the 3rd fastest time ever), Annie Kopplin and Tyler Treptow-Bowman were the winners of the marathon – one of the most scenic in the country. Others raced with those in their age group, or against younger versions of themselves. They proved to themselves they could do ‘it’, added to their number of Superior finishes, ran in celebration of another year outrunning their cancer, or perhaps to remember those that they recently lost to it, or simply enjoyed a stress free and glorious day in the woods, while also happening to be in a ‘race’.

If superhero’s did not have any vulnerabilities’, and didn’t show us their humanity from time to time, we wouldn’t root for them. If you could just show up and easily finish Superior whenever you felt like it, it would lack the incentive that drives people like us to do it in the first place – a good honest challenge. Thankfully it remains one, and some days, it is just outside of our reach. Susan Donnelly is tied with Stuart Johnson for the most Superior 100 finishes at 22, she toed the line, but with some tender feed from another 100 just a few weeks prior. She also took some shrapnel during the race in the form of a heavy fall, and ultimately missed the cutoff at mile 95.4 / Oberg. Knowing her, 23 remains squarely in her sights and will be achieved in due time. Jason Husveth was going for his 10th star, and called it a day early – like the veteran Susan, no lamenting, excuses or regrets, just a lot of joy found in an opportunity to catch a friend finishing his first Moose Mountain Marathon. Adam Schwartz-Lowe got his 8th finish in 2019, his 9th in 2022, and his 10th this year. In his first eight, he was never out of the top five, the last two have been a little different, and he said it was his hardest fought Superior to date. Adam is now in the rarefied air, only one of nine, with ten or more – the aforementioned Husveth now in line to be the 10th to get 10.

After finishing her first Moose Mountain Marathon at the age of 70, Kay Stinson finished her 6th this year at the age of 77 – she plans another run at it next year, at 78. Laney Endres, 16, was our youngest finisher – she too ran the marathon. That is a 71 year spread between the oldest and the youngest at Superior this year. Jim Weart finished the 100 this year at age 67, he is now tied with four others as the oldest finisher of the 100. Older runners have tried, but none have made it yet. Perhaps we will have a 68 year old finish in 2025! Finally, earlier in the year a friend of the races was diagnosed with an incurable cancer. On the finish line he (emotionally) told me that having the marathon on his calendar was one of the reasons he survived the year. Put it on the calendar again next year dear friend. Please, everyone do.

Polar River crossing 1 mile out from the race finish – Photo Credit Scott Rokis

A gift from our resident author, and poet, Kevin Langton – Enjoy.

Poplar River

Her song has been forever
in you. Say it’s the small

quiet whisper of your mother,
deep in the sleepy pink

infant crease of your brain.
Say it’s the soft breeze

of aspen, yellowed leaves rustling
beneath your skin, a dried

rattlesnake tail tickling the ear.
Descend the mystery, deeper into

the mountain. More downward steps and
you find the splintered wooden bridge,

the one that’s been calling you for days.
Now you know it’s water you hear,

the sound of last spring’s snow
still trying to find the big lake,

its endless blue in view again,
maybe the same silver blue

as sky, drawing the river’s froth,
a steady hum, white foam, air, rock,

tumbling together in your head,
a rattle, your mother’s lullaby,

and the water you hear
is all the water inside you,

the sound of your tears following
gravity’s siren song into Lake Superior.

Volunteers make it happen! Temperance River aid station volunteers from Mill / Saint City Running – Photo Credit Christine Armbruster

Volunteers:
Nearly 350 volunteers came together to make this year’s race a success. Most are oft runners and volunteers from our local running community, some are friends and families of runners, others have never run a step in their lives but believe wholeheartedly in what we do. There is no shortage of 50 milers and marathoners who volunteer on Friday and run on Saturday. Nor is there any shortage of 100, 50 or 26.2 mile runners that come help with cleanup at our home on Monday. While I would never tell someone they are doing it wrong, I would say that if you are only running races and not volunteering, you are depriving yourself of a very special gift. Our trail marking crew are multi-year / return volunteers all who have committed themselves to learning our system of marking over the years. Nearly 40 individuals, working in teams of 3 marked all 102.9 miles of trail on the Thursday before the race. They also performed some last minute trail clearing and tune up. The sweepers are also generally folks who have made multi-year commitments and work to keep the entire race safe, and on track. Our logistics team drop off, keep stocked and then pick up tens-of-thousands of pounds of gear, water and food. Our Friday setup crew gets everything in place and set up at the finish line for the weekend, greet runners in the morning to load the buses and so on. Skilled teams of Aid Station Workers, Medical, HAM Radio / Communications, Runner Tracking, Timing, Photography, Packet Pickup, Race Start, Finish Line volunteers and more go above and beyond each and every year. I encourage you to take the time to read the volunteer recap / thank you HERE https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/thank-you-letter-to-volunteers-2024/ – if you want to see the relative enormity of what it takes to pull off Superior see HERE https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/volunteer-assignments/ A large percentage of the trail running community routinely volunteers. If you have not yet, give yourself the gift of doing as much… with RSR or at another race, either would be great. We all make this go.

With subtle hints of the fall color to come, 100 mile runner Scott Weispfennig nears Bean Lake – Photo Credit Howie Stern

Photos:
Some photo galleries are in, others are still on their way https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/photos/ Please keep in mind that some of our photographers sell their photos, some make low res images available for free and sell the high res versions, some will accept tips and some give away the high res images for free. Please look for notes / prompts for each photographer / gallery. All of them put a ton of time into it and have a pile of expensive gear that make having these stunning images possible. As always it is good form to credit (by name) and thank photographers for the photos you are sharing on your social media or elsewhere. If you want to use photos for commercial purposes please contact the photographers directly or contact me if you are unable to find their contact information. If you are a photographer or aspiring photographer and you would like to come shoot some time, please contact us, we would love to have you.

