Mt. Ashland HillClimb
After a disappointing 2021 that included moving the date due to smoke in our valley, only to need to cancel the morning of our event due to smoke lingering on the summit (AQI of over 300, visibility being drastically reduced and breathing being difficult), we have made a change in 2022 that will move our event earlier in the year. We now officially have permits, and as such we are back in 2022 with a June date (the 18th!!). Registration is officially open. We recognize that there are likely competing events in June, with smoke season being what it is and COVID cancellations in the past year or two, a number of events are pushing for different dates and many are selecting June. Let's face it, the relatively safe window of holding an outdoor event is narrowing substantially.
We wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you to a tough, rewarding, little half marathon here in Southern Oregon that climbs a full vertical mile. Vertical K’s are so pre-pandemic, right? Why just do a K, when you can climb a full vertical mile. That's 60% more!! Just ask: Stephanie Howe, Hal Koerner, Erik Skaggs, Camelia Mayfield (current course record holder in 2:07:00), Timothy Olsen, Max King (current course record holder in 1:41:50), Karl Meltzer, Ian Torrence, Jenn Shelton or Cole Watson just to name a few past participants you may have heard of.
But, wait, there's more!
This year we want to sweeten the drive a bit – anyone that beats a standing course record will receive $500 in prize money. Yup, $500 if you can run this half marathon in under the times listed above, assuming we get to use the official course (we’ve had to reroute once before, so the disclaimer is just that…a disclaimer).
General Info:
The Mt Ashland Hill Climb is among the races with most elevation gain of any continuous hill climb in the continental United States. The race begins at 7:30 am, and the following cut-off times will be enforced on race day: 10:15 am to Four Corners (~7 miles), 11:30am to Bull Gap (~11.3 miles) and 12:15am to the Lodge (~13 miles)
Start is on Winburn Way near Skout right at Lithia Park. There are no early starts, everyone begins at 7:30 am. Race packet pickup is the day before, between 3pm and 6pm, at Rogue Valley Runners, 161 E. Main St, downtown Ashland or at least 20-minutes before race start. Participants are responsible for getting themselves back to Ashland. As we don't know what the status of the pandemic will be on event day, we cannot guarantee we will be offering bus rides down, but if we do they will be free, however you must sign up for this service in advance (upon registration). There will be limited "day of" seats available, however preregistered runners obviously are given preference. The buses drop off near Rogue Valley Runners downtown.
All runners MUST check in the morning of the race with our volunteers, 1. to get your raffle ticket (for our amazing prizes) and 2. so that you can be counted as "on course." Failure to check in will mean you will not have an official finish time. We offer no refunds, bib transfers or roll overs to the next year. No exceptions. This is a pretty affordable race, really, so if you are unable to participate please consider your registration fee a donation to AWTA.
We wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you to a tough, rewarding, little half marathon here in Southern Oregon that climbs a full vertical mile. Vertical K’s are so pre-pandemic, right? Why just do a K, when you can climb a full vertical mile. That's 60% more!! Just ask: Stephanie Howe, Hal Koerner, Erik Skaggs, Camelia Mayfield (current course record holder in 2:07:00), Timothy Olsen, Max King (current course record holder in 1:41:50), Karl Meltzer, Ian Torrence, Jenn Shelton or Cole Watson just to name a few past participants you may have heard of.
But, wait, there's more!
This year we want to sweeten the drive a bit – anyone that beats a standing course record will receive $500 in prize money. Yup, $500 if you can run this half marathon in under the times listed above, assuming we get to use the official course (we’ve had to reroute once before, so the disclaimer is just that…a disclaimer).
General Info:
The Mt Ashland Hill Climb is among the races with most elevation gain of any continuous hill climb in the continental United States. The race begins at 7:30 am, and the following cut-off times will be enforced on race day: 10:15 am to Four Corners (~7 miles), 11:30am to Bull Gap (~11.3 miles) and 12:15am to the Lodge (~13 miles)
Start is on Winburn Way near Skout right at Lithia Park. There are no early starts, everyone begins at 7:30 am. Race packet pickup is the day before, between 3pm and 6pm, at Rogue Valley Runners, 161 E. Main St, downtown Ashland or at least 20-minutes before race start. Participants are responsible for getting themselves back to Ashland. As we don't know what the status of the pandemic will be on event day, we cannot guarantee we will be offering bus rides down, but if we do they will be free, however you must sign up for this service in advance (upon registration). There will be limited "day of" seats available, however preregistered runners obviously are given preference. The buses drop off near Rogue Valley Runners downtown.
All runners MUST check in the morning of the race with our volunteers, 1. to get your raffle ticket (for our amazing prizes) and 2. so that you can be counted as "on course." Failure to check in will mean you will not have an official finish time. We offer no refunds, bib transfers or roll overs to the next year. No exceptions. This is a pretty affordable race, really, so if you are unable to participate please consider your registration fee a donation to AWTA.
The race begins near the entrance to Lithia Park (see map below), parking near the start can be a challenge and many of the spots near the start are time limited (and enforced) so it's in your best interest to get there early or be dropped off.
Below is the elevation profile. As you can see, around mile 9 is a semi-flat section, you're welcome.