Sunday’s Barr Trail Mountain Race to draw over 300 runners

As Sunday’s 8th Annual Barr Trail Mountain Race draws near, race organizer Matt Carpenter is busy polishing up the long silver spikes awarded at the end of the race to the top male and female master finishers. “It takes about two hours to do each one,” he says. All of the prizes, apart from prize money, that are awarded to the top race finishers are handmade, which is partly what makes the race so unique. Other first finishers get Pick Mattocks or handmade, cog-shaped wooden plaques with bits of Pikes Peak stones glued onto them. Pikes Peak amazonite goes to first place, Pikes Peak quartz goes to second and Pikes Peak granite goes to third.

What Carpenter is truly proud of, however, is the amount of money the race gives away to non-profits every year—all of it.

“We give away 100 percent of the entry fees,” says Carpenter. “It’s not one of those ‘portion of the proceeds’ gimmicks. This year we’re giving $5,475 to the Friends of the Peak and $5,403 to El Paso County Search and Rescue.” The race’s overhead—T-shirts, prize money, website, printing, port-a-potties, permits, cups, etc.—is completely covered by its long list of sponsors.

The race also provides $6,000 every year to five area high schools, also courtesy of the sponsors. The high schools compete to create the best aid stations for runners during the race. Every year five high schools are chosen by random drawing to participate, with the previous year’s winner getting an automatic spot in the challenge. Last year’s winner was Woodland Park High School, which received the largest chunk of the $6,000 for new uniforms and equipment for its running programs. Manitou Springs High School was not picked from the drawing for this year’s race.

“We have to do it randomly, because there are 23 high schools in El Paso County that need the money, and only five places along the trail we can put the aid stations,” says Carpenter. “Running is important, but it’s undervalued in the schools. The budgets are always low. This is a good way to give back to the sport.” The Aid Station Challenge is therefore fiercely competitive.

“Every year the stations get more elaborate and creative. It’s a little weird to be running in the woods and come across a station where the kids are dressed up in bloody Jason costumes and Halloween music is playing in the trees,” says Carpenter.

At the finish line, runners vote for their favorite aid station, and after their stomachs settle, they can grab free pizza at Soda Springs Park at the awards ceremony at 11 a.m.

The race begins at 7 a.m. on Ruxton Avenue by the COG railway depot. The race will proceed six miles up the Barr Trail and will turn around at Barr Camp. Runners will then head back down the Barr Trail to Hydro Street where they will turn left and up, with the finish being in the pullout to the right for a total of 12 miles. The cut-off for the race is 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Carpenter says he expects around 330 runners to show up for the race. They can donate more money to the race beyond their entry fees, he says, and this year they broke the extra donation record. The race’s grand total for 2007 is $16,878, every cent of which is going back into the community, according to Carpenter.