AFTER PARTY: Plan to stick around for the after party at Wander Brewing. Wander Brewing created a "Chinscraper IPA" that will be on tap, a special celebratory beer for our 30th Running. There will be food trucks, GirlnDog cookies and a 10 minute slideshow running on loop created by long time race photographer Glenn Tachiyama. Mostly we intend to create a space to hear your stories from the day, cheers the 30th running and share in that post run glow with each of you.
We are in the two week window and we want to remind you that we host a Kids’ Race from the same start line at 10am on race day. After the 50k runners have left the park we line the half mile route with YMCA staff and volunteers to cheer on the kid racers (12 and under) for 30 minutes of loopy fun! Kids run as many loops as they can in 30 minutes and receive a jelly bracelet each loop to count the laps. We give out a ton of prizes and this year have a special partnership with Patagonia Kids!
Learn more race details HERE and Register your Kids on Pacific MultiSports HERE
Also, a version of the 2023 Chuckanut Kids race film, Run Like A Kid, was entered in the Trail Running Film Festival and made the cut! We will be at the Seattle showing!
This event benefits our Whatcom YMCA Girls on the Run and Trail Blazers programs.
Chuckanut Kids Race video 2023
We started pulling people off of the waitlist this afternoon. Please check your inbox and register before the end of the week! If you are unable to join us this year we would like to pull additional people in sooner than later so they have the month for final preparations!
Getting exciting to have our largest field to date!
For the 30th running of the Chuckanut 50K ActiveTrack is offering a memorable souvenir video that is available for purchase on this link. Your video clips from different parts of the course will be edited with some other iconic views from our scenic course and then customized for each purchase. These videos will be about 8-10 minutes long and cost $39 to purchase.
As an extra bonus, all those who purchase a video will be appear on the tracking map. ActiveTrack will be at packet pickup to pass out the wristband they use for this technology. Sign up, and look for the ActiveTrack table at packet pickup to receive your wristband.
Both Ben Groenhoet and Tiare Bowman will be at the 30th running of the Chuckanut 50k. We loved their coverage of the 2023 event, and seeing the photos pop up in publications like Ultrarunning Magazine (need a subscription to read) and our local magazines.
The Bellingham Distance Project (BDP) is excited to host a free Chuckanut 50k training run featuring the course. This run is open to EVERYONE! So bring your friends and family and join the BDP for a fun Saturday in the Chuckanut Mountains!
Details:
Date: Saturday February 24th at 9 am.
Meeting Location: Lost Lake Parking Lot (DISCOVER PASS REQUIRED): https://maps.app.goo.gl/cLkJySJBxxQjEkfC7
Time: 9 AM
Routes:
We are offering 3 routes of different distances and elevation gain all featuring parts of the Chuckanut 50k course. Each route starts with going up Fragrance Lake Trail and down 2$ Trail and then that is where the routes will slowly split apart depending on how far you want to run:
Route distances listed below:
18 Mile Loop: The Classic "Inner 18"
11 mile loop - Including Fragrance Lake Trail, $2, Cleator, and Chinscaper
10k loop - Fragrance Lake to $2 and down Cleator
There will be NO course markings. So be prepared to download the course on your phone prior to arriving. We will have a small DIY aid station at Lost Lake Trailhead for before and after you finish your loop with Water, Electrolytes, and snacks.
We will have a post run get together later that afternoon for anyone interested at Stemma Brewery at 3:30 PM. Stemma has 3 food trucks, Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and allows kids and dogs! All are welcome to come hang out!
Be sure to follow the Bellingham Distance Project on Instagram for updates on this group run:
One of the highlights of race directing is getting to gather all of my favorite people and things in Fairhaven Park the third Saturday of March. Registration adds so much excitement with the event filling in hours, and getting to connect with the people at the brands I love to show case their products at our event is, simply, a lot of fun.
RUN THE RIDGE: This year Patagonia is our main sponsors offering shirts for our runners, products for our age group prizes and, new this year, prizes and activation kits for our Kids’ Race. We are super thankful for the many years Patagonia has supported the Chuckanut 50k in a variety of ways from products, to staff on site and helping us clean up the event, to demos, Provisions catering, a recovery lounge and other creative activations all to support our volunteers and runners.
