The Marquette Trail 50 is one of the the Michigan ultra classics. It's one of those events most ultrarunners in the state have heard of. It's known for being a challenge with quite a bit of technical terrain. Though the raw elevation gain numbers aren't impressive, the elevation is hard-won with steep climbs that culminate in crawling and even some light bouldering. The course is one of the most scenic in the Midwest. There are 8 scenic summits, and sections along Lake Superior, the Dead River, and even Forestville Dam Falls. The race maintains relatively small numbers: 300 entries for the 50K and 150 for the 50 mile. The tight caps and the popularity of the race force a bit of a competitive registration. Registration opens on Black Friday and typically sells out within days. However, the organizers clearly relay that there are no deferrals and no entry transfers. Keep that in mind in November when signing up for an August event.
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| The stairs up Sugarloaf Mountain on the counterclockwise loop, photo by Danielle Musto |
Race website: https://www.marquettetrail50.com/
Registration: UltraSignup
Location: ★★★★☆
You guys know I love the UP. It is one of my favorite parts of this country. Marquette is a fun town: big enough to not feel like you're trapped hours away from civilization, yet surrounded by huge rugged trail systems. The Norquemanon Trail Network is a system of over 80 miles of non-motorized single track stretching through the central UP. The race hub is centered in the Forestville Campground, which is only about 3 miles outside of the true "city". This is a tiny 18 site rustic campground with one pump for potable water and two pit toilets. Now, I love my rustic campgrounds. Not having shower access after a 50 mile race is a bit of a bummer. Additionally, there is not nearly enough parking available to support the number of racers and spectators. People who did not camp at the race start had to park up to 0.75 miles away from the race site, with cars lining the seasonal roads. This led to some dicey passing and a late race start. I'm glad the start was delayed to accomodate those participants still searching for parking. Even so, it was a bit frustrating to be standing at the start line with no idea how long the delay would last.
Organization: ★★★★☆
The race is completely volunteer-organized. Usually, I take that to mean: "keep your expectations low and be nice because no one is getting a paycheck." I was pleasantly suprised. If the race organizers weren't so clear about the volunteer-run effort, I would not have known the difference. There was adequate pre-race information available on the website and in emails. The uncommon issues were addressed. It was made clear from the time of registration that transfers and deferrals were not permitted. The website was very clear about the risk of bee stings on the course. The limited parking and camping situation was disclosed. The race was generally well marked. The summits were difficult to follow on the counterclockwise direction as you had to actually start the descent to see the flags, and there were many different ways to descend. This lead to some confusion. The rest of the course was easy to follow.
Course:★★★★☆
From the race website: "The Marquette Trail 50 consists of 50-kilometer and 50-mile distances.
The course is mostly single-track, climbing the four peaks: Sugarloaf, Top-of-the-World, Bareback, and Hogback. All the peaks have views of Lake Superior, and portions of the course skirt its shoreline. Much of the trail consists of moderate to difficult terrain with some very significant climbs and technical areas.
According to Ultrarunning Magazine, the course is rated 3 out of 5 for terrain (“hilly”) and 4 out of 5 for Surface (“Trail with substantial rocks, roots and/or ruts.”)"
I loved this course. It can be broken down into 4 loops for the 50 mile. Loop 1 is a wide, non-technical mile through the cross country ski area at the NTN trailhead. This is the "rollout loop" to try to help spread out the pack before plunging into dark, technical singletrack. Loop 2 is a rocky, rooty, but generally flat 10 mile loop that heads southeast from the start and turns back around the Forestville dam. The course follows the North Country Trail back up to the campground, and this is a generally uphill trek through some gnarly ankle turners. It's technical enough to force you to focus completely on where your feet land. Loops 3 and 4 are a 20 mile loop that runs northwest from the start. They are actually the same loop, but run in opposite directions. Loop 3 is counterclockwise, and Loop 4 is clockwise. This makes it feel like two very different loops. This is where the climbing comes in. Loop 3 starts you out easy with a nice sendy descent before the first rocky bunny hill. Then, you get slapped in the face by 304 wooden stairs and some rocky climbing to summit Sugarloaf Mountain. Once you pick your way down the rocky descent, you're blessed with 6 runnable miles along the Lake Superior shoreline. Following that, you hit a small techy, rooty descent before climbing Bareback Mountain. You get an aid station at Harlow Lake to think about your life choices before the real gut kick: Top of the World, followed by the steepest, tallest and most technical climb: Hogback Mountain. It's not that technical for a true climb, but for a runner at mile 28, it takes all the brains and bravery you can spare. Both climbing and descending close to the summit consists of some bouldering. After waddling back through the start/finish at NTN, you head out clockwise. This means you're coming head-on at everyone coming in from Lap 3. Additionally, the fun sendy downhills from Lap 3 are now climbs. The technical climbs are now technical downhills. This ups that challenge level and cuts the speed. I was more than a little nervous slipping and sliding down Hogback with a row of runners climbing right towards me! It's easy to get lonely and in your head during a long race. Having to pass runners actually gave me a ton of energy. Just having someone to smile at was so much fun. All the cheers and status updates on my placement gave me energy when I was starting to feel the heat and effort.
The con of this course: So. Many. Ground bees. I haven't been stung by a bee since I was 10 so I don't know if I'm allergic. Having someone out on the trail in anaphylactic shock would sure put a damper on the event though.
There was quite a bit of non-race traffic on the trail later in the day. Most of the issues were from tipsy beach-goers on the Superior stretch. Not a huge deal, but something to be aware of.
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| The trail of headlights through the singletrack start Photo by Floline Media |
Food: N/A
I really can't tell you what was at the aid stations. I never approached the aid station tables since I was using a liquid-only nutrition. Post-race food was provided by On the Border, which is a burrito joint in the UP. Burritos and tortilla chips were a real winner at the finish line!
