THANK YOU LITTLE RIVER TRAIL RUNNERS!

Your Driving Green contributions offset 15 metric tonnes of CO2 - and that's a lot of gas!

The TrailHeads are delighted to make a contribution to Little River Regional Park, thanks to your participation!

[Mike DiFabio (left), Joeseph "weezyl" Lea, and Thing 1 at the Little River Trail Run donations meeting 3/9/08 at the Open Eye Cafe' in Carrboro]

[Squonk, right, thanks Dick Forbis of Cardinal Track Club with a small donation for CTC's great job processing LRTR race finishers]

[Ringo presents weezyl with a, well, a weasel.]

Letter to Little River Regional Park

It is very nice to be able to make a donation like this. Mike informs us that much of this year's proceed will go toward trail maintenance tools.

Thanks Little River Regional Park, Sponsors, Volunteers, RUNNERS, and TrailHeads!

Thanks Yellow Dawg for the pictures!

1.21.08 UPDATE: VIDEO and PHOTO GALLERY

Thanks to everyone for making this year's running of Little River the best yet!

Awesome volunteers, great assistance from park staff, FANTASTIC SPONSORS and incredible runners!

THREE NEW COURSE RECORDS and miles of single-track smiles!

Now, for some critical info for you:

Results are posted here.

YouTube Video Trailer is posted here. MANY thanks to Matt McArthur who ran around the course video-taping the runners! You ROCK MATT!

PODCAST: Got a video iPod or want to view the trailer in iTunes? Punch this link, download and save the file. [29 MB, m4v file]

Thanks to everyone for coming out. We'll have a nice contribution ready for the park very soon. More details to come.

We welcome your comments!

Dear Friends,

This a lengthy thought regarding the Little River Trail Run, January 12, 2008, and a good bit more about the Trailheads.

Looking back at where we were 2 years ago at this time, I'm reminded that we had a good idea and a ton of support to launch the first Little River Trail Run.

The TrailHeads club put up abundant resources to get us kicked off. Our sponsors threw support behind us. XTERRA highly profiled the race as it's kick-off Scramble event for 2006 and we invited and were joined by world champion XTERRA triathlete, Jamie Whitmore, for the event. I think we pulled up just shy of 300 participants and we thought we'd be lucky to get 150. But why did this race develop? Skwryl and I were thinking very similar thoughts during the early spring of 2005 - how could the TrailHeads spread some of the love of trail running? We decided to try to organize an event around 3 primary ideas:

1. Fun - we're TrailHeads - the club charter is based on not taking things too seriously but certainly rejoicing as we course through natural areas, in groups or solo, on feet or wheels, going slow, fast, or somewhere in between. By having a fun event, our hope was to encourage runners new to the trails to give it a try and just enjoy a winter's day.

2. Trail Awareness - Skwyrl had begun to explore the Little River trails and I was trying to convince the folks at Beaver Dam to let us organize an XTERRA triathlon out there. And though Beaver Dam outright rejected my request, Little River Management embraced Skwyrl's overtures and we were off, setting the date in September and organizing for the inaugural in January. As race director that first year, I was amazed at how little I knew about races and bowled over by the club's willingness to get in there and tackle the event. Skwyrl's work with the park was the pivotal element. The more we ran and rode the Little River trails, the more we loved them. We learned about Triangle Off Road Cyclists' work on the mountain bike section of the trails and saw a connection between LR and our local trails in Chapel Hill - building sustainable trails blends into the landscape and provides legitimate recreational opportunities for runners, hikers, and cyclists alike. Could Little River Regional Park, then, be a model of how trails could be maintained and developed in Carolina North Forest? (At the time the local forest was much more threatened than it appears to be now, and since then CN Forest Management and TORC have a solid understanding - at least for an unbinding time period of 50 years). Also by organizing an event at a park like LRRP we'd be better able to organize one at another location, like Carolina North Forest (and we hope that could be a possibility in the near future).

3. Stewardship - this is simple - it's about giving back. That can be done in many ways. During my trail ramblings I try to give back to the forest by appreciating each moment I'm "out there" -- observing the trees, the wildlife, the way sunlight might catch a cluster of quartz on the trail, how each day is different. That's one way to give back - directly appreciating the natural sanctuary and openly giving thanks for it (yes, I talk to trees, and turtles, and deer, and pine cones [don't you?]). Of course, there are other ways to give back: dollars and sense. Dollars are easy. Our goal for Little River Trail Run has always been to cover expenses and give the rest to the park. We keep a small reserve for club expenses, but the TrailHeads do not want to deal with money. Even though we increased our dues 3 fold at our annual meeting, it's important to note that TrailHead dues are $00.00. So, the contributions made to Little River Regional Park - from race proceeds - have been to help their efforts to sustain what we love: the trails and the forest through which they flow. Mike, Lori, Erin and others have been incredibly supportive of the race and we're delighted to be of service. As for the "sense" in this equation, all that boils down to, really, is being open to helping out when and where help is needed: trail maintenance days, spreading the word about the park, keeping in touch with management and other user groups like TORC and listening to the forest. I wish we could do more and stand ready to try.

I don't know what to expect of this year's race. Oh, I know there will be smiles and fun, and maybe a little Trail Love, but I hope that our goals remain evident throughout race day and many days beyond it.

- squonk

Proceeds from this...

...helped bring LRRP management this....

...so there can be more of this...

12.23.07 UPDATE: Dear Friends, we've reached the limit for entires and are ever thankful for your support and interest. This has been a wonderful process and we appreciate your enthusiastic response.

Now it's time to finish organizing the event. Let it be known that yesterday I ordered 3 porto-jons for your comfort and convenience. The park also has facilities, so we're hopeful that lines will be short and waiting minimal.

As for CHARITY ENTRIES we accepted 10 of these prior to closing registration. That alone generated $500 for the race and park. Under the regular entry fee this would have required 25 runners (15 additional) to bring the same contribution to LRTR. This was a new idea for us to try. I'm glad we did it this year, but I'm not exactly sure how we would repeat it in the future. Thank you $50 registrants!

REGISTRANTS LIST

Don't Hibernate - CELEBRATE!

Join us for the 3rd Annual Little River Trail Runs - 9 mile or 5k.

RACE DETAILS

Little River Trail Run 2007 Photo Gallery.

NEW: Annotated Google Earth Map of 9 Mile Course. Download .kmz file.

NEW: Garmin GPS of course. Download 9 Mile Course to your Garmin 205 or 305!

check out the LRTR08 Sports iMix...

....read more