Results:
Race results are available via THIS link https://www.athlinks.com/event/179985/results/Event/1082031/Results – Once we are confident that everyone has had a chance to review the race results and no revisions are needed, we will upload results to our proprietary results pages on the Superior Fall Trail Race website and to UltraSignup. If your result is missing, or you see anything in error, please let us know right away – we will have more information about your time/result in one of the backup timing systems that we use.

Superior run hat

Superior beanie

Superior hat

Sweatshirts, T-Shirts, Hats and More for Sale:
If you were hoping to, but did not get a chance to purchase something at the race, you can do that on our online store HERE https://www.rocksteadyrunning.com/shop/ – you can use the “filters” on the side of the page to sort and search for specific items. We ordered some extras of this year’s hat should you like to grab a couple more – a Superior beanie or hat is a popular way to thank family, crew or pacers.

Rocksteady Community:
The Rocksteady Running Community is an online forum designed for community members to have civil conversations about all things pertaining to Rocksteady Running events (Zumbro, Superior Spring, Afton, Superior Fall, ESTRS), trail / ultrarunning in general, and more. This online forum has been built on our own platform and is not tied to any social media platform. It is free from advertising, invasive algorithms, tracking, etc. We intend for this to be a safe place to connect. Feel free to discuss registering, training for and racing our events. Discussion about the race courses, terrain, training, gear, challenges, triumphs and more are welcomed and encouraged. If you would like to create an account and participate you can do so HERE https://community.rocksteadyrunning.com/login For safety and transparency we ask that you provide both your first and last name when creating an account. My hope is that this forum will be an engaging and useful resource that allows you to connect with one and other.

Sponsors / Partners / Permitors:
Please be sure to check out our awesome sponsors and partners. We have real relationships with all of these businesses / organizations and most of the owners and/or employees are personal friends, they volunteer, captain aid stations, run the races and are part of our local running community. https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/sponsors/

Thank you to Caribou Highlands Lodge whose staff go above and beyond year in and year to host the race. Thank you Captain Ken’s for providing the post-race chili.

Thank you to Lutsen Mountain Ski Area for the use of their parking lot.

Thank you to Visit Cook County / Cook County Tourism for all of their support.

Thank you to the US Forest Service, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Lake and Cook County, Local EMS / Search and Rescue and all of the communities, locals and local businesses that support our event.

Of course, a huge thank you to the Superior Hiking Trail Association, its staff, board members, members and volunteers.

RSR x MiMS: a Superior Partnership
Last weekend several runners added meaning to their miles and celebrated two accomplishments at the finish line: being a Superior Fall Trail Race finisher AND being a Mile in My Shoes Fundracer. These folks applied and were selected to bypass the lottery as MiMS fundraisers. Want to support Mile in My Shoes? You can still donate to the Rocksteady Running fundraising campaign here: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/mile-in-my-shoes/2024-rocksteady-running-fundracing-team and look for more information on how you can become a FundRacer in 2025!

An SHT trail sign that has lived a lot of life – Photo Credit Christine Armbruster

Support the Superior Hiking Trail:
A large percentage of you are already Superior Hiking Trail Association members. Many of you who are not, indicated at the time you registered, that you would like to be – here is your chance. Now is a great time to show our support en masse that we, as trail runners support the trail that we love to run! You can join, or make an extra donation to the SHT via the following (custom for Superior Trail Race) links… https://superiorhiking.org/joinsuperior/ and https://superiorhiking.org/donatesuperior/ – The Superior Trail Race will continue its charitable legacy to the Superior Hiking Trail Association with a $3,000 donation in 2024, in addition to ongoing volunteer efforts on the trail itself; building, clearing, maintaining and improving. HERE is an example of how we contribute…

Moose Mountain Boardwalk Replacement Project: It was a longtime in the making (finding and allocating the funds, and planning) but it finally happened! In July a group of us (Superior Trail Race organizers, volunteers and racers) got together with SHT staff and replaced the bad bad boardwalk through the upper Rollins Creek watershed in the Moose / Mystery valley. If you have run either the Spring or Fall races over the past few years, you know the one well. This 160+ foot boardwalk is about 2.5 miles from the race finish, so all Superior Trail Race participants pass over it. It took nearly 450 volunteer planning and labor hours to get this one done – a huge thank you to all who donated their time! HERE https://photos.app.goo.gl/WG83rjotXahib4pc6 is a photo album from the project.

Please Take THIS Lodging Survey:
Our friends at Visit Cook County / Cook County Tourism are huge supporters of the Superior Trail Races. Please help us support them as they are looking for lodging data to help them better serve trail runners on both Superior Trail Race event weekends and throughout the year. Please take a moment to answer the three questions below. Thank You! https://forms.gle/dUZATVwf6Ycc98bf6

Next Year
The Superior Fall Trail Race is always held the weekend after Labor Day, so that will be Friday September 5 and Saturday September 6, 2025 (pending the approval of our permit applications). The 15 day lottery registration period typically opens on January 1. The website will be updated with complete 2025 registration and event details by late fall / early winter 2024, stay tuned.

In Closing:
I cannot thank you all enough for being part of the Superior family! Thank you for an awesome 2024, we look forward to seeing you next year! As always, if you need anything please reach out.

With Gratitude,

John Storkamp
Race Director
Superior Trail Race

A unique perspective of the 100 mile race start – Photo Credit Christine Armbruster