(Photo courtesy of Otto Kraus / Reno Wheelmen)

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Summer started on Saturday with sun, wind, cold, snow, hail, 8 foot waves on Lake Tahoe, lightning, and thunder. It was quite the way to kick off the new season. Thankfully, we have quickly returned to typical beautiful weather in RenoTahoe as we head into the final days of June. Here’s what on tap for this week’s newsletter:

There are some great cycling events coming up in the Reno / Lake Tahoe area. Here are a few to check out:

Reno Wheelmen Tuesday Night Races

The Reno Wheelmen have been “fostering a passion for cycling since 1896” and a big part of their impact on the cycling community is hosting the Twilight Road Series. The series is a long-standing racing tradition in the Northern Nevada area. These races bring out all ability levels and are a great introduction to the sport of road cycling. It also allows more seasoned athletes an opportunity to fine-tune their racing strategies. Here is the upcoming race schedule:

Golden Hour Races by Grassroots Racing

Grassroots Racing has a series of mountain bike enduro races on Friday evenings in the summer. Each race takes place on a Reno trail with a unique best of three format. Riders repeat the timed segment three different times and their fastest effort determines their final rankings. Here is the schedule for the final three races of the series:

Tour of the California Alps - Death Ride - July 12

The 44th version of the Death Ride takes participants on a 103-mile route over six Alpine climbs (14,000 feet of climbing). The event starts and finishes in Markleeville, CA and it is one of the premier cycling events on the west coast.

Life Time Tahoe Trail Mountain Bike Race - July 19

The Life Time Tahoe Trail Mountain Bike race offers a 100K and 25-mile race options. With the start and finish at Northstar California, racers will be treated to beautiful views of Lake Tahoe. The race is a qualifier for the Life Time Trail Leadville 100 MTB race.

ActiveRenoTahoe is excited to have EFAST as a sponsor of this week’s newsletter. 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.

The weather had a major impact on the Broken Arrow Skyrace weekend. The annual trail running festival at Palisades Tahoe will be remembered and talked about for a long time.

Starting on Friday, the Ascent race had to be shortened due to 80+ MPH winds at the summit. The normal course, a 3-miles uphill race with 3,000+ feet of vertical gain, had to be changed to a shorter distance of 2.15 miles with 1,800 feet of gain. Despite the challenging conditions, 452 participants finished the Ascent. In addition to the Ascent, there was an 18K on Friday with 461 finishers.

Saturday started off as a fairly typical Lake Tahoe morning despite being colder than average for the first day of summer. By midday, conditions drastically changed. It started to snow and lightning and thunder was in the area. This forced race directors to pause the 46K mid-race and then eventually cancel it. Runners were scattered throughout the course and found shelter in ski patrol huts and tram buildings. Thankfully, no one was hurt and racers eventually made their way down the mountain via vehicle transport or the ski lifts. There were 553 runners who started the 46K and only 163 of those finished before the race was canceled.

The first photo is earlier in the day on Saturday; the second photo is just a few hours later. Photos courtesy of Broken Arrow’s Instagram.

Saturday also featured an 11K with 495 participants. The race concluded just before the snow, lightning, and thunder rolled in.

Sunday was the final day of racing and the weather cooperated. The weekend concluded with 603 racers finishing the 23K and hundreds of youngsters in the kids race.

Despite the epic weather, Broken Arrow brought thousands of people to the RenoTahoe region for one of the premier trail running events in the country.

Here are some highlights from RenoTahoe athletes from the weekend:

If you want to take part in next year’s Broken Arrow. Registration will open December 8. The races typically sell out in just a few minutes. Click here for the full results.

On Sunday, in South Lake Tahoe, 1,500+ runners took to the streets for the Rock Tahoe Half Marathon. Congratulations to the top-3 finishers:

Male

Female

Click here for the full results from Rock Tahoe.

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, June 26

Friday, June 27

Saturday, June 28

Sunday, June 29

Monday, June 30

Tuesday, July 1

Wednesday, July 2

Are we missing a group run? Let us know!

Until next time, stay active RenoTahoe!