Contests

Inaugural Cayuga Trails 50: Race and Giveaway

on/163 comments

Cayuga Trails 50The Cayuga Trails 50 is a spankin’-new 50-mile ultramarathon scheduled for June 8, 2013. The race takes place on the trails surrounding Ithaca, New York and offers up rocky climbs, digger descents, 6,500 feet of vertical gain, thick hardwood forests, waterfalls, views of the Finger Lakes region, a whopping 11 aid stations, and…

[Keep reading, there’s a sweet contest below!]

Prize Money

…prize money totaling $12,000 plus gear from sponsors. Check it:

  • The first male and female will claim $2,500.
  • 2nd male and female: $1,500
  • 3rd male and female: $500
  • 4th male and female: $250
  • male/female age-division winners: sponsor awards
  • $500 to the first top 10 finishing male or female who can also return to finish in the top 5 at either the Finger Lakes Fifties 50 mile or the Virgil Crest 50/100 mile.
  • Elite prem* prizes: $1000
  • Non-elite prem* prizes: $1,000 worth of gear, food, cash, and more

*Race officials will be planted on the course in certain spots. Entrants approaching will be notified of a given performance incentive (like ‘$250 to the first racer to the top of this climb’ or ‘an apple pie to the first of your group to make it across the creek’). Prems are designed to encourage entrants to push their pace/effort and to just plain make the race fun.

Elite Field

Some top trail and ultrarunners have already entered the Cayuga Trails 50. Here’s the current high-level who’s who:

  • Sage Canaday
  • Yassine Diboun
  • Matt Flaherty
  • Dave James
  • Nikki Kimball
  • Dave Mackey
  • Jordan McDougal
  • Krissy Moehl
  • Ben Nephew
  • Jacqueline Palmer
  • Ragan Petrie
  • Leigh Schmidt

Any other speedsters out there jonesing for a June 50-miler in upstate New York? I mean, the RD is offering on-course apple pie!

Sponsors and More

All of this is coming together under the race directorship of Ian Golden, a long-time upstate New York trail runner and owner of the Finger Lakes Running and Triathlon Company, a brick-and-mortar Ithaca running store; a grant from the Tompkins County Tourism Program; and the following sponsors:

Contest

We’re hosting a contest to celebrate this new, competitive, and well-prized race’s arrival onto the ultrarunning scene. We’re giving away three prize packs containing the following:

  • Entry into the 2013 Cayuga Trails 50
  • Your choice of an UltrAspire Spry, Surge, or Revolution pack
  • A pair of Scott Kinabalus, and
  • An iRunFar.com-branded shirt from Atayne.

To enter the contest, post your answer to the following question as a comment to this post by March 2, noon MST: Why do you want to run the inaugural Cayuga Trails 50? [Editor’s Note, March 17: The contest is now closed; winners have been chosen and will be/have been contacted. See RD Ian Golden’s comment below for details on who’s taking away this contest’s schwag. Thanks for your enthusiasm!]

Tagged:
Meghan Hicks

is iRunFar.com's Managing Editor and the author of 'Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running.' The converted road runner finished her first trail ultramarathon in 2006 and loves using running to visit the world's wildest places.

There are 163 comments

  1. Tough Sherman

    After growing up in Ithaca, the longest race I could ever run was a 5K. Now I return six years later to run a distance I could have never possibly imagined. I run the Cayuga 50M to prove once and for all that the chubby kids in Ithaca High School don't always stay so chubby.

    1. Ian Golden

      Some of my favorite Virgil Crest finishers have been Clydesdales, so we'd want you even if you were still chubby. But we can for sure track down that high school sweetie that didn't give you the time of day secondary to chubbiness and invite her to work an aid station and while filling your bottles shersherealize

    2. Ian Golden

      Ct'd…realize who you are and how much tougher you are than her currently overweight jobless former star quarterback husband.

  2. R. A. Nypaver

    I could list many reasons why I want to raun Cayuga 50, like how I loved Virgils Crest and want to revisit the area, how my job doesnt pay much and need to save what little I have, and the chance to meet some awesome women running the event..but my main and honest answer is this: I want to meet my twin sister's boyfriend! I dont know if anyone know's much about twins, but they can be awfully protective. And since she lives in Colorado and I live in Ohio, we dont get to see eachother a lot. While I am giving this guy the benefit of the doubt (okay, he does seem exceptionally kind and good-hearted) I still want to make sure!

    :)

  3. luke m

    I would like to run the Cayuga trails 50 because it sounds like it's going to be a fun day out. Plus doing it in free gear and on someone else's dollar would be the icing on the cake!

  6. Ian Golden

    Sorry for the delay all…Bryon was off to New Zealand to cover Tarawera, Meghan's running some of the backend and getting things in order for MdS, and I wasn't sure of a process here. So, l'll just get out there the three winners who can all can send me an email (iangolden@gmail.com) re: the details. Thanks to all for chiming and to iRF, Atayne, Scott, and UltrAspire for the trappings. The winners are: Kristin Z, Rob Rowlett, and Michael Hughson.

Post Your Thoughts