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The Fourth of July weekend is here! 🇺🇸 🎆 Whether you are kicking off the holiday with a local race or creating your own adventure, we hope you have a great weekend. Here’s what on tap for this week’s newsletter:

When most people think of a trail running race, they associate it with an ultramarathon (any distance over a marathon). While ultramarathons are booming in popularity, Conner and Alice Curley want to offer something a little different. With years of experience in the race production and outdoor industries, Conner and Alice wanted to create a trail event that is still epic and challenging but isn’t a full blown ultra. Their dream will become a reality with the Mountain Tiger Donner Summit race on July 26.

The race is an 11-mile point-to-point course that has 3,300 feet of climbing over four peaks. Finishers will be treated to a post-race festival at Sugar Bowl Resort featuring a loaded prize raffle.

ActiveRenoTahoe talked with Alice to learn more about this exciting new event.

ActiveRenoTahoe: How did the Mountain Tiger Donner Summit race come about?

Alice Curley: Connor launched Mountain Tiger back in 2010 with “Hilloween” – essentially a virtual hill-climbing race before Covid made virtual racing widespread. As Hilloween grew with participants all around the country, we started to scheme about an in-person event. Around the same time, we moved to Donner Summit and as we explored the incredible trails around Royal Gorge and Donner Summit, we began to plot our dream race course. Mountain Tiger Donner Summit has been years in the making, and we are thrilled to see it come to life. 

ART: What are your goals for the inaugural race?

AC: We want everyone to finish our race feeling stoked on the mountains and fired up about summiting four of Sugar Bowl’s peaks during the race! We hope that the nature of our course, challenging vert profile, and post-race atmosphere inspires people to want to come back for more next year. 

ART: What makes Mountain Tiger Donner Summit unique or different from other race options in RenoTahoe?

AC: Our race is the type of run we personally love – a super challenging mountain run that doesn’t take the training commitment of an ultramarathon. These races are so fun, have a lower barrier to entry than a full ultramarathon, and there’s not enough options like this. The relatively shorter race distance, point-to-point course, and four summits packs a lot of views, vert and beauty (and plenty of challenge!) into a few hours of racing. And speaking of standing out from other races, have you seen our merch? 

ART: Who should sign up for Mountain Tiger Donner Summit?

AC: Our race provides a fun challenge to all types of athletes – whether you’re a new runner looking to get into trail running without the time commitment of training for an ultramarathon, or a seasoned racer looking for a shorter, faster, vert-filled challenge, or even a skier/snowboarder/mountain biker who wants to experience the beauty of Donner Summit on foot. Anyone who loves the mountains and wants to kick off a summer weekend in Tahoe with a good hard run on some epic trails should sign up. 

ART: Any additional info you’d like to share with our readers?

AC: We’ve got a few fun tricks up our sleeve to make this race different and fun. One is the downhill challenge – fastest runner to complete the entirely downhill mile from the top of Crow’s down to the aid station will get a prize. Another awesome component of our event is the post-race raffle. We’ve got huge prizes from The North Face, CAPiTA, Pit Viper, Arcteryx, Darn Tough, and more.

Click here to register for the Mountain Tiger Donner Summit and participate in their inaugural race. It looks like it’s going to be a blast!

A big thank you to this week’s sponsor: EFAST. Founded in 2013, EFAST has coached endurance athletes in Reno, Lake Tahoe, and around the country. They specialize in custom run and triathlon coaching for all ability levels. Check them out online at EnduranceFAST.com.

A big month of trail running in the RenoTahoe region wrapped up with last weekend’s Western States 100. 369 racers started their 100-mile trek at 5 AM at Olympic Valley on Saturday and raced 100-miles to the Placerville High School track in Auburn, CA. 285 runners made the distance under the 30-hour time cutoff.

Despite temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees, the winning times from Caleb Olsen and Abby Hall were some of the fastest in race history. To read more about the race, check out Reno’s John Trent’s official Western States 100 recap.

Congratulations to the top-3 finishers:

Male

Female

Western States begins with a 3-mile climb out of Olympic Valley to the Escarpment. Runners (and spectators) are treated to an amazing sunrise over Lake Tahoe. Check out some of our footage from Saturday morning.

Congratulations to the following finishers from RenoTahoe:

Click here for the full Western States 100 results.

August Races

Please let us know if we are missing an event.

There are a variety of group runs offered each week in RenoTahoe. Here are this week’s group runs. Please be sure to double check each group’s website/social media for locations, time, and/or last minute changes.

Thursday, July 3

Friday, July 4

Saturday, July 5

Sunday, July 6

Monday, July 7

Tuesday, July 8

Wednesday, July 2

Are we missing a group run? Let us know!

Until next time, stay active RenoTahoe!