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| The march up Hogback Mountain -- photo by Jeff Wolf Photography |
To summarize: Marquette Trail 50 is a true Michigan classic, and you should definitely check it out. DON'T RUN IT IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO BEES!
My race:
I was a little bit nervous coming into this. I knew I was on good form, my training runs have felt strong. However, I was scheduled to work swing shift the Wednesday and Thursday before race day and knew that would mess with my sleep and travel plans. I tried to trade out of the shift, but no luck. I chose to take it as a practice in focusing on the things I can control
Race day started early at 3:30 am. Breakfast was the standard bagel and peanut butter, bottle of water, bottle of pedialyte sport, and a sugar-free monster. I started sipping on infinite go-far an hour before the race start.
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| Early morning start |
The pre-race meeting was scheduled for 5:15, and that start was 5:30. Since there were parking issues, the pre-race meeting started closer to 5:30 and the start was delayed. I was so glad I camped at the race site so I had a stress free morning. I felt confident and calm at the start. The 50K and 50mile runners all started together. There were four waves, the first of which was the elite wave for any 50K or 50 mile runners who were vying for age-group or OA wins. The waves were self-seeded.
At the start, four men took off fast and six girls pretty much stuck together behind them. I was about #5 in the lineup around the 1 mile XC rollout loop. I shifted back to #8 coming into the single track. I didn't want to have to watch course markers in the dark. Instead, I wanted to follow the person in front of me focus on watching where I was putting my feet. I felt sure-footed in the techy sections. Although Bandera and World's End really humbled me with the techy stuff, I feel like it's finally starting to click.
I "sat in" and took the first 5 miles easy peasy. This is where a few more guys passed me. On some less technical descents I went around the pair I was running with. I started to cruise. I ran through the six mile aid station with one guy. He stopped to pee at mile 8 so I soloed in to the NTN trailhead aid station at mile 11, picking off several folks in the rocky NCT section. Bobby handed me a handheld with 1 scoop infinite and a fresh pack with 1 liter of water plus some snacks. It was pretty light out so I left my headlamp at that time.
I was just slowly picking off the men that had passed me and was comfortable heading through the first 4 miles of the big loop, most of which was downhill. There was a little rocky climb and then I was at the next aid station. I grabbed another handheld with 1 scoop of infinite. At that point, there were 3 women ahead of me on course -- a 50 miler and two 50K women. The 50 mile woman had just reached the aid station when I arrived. I left the aid station just before her. I was immediately caught behind some guys who were having a harder time on the stairs up Sugarloaf. She caught up to me and we ran together across and down Sugarloaf. We chatted and ran the next 3-4 miles together. I pulled away on a flat section on the shoreline. The shoreline was my favorite section on the first big loop and my least favorite on the second. This was the longest section between aid stations: 7 miles.
I rolled into the Harlow lake bridge aid station feeling a bit nauseous, but took on a new 1 L pack and handheld with 1 scoop go far in 14 oz water. I had only drank about 300 mL of water out of the pack. It was only 3.5 miles to the next Harlow Lake aid station but this section was a bit tougher/slower with the Bareback Mountain climb. I took on another handheld of infinite and was not enjoying it at that point. Despite the sour stomach, my legs still felt great. I could see the 2nd place 50K woman (Kate) ahead of me. She stayed in my sightline, but I was confident she was a 50K so didn't put in a dig to try to catch her. Instead, I kept my focus on trying to keep our distance even to prevent myself from overthinking the last bit of the course.
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| Sugarloaf Summit, photo by Floline Media |
Hogback was next. It was technical with some scramble climbing to summit, then verrryyyy careful descending. This was followed by a nice little jog into forestville again. I could see Kate this whole time. My lower intestinal tract was starting to bubble a bit. I had to hit the porta potty right before the finish line/start of the second big loop. Because the second big loop goes out clockwise instead of counterclockwise, I could see exactly how many 50 milers were ahead of me. Three men. One had just over 20 minutes on me, one had about 10 and one had 5.
I had a fairly quick transition at this station. I changed my socks, got a new handheld with 1 scoop go far, and got a new hydration pack with 1.5 liters water. I was starting to feel the heat so grabbed some ice and shoved it into my sports bra and hat. I headed back out for the counter clockwise loop and saw I really only had about 5-7 minutes on the woman in second (Miranda).
The second loop is harder, because all the techy climbs were now techy descents, and Hogback was the scariest of them all. Each aid station through here was a very fast transition. I did not sit down again, and took 1 handheld with a scoop of go far in it at each of the 3 aid stations. I didn't love the lakeshore section this time around, I felt like I was crawling through molasses and was happy when there was a climb so I had an excuse to walk.
I did not look at pace or heart rate at all until 4 miles to go. I ran by feel and had my watch set so I could only view the course map. At 4 to go, I looked down and saw that I was at 8:35. I knew that the last 4 were generally uphill but only about 1 mile was techy. I knew I was on pace for CR (course record). That's when I missed a turn! Luckily I realized my error quickly and it only added a minute at most.
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| Photo by Danielle Musto |
When I crossed the finish line, the race director was right there with the OA women's prize: An orange mud hydration vest! I can't wait to give it a try. She verified my course record and congratulated the effort. I had bettered the women's course record by 4 minutes. Queen City Running Club generously put up a cash prize for this as well. After handshakes and photos, I was only too happy to lay down for a few minutes before digging into the post-race burrito feast.
The vibes were pretty chill, and I really enjoyed this race. This was a great experience and I loved getting to spend some time in the UP. While I like to experience different courses given my limited capacity for racing, this is a race I could absolutely see myself returning to.
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| Photo by Floline Media |
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| Photo by Floline Media |
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