Despite damaging floods last month, the 21st Half Voyageur Trail Marathon on July 14 will be held as scheduled, and the 31st Minnesota Voyageur Trail Ultramarathon 50-Miler on July 28 also may be run.
Race officials indicated this week that the path of each race will need to be rerouted because parts of the course have been eliminated by the closing of Jay Cooke State Park.
The 26.2-mile Half Voyageur will start and finish at the Lake Superior Zoo, and be held primarily on trails in the Spirit Mountain area, said race director Kris Glesener of Proctor.
"Parts of the course were washed out and there are a lot of trees down, but we've already cleared a lot of the brush away," said Glesener, a member of the sponsoring Northern Minnesota Track Club. "There is some rough terrain and we're trying to make it as smooth as you can get it."
Race organizers have worked with officials from Spirit Mountain, the Lake Superior Zoo and the Duluth Parks and Recreation Division. A seven-member volunteer group worked six hours June 30 in preparing the Half Voyageur trail and are expected to be back on the course today.
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Glesener and Minnesota Voyageur co-director Andy Holak of Duluth, both experienced runners, have run on parts of the course. Luke Moravec of the Parks and Recreation Division also has been on site.
Holak expects to decide Monday on the fate of the Minnesota Voyageur for 2012. If held, the course would basically be two loops of the revised Half Voyageur layout, starting and finishing at the Lake Superior Zoo.
"The most important things are runner safety, aid station availability and course access for emergency vehicles," Holak said. "It would be a more difficult course than we have now, more hills, and runners would get to see some of the damage (at a safe distance) caused by the power and fury of Mother Nature."
The Half Voyageur has 70 entrants so far and the Minnesota Voyageur is on pace for nearly 200 entrants, a race record.
Runners will travel over neighborhood trails, mountain bike trails, ATV trails, the Kingsbury Creek trail, the Magney-Snively ski trail system, Ely's Peak, Bardon Peak and dirt roads. They will head as far west as the power line trails near Highway 210.
Race information is available at http://voyageurtrailrun.blogspot.com/ .
In 2011, Eric Hartmark of Duluth won the Half Voyageur in 3 hours, 15 minutes to lead 150 finishers, while Samuel Jurek of Boston won the Minnesota Voyageur in 7:27:35 in a field of 109 finishers.
