“A one-day 9-hole stage race where the lowest cumulative score wins”
Trailblazer Running, a trail race event company based in Valparaiso, IN, is offering a “hole new experience” for trail runners with their concept of the Trail Golf Endurance Challenge on June 15, 2024 at the Creekside Trails. The challenge involves no actual balls or clubs, but takes runners on short (between three and four mile) loops a.k.a. “holes” where they are scored in the same manner as golf with Eagle, Birdie, Par, Boogie and Double Boogie scores based on their finishing times for each loop. Similar to golf, the lowest cumulative score wins.
For the inaugural June 15 event, there will be 50K (9 hole), 10 Mile (3 hole) as well as relay options for all types of participants and race experience levels. Race director Kirk Cherep, winner of the 2023 Shawnee Hills 100K race, explains the concept of Trail Golf and what makes it unique, “This concept came about from thinking about ways to make a running event more than just about how fast you can get from point A to point B. There’s more elements and dimensions to this race and the scoring system allows everyone to feel like a competitor regardless of how fast they are. Competitors can have micro goals to chase their scores each loop and it’s a fresh start and a new route each hole. There’s a chance to learn and make adjustments. It’s about taking what you learn from one loop and taking that over to the next challenge. It really plays into the adaptability and problem solving that’s evident in a lot of ultra running races.”
Trail Golf Pacing Chart.
How did the concept of Trail Golf originate?
Trailblazer Running was founded in 2020 with the ideas of bringing new life, community and excitement to the slow paced, traditional racing format of trail racing Cherep had become familiar with racing in Indiana. Cherep organized his first race, the False Spring Trail Runs in LaPorte, IN, and was hooked on race directing.
Cherep explains his passion for bringing new growth to the world of race directing, “When I founded Trailblazer Running, Trail Golf was actually going to be the first race that I was going to put on, but logistically it didn’t make sense at the time as a new race director. I ended up running many fun events out west such as those by Daybreak and Aravaipa Running and I was inspired by the way they were putting up a calendar of events and building community in ways that I wasn’t seeing around me in Northwest Indiana. I wanted to bring more to the trail scene up here and put on more than just races.”
Cherep followed his passion to go above and beyond traditional trail race formats, partnering with Trail Sisters, Runners for Public Lands and in his second race, the Oakadoke Trail Runs, planted trees in the names of the race winners in order to bring attention to protecting the trails our sport recreates on.
Cherep expresses the environmental focus of Trailblazer Running, “I want to make eco-conscious races that recognize that we’re running through these natural spaces and recreating on them. Trail runners should feel responsible for taking care of these spaces that we’re getting so much enjoyment from.”
With this environmental focus in mind, Trailblazer races have gone “cupless,” source biodegradable materials, provide recycling services, and strive to create zero waste events. Optional T-shirts at race checkout (to reduce excess T-shirt production) as well as promoting carpooling or offering incentives to those who choose more eco-friendly forms of transportation are recent actions taken by Trailblazer Running to reduce their carbon footprint.
Now in his fourth year as a race director, Cherep is returning to his Trail Golf concept with the hopes to continue raising the bar for trail race directing in terms of sustainability and creative, community building race formats.
Cherep shares what ultimately led to his decision to host the inaugural Trail Golf race this June, “I just didn’t have time to put it together in the past few years, but it was always something I knew I wanted to do once I’d established myself better at race directing. This year I decided to finally do it. I knew there were going to be plenty of logistics I needed to figure out but I’ve dedicated more time than ever to creating the first Trail Golf this year. Ultimately, there’s still some microelements I’m figuring out but the macros are in place and I’m feeling ready to share this concept with the world.”
Who is Trail Golf for?
Trail Golf can be both a new race format for experienced runners seeking different types of endurance challenges, as well as a fun entryway into trail running for those who traditionally wouldn’t discover the sport. The idea of “gamifying” trail running, or adding a game aspect with points brings about new types of strategy, mindset and challenge that are not traditionally practiced in trail running. The various options of relay, 10M and 50K also provide entry for all types of runners—whether they just want to dip their toes in or pursue an extreme physical and mental challenge.
Cherep explains his target audience for the 2024 Trail Golf Endurance Challenge, “I hope to attract both experienced and inexperienced trail runners. Running the 50K solo will appeal more to the experienced runner while the three hole and relay options will be great for those who haven’t tried an ultramarathon before. It has potential to draw in those that might be traditionally intimidated by trail running, but with having shorter distances or having a few friends to relay with, it seems doable. It’s all an experiment right now but I’m excited to see where it goes.”
Could Trail Golf be the next popular race format in the US?
In the past several years, the new concepts of Last Man Standing or Backyard Ultras have gained attention on mainstream trail running media and been undertaken by some of the top athletes in the sport including Courtney Dauwalter, Maggie Guterl, and Harvey Lewis.
Cherep hopes that Trail Golf might be the next type of race to take hold and offer a new format to trail racing, “I would love to see other race directors try this out. I do see it as something similar to the ‘Backyard ultra.’ Trail Golf is different from traditional races but once other people pick it up it could easily be implemented all over the US. I’ve been very conscious of making it accessible to other race directors when designing the rules and layout of it. Compared to traditional trail races, I recognize that it’s a fairly complicated concept and I’m doing my best to make it as simple as possible so someone else can come along and do it at other events too.”
From a participant standpoint, the race is quite simple to understand:
- Tee-off for each loop starts every hour from 9 AM to 5 PM (for the classic 50K, 9-hole distance)
- Receive scores based on your paces for each loop
- Aim to get the lowest score by the end of the nine holes
However, from an organizational standpoint, Trail Golf is more complicated than traditional trail races. Cherep aims to streamline potential logistical issues, such as marking each loop with different colors of reflective tape so there’s less chance of getting lost or crossing over to routes from other holes. Sourcing cost-effective materials and choosing a venue that is conducive to creating nine different routes (holes) from the same start and end point are logistical issues that interested race directors should consider. Not every trail race venue will be effective for organizing trail golf competitions, but Cherep hopes others will, like himself, see it as an experiment worth teeing off on.
The inaugural Trail Golf Endurance Challenge is set to be a fun experiment that will showcase some of the unique and varied multi-use trails in the Midwest while building on traditional racing formats to grow the trail running community in new ways. Cherep also confirms it will certainly be golf-themed, “There will be visuals such as a large PGA style board that lists the participant names and their stroke scores for each hole. We will play with the golf tradition of “Quiet On The Hole” before “tee off” each hole, they’ll be golf carts, and I’m sure I’ll dress up as an old-timey golfer. It will be a good time!”
Register for the inaugural Trail Golf Endurance Challenge here.
All the photos used here have been generously provided by Kirk Cherep.