CLEATOR CLIMB: Hammer Nutrition returns to supply our on course nutrition products. Check out their blurb on the sponsor page for a 20% code! Order ahead so that you can train with the nutrition that we will provide on course.
INTERURBAN SPRINT SPONSORS: Fairhaven Runners, Wander Brewing, SCARPA, K’UL Chocolates and ProTec Athletics all support Chuckanut 50k through time and/or cash support to the prize purse and product donations.
RACE SUPPORTERS: Trail Butter, Aspire Running, Ultraspire, Ketone IQ and our local Community Co-op all show up with products and presence race weekend.
photo: Ben Groenhoet
We want to use this space to share the memory of a community member and notable contributor to the Chuckanut 50k in the formative years of the Chuckanut 50k. The news of Charles Claassen’s passing is a nostalgic check-in of the amazing, giving human that Charles was in our community. The North Cascades Institute shared a beautiful post about Charles’ contribution to their Environmental Learning Center and the impact his love of food had on the many aspects of life he shared in. As a lover of the outdoors and realms that encouraged people to challenge their bodies, Charles insisted on providing the soup that long accompanied our finish line. He owned the Bookfare Cafe in Village Books and utilized his sourcing and resources to better many aspects of the Bellingham community.
Before Food Trucks served their deliciousness at our finish line, Ma Moehl managed a kitchen in the lower shelter at Fairhaven Park. Charles would deliver gallons and gallons of handmade soup and helped her keep it hot for runners and to meet health safety codes. Ma often received credit for the delicious and intentional combinations of ingredients that Charles created and his humble nature just smiled and let those comments land with her. In reality, he talked through the recipes with me, thoughtful to nourish our tired runners’ bodies, and prepared and froze the soup weeks in advance to ensure we had enough even as our numbers grew over the years. His focus and intention on how his food helped runners inspired the welcoming vibe in the early years of our finish line.
We are super thankful to know this wonderful human and understand his intentional contribution to all whose lives he touched.
Ben Groenhout teamed up with Tiare Bowman this year with the goal to capture photos of each runner. We have partnered to make it possible for runners to download these photos for free. If a brand, entity or person wants to use any of these photos for commercial use please contact either Ben or Tiare.
Tiare Bowman is a photographer from Redmond, Washington. Her passion for photography stems from her love of capturing people in their true essence. Tiare's style is characterized by warm tones and a hint of nostalgia. In addition to photography, Tiare is also an avid trail runner. She loves the challenge of pushing herself to new limits while exploring the great outdoors. Her love of nature is reflected in her photography, as she often incorporates natural elements into her work.
website: tiarebowman.com Social: instagram.com/tiarebowmanphoto
Ben Groenhout is a photographer, adventurer and firefighter based in Bellingham, Washington. He is a super avid outdoors human that carries his camera to capture unique adventure moments that make viewers’ jaws drop. (Did you see the one of winner Adam Merry descending the rock face on the ridge?) The Groenhout family was involved in the Chuckanut 50k this year; Ben shooting photos, Kelsey paced the Kids Race, and both kids toed the line.
website: bengroenhout.smugmug.com Social: instagram.com/ben_groenhout
Ben Groenhout ran a lot of the course in 2022 shooting these great photos from the event. He was everywhere! This year he teamed up with Tiare Bowman to cover more of the course with the goal of providing photos of every runner.
2022 Chuckanut 50k - Photo: Ben Groenhout
Pacific MultiSports Live Feed for Runners on course and Finish Line Results (LINK)
Current Participants List HERE.
ActiveTrack will have video streaming along the course! You can share this link (activetrack.com/live/stream) with your friends and family to watch you from their homes or even hanging out in Fairhaven Park on their phones! They will just need to create an account. Then they can click on the LiveStream to see current footage.
Prior to the race runners can create an account and use the cool tools of the course profile map to study where the climbs hit along the route.
Afterwards there will be a 45 minute rebroadcast of the race. We will share the viewing time in a post race Race Update.