“This is the deepest field I’ve ever seen. It’s so stacked that past Team USA members from last year’s World Championships in Thailand may not qualify for the team again this year. It will be a shame to lose these athletes but the talent level of this year’s team will be incredible.” — Tom Hooper, Race Director of the Sunapee Scramble
The heat is on in a predicted cold New England mountain spring, as athletes prepare to battle for Team USA selection opportunities at the inaugural Sunapee Scramble races at Mount Sunapee ski resort, New Hampshire on April 29 and 30, 2023. The event will host two races: the Vertical Mountain Race on Saturday the 29th and the Scramble Up Down Mountain Race on Sunday the 30th. The top three eligible women and top four eligible men at the Sunapee Vertical Mountain will qualify for the Vertical Mountain Team representing the United States at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) in Innsbruck, Austria on June 6 to 10, 2023. Allie McLaughlin, 2022 World Vertical Mountain Champion earned an automatic spot on the 2023 Vertical Mountain team, leaving one less spot up for grabs in the women’s race. The Sunapee Up Down Mountain race will offer spots to the top four women and top four men to represent the US at the Classic Up Down race at the same championships in Austria.
Sunapee will be the third out of four events in the United States to offer Team USA selection opportunities for the 2023 WMTRC, with the final event being the Breakneck Point Trail Runs on May 6, 2023. Sunapee Scramble offers more selection opportunities than any other selection event, with fifteen Team USA spots up for grabs (the next closest is the Lake Sonoma 50 Mile with six spots). Interested in learning more about the selection races? Check out our article on how to qualify for the 2023 WMTRC here.
Photo: Sunapee Scramble
Sunapee Scramble Courses: What To Expect
The Sunapee Scramble courses were specifically designed to mimic the Vertical Mountain and Classic Up/Down courses at the WMTRC in Austria. The Vertical Mountain is an all uphill 3.6 mile race with 1,700 feet of elevation gain that starts at the base of the Sunapee Mountain ski resort and finishes at the summit. The Classic Up/Down is a two-loop race, starting and finishing at the ski resort base and reaching the summit twice, for a total of 8.2 miles and 3,400 feet of elevation gain and descent (1,700 feet per lap).
Sunapee Scramble race director, Tom Hooper, describes the courses, “Running in New England is more like Europe than out west. The terrain is rocky, rooty, and mossy, making it challenging even without the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains. If you can run in the White and Green mountains in the northeast, you can run anywhere. You master the technicality, the humidity and perform some altitude training for part of the year and you are the swiss-army knife of trail running.”
Another interesting aspect of this race is that the WMTRC will be held much earlier in the year than in 2022 (June as opposed to November). This pushed the date of the Sunapee Scramble to the spring instead of summer. There is a strong possibility there could still be snow in New Hampshire in April, or other cold, challenging weather.
The East Coast: The Forgotten Stepchild of American Trail Running
Much attention and sponsorship money in US trail running is focused in the west. Colorado’s Leadville Trail 100, California’s Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, or Arizona’s Javelina Jundred, are just a few examples that show the largest prize purses and sponsorship deals, or best competition in our country typically come from the West. However, there are strong running communities in the East, particularly in New Hampshire, Vermont Massachusetts, and Maine, that have produced some of the greatest athletes in our sport. Looking back on Team USA from the 2022 WMTRC, Morgan Elliot, Michelle Merlis, Noah Williams, Jeff Colt, Zach Miller, Corey Dowe, Dan Curts, Mason Coppi, and Eric LiPuma all live in the east coast or have east coast backgrounds.
Photo: Sunapee Scramble
The Sunapee Scramble will highlight the East Coast running scene and give the opportunity to athletes who potentially haven’t yet made a US team or earned as much media exposure as racers in the West. The event is also a part of the USATF NE Mountain Running Circuit, which attracts some of the best trail runners in the region. Learn more about USATF Mountain Running series across the country, including the USATF Mid-Atlantic Series in our article here.
Want to learn more about east coast trail running stars or upcoming east coast races? Check out these articles:
- https://trailrunner.com/trail-news/andrew-drummond-inspires-trail-running-and-ski-adventuring-in-new-england-/
- https://trailrunner.com/trail-news/the-hudson-river-50-brings-trail-racing-to-the-big-apple/
- https://trailrunner.com/trail-news/xterra-trail-run-world-championships-moves-to-maine/
Who’s Coming?
An incredible twenty Team USA veterans will be competing in this year’s race. Below is a list of elite athletes in contention for selection race spots at both the Sunapee Scramble Up/Down and Vertical Mountain races:
Up/Down
Women:
Allie McLaughlin (Colorado Springs, CO)
Grayson Murphy (Flagstaff, AZ)
Alex Lawson (Craftsbury Common, VT)
Janelle Lincks (Thornton, CO)
Kasie Enman (Huntington, VT)
Sam Lewis (Moscow, ID)
Rachel Tomajczyk (Williams, AZ)
Megan Lacy (Boise, ID)
Allie Ostrander (Seattle, WA)
Men:
Max King (Bend, OR)
Daniel Curts (Norwich, VT)
Morgan Elliot (Salida, CO)
Mason Coppi (Liverpool, NY)
Joseph Demoor (Carbondale, CO)
Liam Meirow (Portland, OR)
Vertical Mountain
Women:
Grayson Murphy (Flagstaff, AZ)
Shannon Payne (Orangevale, CA)
Alex Lawson (Craftsbury Common, VT)
Janelle Lincks (Thornton, CO)
Rachel Tomajczyk (Williams, AZ)
Megan Lacy (Boise, ID)
Allie Ostrander (Seattle, WA)
Men:
Joseph Gray (Colorado Springs, CO)
Eric Blake (West Hartford, CT)
Daniel Curts (Norwich, VT)
Mike Popejoy (Flagstaff, AZ)
Liam Meirow (Portland, OR)
Adrian McDonald (Fort Collins, CO)
Joseph Demoor (Carbondale, CO)
Chad Hall (San Diego, CA)
Photo: Sunapee Scramble
Athletes will compete for a $6,500 prize purse. There will be formal drug testing “in accordance with USATF and IAAF rules.” Athletes who test positive for prohibited substances as defined by the WADA Code will be disqualified and may lose eligibility for future competitions. Learn more about “Clean Sport” efforts in trail running here.
Do you play Freetrail Fantasy? Vote for your top athletes at the Sunapee Scramble here.
Follow the Race Livestream here.
