Vail Recreation District set to kick off spring and summer town series events

Chairlifts have stopped, snow is melting and singletrack trails are reemerging. Thankfully, the Vail Recreation District has the cure for spring fever.

“I feel like this time of year is really when everyone starts getting really excited to be warm and be outside on the trails,” said Nell Davis, marketing and communications director for the recreation district. “All this stuff kicks off pretty early and I think it’s great because it can kind of capture all that stoke to get on the trails and the water when people are at the height of their excitement.”

The Vail Recreation District’s spring and summer race series begin May 6 with the first whitewater race. Mountain bikers get in on the action the next day at the first of two short-track races in Eagle while the Boneyard Boogie 14k and 6k on May 17 ushers in the trail running season. Sports event director Beth Pappas and sports coordinator Wyatt Smith said there aren’t any major adjustments coming to any of the circuits.

“At this stage, there’s smaller tweaks rather than big changes,” said Pappas. “We’re always getting feedback from people and taking things into account. That’s the fun thing about events is you can always make them better.”

Smith said he’s analyzing a few different easier-on-the-knees options for the Arrowhead Half Marathon and looking at a minor timing adjustment to prevent overlap between the short and long courses at the 10k at 10,000 feet. The latter event outnumbered the historically high-participation event, the Vail Hill Climb, last summer. In terms of numbers, the trail run series saw a 100-person increase for the whole series from 2023, Smith said before adding that the whitewater series has remained fairly steady.

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“I’d argue it could have been higher but we had snow one day and rain the next week,” he said. Weather-wise, Smith has his fingers crossed coming off a winter with below-average snowpack.

“What that means for our race series is not much because we’re in the early season,” he explained. “It will just mean hopefully we aren’t as worried about having enough water for the first race like we were last year with late snow. … When I look at the river, it’s looking pretty good right now, so I’m confident with what we’ve got.”

The five-event series, which features stand-up paddleboard (SUP, under 11 feet), kayak (under 9-feet, 6-inches) and 2-person raft (10-feet, 6-inches or smaller) is open to paddlers ages 16 and up with the skills to run class III whitewater. The first four events start at the Covered Bridge and end at International Bridge while the fifth and final event starts at the Amphitheatre Bridge in Ford Park. The Minturn Downriver Dash is also returning on May 31.

While inspirational individual stories abound at all races — from the 88-year-old determined to finish all the half-marathons in the state to lifelong friends and former teammates leading the pack — one participant who comes to mind for Smith is Robby Prechtl. The GoPro Mountain Games Team elite athlete is not only a consistent top-placing finisher in all three whitewater disciplines, he’s also launched a new Instagram page called ‘Bobby Sugoi.’ Each post promotes positive change through charitable everyday actions like recycling or brushing snow off neighbors’ cars on a powder day.

“It’s fun to follow him in all that because it’s just a good inspiration to the community,” Smith said.

Over 1,200 riders will compete for more than $30,000 in prizes in the 41st annual town mountain bike series, which begins with the kid-only Minturn Mini MTB in Minturn. The first adult race is the Eagle Ranch Classic on May 28. Each event includes an after-party with awards, raffles and a free beer for adults. Overall series titles are given to both winning teams and individuals in each category, which range from beginner to pro. Making events accessible and edifying for a wide range of participants — from UCI-level cyclists to first-time riders or runners — is part and parcel with the recreation district’s mission statement, Pappas said.

“That’s what it exists for: to help improve the quality of life for the people who are here — both residents and visitors,” she said. “Bring everyone together and give them the opportunity to recreate and get exercise and compete and have fun and build those connections.” 

“You can have trained all summer to do your first-ever 5k because you’ve never run more than half a mile and feel that sense of community there,” Davis added. “Or you can be an elite athlete looking to break the Davos Dash record and you’ll be supported and have a good time no matter what level you’re at.”

Another perk: day-of registration means you can show up last minute if you feel good.

“It doesn’t have to be like Western States where you’re just hoping to win the lottery to get to do it,” Smith said. “”People do these as a passion or they want to get into it and often a race is a great way to get into it because all the resources are there for you.”

The VRD will cap off the warm-weather race season with the second-annual Cougar Ridge Classic 26k trail run on Sept. 27. The traverse across and over Vail Mountain to Minturn will now be capped at 250 participants after 175 in the inaugural running. Pappas said the ultimate vision is to create a multi-event ‘Big Cats’ running festival in the mold of Broken Arrow or The Rut — both of which are held at major ski resorts (Palisades Tahoe and Big Sky, respectively).

“You’d have the Cougar Ridge Classic, ideally a longer race, maybe a vertical K, maybe a kids running race. Just make it more of a long weekend type of event,” Pappas said. “We definitely take inspiration from what other people are doing and what’s getting really popular.”

The Mighty Marmot kids trail races also returns with three events on Fridays at 4:15 p.m. at various locations in the valley. A short (0.5-1.25-mile) and a long (1.5-2.5-mile) course will be offered at each race. Participants receive a finisher gift, a meal and dessert. Parents can run alongside their kids at no additional cost. Race details, costs and locations will be posted at vailrec.com in the near future.