David's Trail Endurance Run 50K and 25K will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Rocking Chair Resort in Mountain Home.
A 7K event will follow at 10 a.m.
This is the first year for the 50K (31.75-mile) footrace. A 40K was scheduled for the 2016 David's Trail Endurance Run, but lake levels flooded part of the course. Organizers expect better footing this year.
The course loops around Robinson Point Park before it becomes an out-and-back through Panther Bay Park, across the Arkansas 101 Bridge, turning left at Bidwell Point Park and heading northwest on the trail past Take It Easy Resort.
Racers will have nine hours to complete the 50K and so should be off the course by 5 p.m. There will be check points at Miles 18.25 and 26.25. Runners not able to maintain at least a 16:20 minutes per mile pace will be pulled from the course at those check points.
All 50K and 25K finishers will receive finisher's awards. First-place finishers will be recognized by sex and age group. Cash purses are up for grabs for the first person to cross the finish line in each distance, $50 for the 50K and $25 each for the two shorter races.
Online registration is available until 11:59 p.m. Thursday. The 7K costs $30; the 25K costs $60, and the 50K is $80.
Packet pickup and on-site registration will be available from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Rocking Chair Resort, 278 County Road 763. Race-day packet pickup will be open from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
Organizers say race proceeds will be used to help extend David's Trail, which is named for David Floyd, a Mountain Home financial adviser and outdoor enthusiast who died in 2006. Construction of the trail, which began in 2008, is a joint effort of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the David's Trail Foundation. When complete, the trail will be a more-than-50-mile network of multi-use trails through public lands surrounding Lake Norfork.
Course maps and online registration are at davidstrailendurancerun.com.
Rocking Chair Resort is the host hotel. For room availability visit rockingchairresort.com.
Please send tips for active recreation to
cbyrd@arkansasonline.com
ActiveStyle on 01/16/2017