The Voyageur 50 Mile
ultramarathon, one of Minnesota’s most famed running events, kicks off Saturday
morning. But, after the flooding in Duluth in June, it almost didn’t happen. Here’s DtB Ultra Contributor Alex Kurt's story of how race organizers made sure the event would go off as planned
Andy Holak remembers when the rain started falling in Duluth
on the night of June 19.
“Of course we thought it would be a hard rain, and then it
would taper off and end,” said Holak, who directs the Voyageur 50 Mile
ultramarathon in Carlton. “However, it rained hard and never let up all night.
I'm talking hard rain, the
kind you think will end after a few minutes and then it will rain lightly or
drizzle.”
“It just never let up,” he said.
The torrent of raindrops would coalesce into one of the
worst floods in the state’s history. It would ultimately cause an estimated
$100 million in damage to public infrastructure, and President Barack Obama
would sign a Federal Emergency Declaration for 13 northeastern Minnesota
counties. But beyond the numbers, residents of Duluth and the surrounding area
were awash with indelible images of homes, livelihoods, and the makings of
lifelong memories swept away. The internet filled with pictures of cars stuck
in sinkholes, and seals – escaped from the local zoo – swimming down the
street.
“By morning we knew we were in trouble,” Holak said.
“Everything was flooding and it was still raining hard.”
But for him, the damage was also a serious impediment to the
Voyageur race, which runs near the north shore and was scheduled for July 28.
“I didn't really think the Voyageur would be in trouble
until I saw photos coming in over the internet and Facebook of the swinging
bridge being washed away and huge sections of the paved Willard Munger Trail
being washed out,” Holak said. “At that point we started thinking about ways to
re-route the course.”
That wasn’t his first priority, though.
“It was clear that the course would be significantly affected
by the afternoon of June 20,” he said. “However,
the real concern was still for the safety of friends and neighbors. Towns were flooded, houses were severely
damaged, livelihoods were lost. That was
the real concern initially.”
Once the waters had settled, Holak was tasked with figuring
out whether the race could be run as planned – and if so, how he and the race
organizers were going to pull it off, given the extent of the damage on the
course. It would be one more task in the already sleepless life of a race
director. But Holak and his team were not willing to cancel if they didn’t have
to – in addition to being famous as Proctor native and Western States 100
legend Scott Jurek’s first ultramarathon, it is the oldest ultramarathon in the
state and is considered a marquee running event in Minnesota each year.
Remarkably, thanks to some around-the-clock work by the race
team, the Voyageur will be run as scheduled this Saturday. We asked Holak about
the effect the flood had on the race planning, the work of rerouting it, and
what changes runners can expect to see.
How long did it take
to get a full assessment of the damage to the race course?
The extent of the damage to the course wasn't known until
co-race director Kris Glesener and a group of trail runners got out on the
course. What they saw wasn't
pretty. The trails on the west end of
the route were severely impacted.
Access roads were literally gone.
Huge chasms appeared where roads used to be. The damage was worse than we thought it would
be, especially to many access roads along the course. The other shocking thing were the extent of the
mudslides along the course and all over the Duluth area. Whole hillsides sliding down into raging
torrents that used to small trickles of a creek. The mudslides probably caused the most damage
to the course.
All in all, what’s
the damage to the course and elsewhere?
Conservatively, I would say about 25% of the course was
severely impacted by the flooding with several sections completely
destroyed. It's likely that there are
trails we will never use again for the race.
Beautiful sections like Gill Creek and Mission Creek were destroyed by
mudslides, the iconic Swinging Bridge was washed away and many other section
were obliterated by flood waters. Some
of these sections are unrunnable, however, trail and ultrarunners essentially
could and would run the sections most people would consider unrunnable, so to
call them unrunnable wouldn't be entirely accurate. The sections of the trail in Jay Cooke State
Park are unrunnable because the park is closed until October 31, 2012 due to
the severe damage to roads and trails there.
Given the damage, was
your initial reaction to re-route the course or to consider cancelling the
race?
On the day of the flood, June 20, initial reports and photos
led me to believe we could probably re-route the course and make it work. After seeing the damage a couple days later,
my initial reaction was no way, we'll have to cancel. My biggest concerns were the access roads and
whether emergency vehicles could get access to the course and we could get aid
stations set up for runners. Runner
safety was my main concern and it didn't look good. The damage to the trails from a runner
standpoint didn't concern me as much. I
knew trail runners would run over and through anything! It would simply add to the challenge, and
they would love it. Runner safety though
was our responsibility.
What was the process
of finding a new route?
Co-race director Kris Glesener really has to be credited
with finding the alternate route. Only a
couple days after the flood, Kris was out there with a crew assessing the
damage and starting to look for alternate routes. It was probably just a little over a week
after the flood that Kris had an alternate route identified. We went out together and looked at some
sections of trail to add to try to create some loops and I put some maps
together shortly thereafter. Once we
were confident we could get emergency vehicle access and sufficient aid
stations in, we were good to go.
What will the new
course look like?
The cool thing about the alternate route is that it does use
some cool portions of the traditional Voyageur course - the powerlines, across
Spirit Mtn., 7 Bridges Road, and the zoo, but it also adds some really cool
trails that nobody that runs the race will probably know about. There are some cool new segments of
singletrack added, a couple additional creek crossings, climbing straight up
the ski hill, some beautiful pine and cedar stands.
Even though you were
planning a re-route, the possibility that it might have to be cancelled was
surely kept as a contingency. But at what point were you positive the race
could go forward?
We were confident the race would go ahead as planned when we
knew access was going to work and we could put together a race that felt like
the Voyageur. It will still have the
feel of the Voyageur I think, which is what I wanted if we were going to go
ahead with the race. If we were going to
call it the 31st Annual Minnesota Voyageur 50, it had to feel like the Voyageur
and it still does. We wouldn't have gone
ahead with the race if we weren't confident people would know they were running
the Voyageur. Plus, it will showcase the
amazing amount of hidden trails in Duluth and some of the unbelievable damage
and power of Mother Nature.
The Voyageur has a
special, historical place in Minnesota ultrarunning, dating even to before
Scott Jurek made it famous. What does it mean to you that the spirit of the
race has prevailed, so to speak, against outside elements?
I think it means a lot to people who have run the Voyageur
before. It's one of the oldest trail
ultramarathons in the country and people have appreciated the work that went
into pulling the race off this year.
We're following in the footsteps of some amazing people who put this
race together, and we think it will live up to the Voyageur name. The probably would not have happened without
the work of Kris Glesener. He has been
instrumental in putting the course together, gathering volunteers, clearing the
course and cutting and mowing. Without
his efforts, this race would not have happened.
A huge thank you goes out to all of the volunteers who have made this
happen as well. It's truly a community
effort.
