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All Souls Trail Race
Sponsored by Aldo Leopold Charter School
to benefit The Commons Center for Food Security & Sustainability
We have resurrected the All Souls Trail Race!
Here's hoping we've seen the last virtual race on Boston Hill for another century. For the All Souls faithful: consider this edition the 10th annual in-the-flesh running of our fall trail classic. As always, the racecourse will lead you on a merry chase around Boston Hill—an abandoned hard-rock mine rising on the edge of downtown Silver City, New Mexico. Count on prickly pears & cholla, the occasional bullsnake, enough rocks to jar your molars loose, and stirring vistas of Silver City you can't appreciate because you're too busy attempting to stay upright. We locals love The Hill and are always eager to share our trails with visitors. Come join us for the 2022 All Souls Trail Quarter Marathon--Saturday, November 5, at 9 AM sharp.
For the first time, we are offering a relay option. Rugged souls may run the entire 6.55-mile course solo, or, if they are blessed with good sense, they may share the anguish and glory with a partner. (We’ll do our best to split the course-distance in half, but only approximately, as we must create a handy access point for the finishing leg of each team.)
Racing is never about prizes, of course, but prizes will be awarded for female & male winners in the solo race: Youth (up to age 17), Prime (18-39), Masters (40-59), & Supermasters (60 & older). We will award first, second, and third prizes for overall winners in the relay. We will also award a prize for the overall winner registering as a non-binary runner.
At present, I am currently designing this year’s race T-shirt; below is a photo of the 2009 version so that you have a sense of my design style. As always, our friends at Morning Star in Silver City will print our race shirts. You may order shirts by using the mail-in registration form; the online site is currently not set up for shirt orders. T-shirts are $16 each.
You may register online:
or by mail: Jim McIntosh, Race Director
All Souls Trail Race
147 Enchanted Trail
Silver City, NM 88061
or by dropping off registration and payment at Aldo Leopold Charter School (410 West 10th St., Silver City, NM).
For the sake of the race director’s sanity, please observe all deadlines:
· T-shirt orders: October 20
· Mail-in registration: October 25 postmark
· Online registration: Halloween (October 31)
Race-day registration is possible, but it will cost you a little extra.
Fees:
· Quarter Marathon Solo: $20 by mail, $24 online, $25 race day
· Quarter Marathon Relay Partner (each): $16 by mail, $20 online, $22 race day
Each relay partner must register separately and denote their partner on the registration
form. (If registering online, email the race director at mrgreendreams@msn.com to
designate your relay team.)
If you are interested in becoming a race sponsor (earning you a spot on the race t-shirt & perhaps even in heaven), or if you would like to volunteer on race day as a marshal, please contact Jim McIntosh at 575.574.2902 or at mrgreendreams@msn.com.
Race registration takes place at Spring Street Park, located on Spring Street between S. Pinos Altos St. and Arizona St. in downtown Silver City. The race starts a block away on Spring Street; except for a brief start & finish on pavement, the race is run on rugged Boston Hill trails. For directions to the race start & for course maps, contact Jim.
Please check this site periodically for updates. You can reach the race director best at mrgreendreams@msn.com. He has a full-time job, but he usually responds promptly when not in the backcountry.
To view a course map, click here.
Relay Exchange Point for the All Souls Quarter Marathon
The relay exchange point, which is also the race’s midpoint water stop, is located at Junction 9 on the trail system pictured above. (Look for the yellow pin.)
The easiest way to access the relay exchange point is to park—or better still, have a driver unload you at the Truck Bypass Trailhead—located at the southernmost point in the Boston Hill Open Space.
Parking is limited at the trailhead, with perhaps 6 or 7 spaces available.
At the Truck Bypass Trailhead, you will see an orange gate. Follow Trail Spur C, marked with green posts. You will pass 3 such green “C” posts and then see the sign in the photo (in real life!), as well as a water station. The distance from the orange gate at the Truck Bypass Trailhead to the relay exchange point is 0.16 miles (about 250 meters). I will hang a few pieces of blue-&-white striped tape to guide you toward the relay exchange point. These are NOT race markings!
Whoever runs the first leg of the relay should receive a playing card at registration, which will serve as your “baton.” (Don’t drop it on the trail as you are leaping a stone or exultantly passing a competitor!) When the first-leg runner reaches the exchange point/water station, they should hand the playing card to the second-leg runner, who will carry the card to the finish line.
The exchange point/water station is located at a point 3.25 miles into the race—remarkably close to the halfway point. The first leg begins with a 0.75-mile climb but is mostly flat after mile marker 1. The second leg requires more climbing, but it ends with a long descent back to the Spring Street Trailhead.
Since the race starts at 9 AM, it’s best for “Leg 2 Runners” to find themselves in place at the relay exchange point by 9 or so.
At this point, only a few runners have signed up for the relay, but anything is possible for race day registration. If you find the small parking lot at the Truck Bypass Trailhead full, you can park at the Humane Society Trailhead and trot the double-track west from there for 0.5 miles (it’s a pleasant warmup run) till you reach the orange gate at the Truck Bypass Trailhead—at which point you follow the C spur to the exchange point/water stop (again, another 0.16 miles).
To reach the Truck Bypass Trailhead by car, take Cooper Street south out of town to reach NM 90 (or take Hudson Street south out of town, which becomes NM 90) & make a right onto Truck Bypass Road. (You will see Harrison Schmitt Elementary school on your left, then a U-Haul/Storage Unit business; be ready to turn right onto the bypass immediately.) The trailhead is less than a mile from the intersection with NM 90. You will see the orange gate & a small parking lot there. Again—if the parking lot is full, backtrack to the Humane Society driveway & park in the lot by the Humane Society Trailhead.
Questions? Phone Jim at 575.574.2902—but well before the race starts, please!
All Souls Quarter Marathon
Race Day Details (for Nov. 5)
Parking: On-street parking is available near Spring Street Park. There’s also a dirt parking lot just beyond the Spring Street Trailhead (west of the trailhead, to be precise), but according to the sign on the lot, it doesn’t open till 8 AM.
Registration: The race registration table opens at 7:30 at Spring Street Park (within view of the race starting line). We will give you a racing bib, which you’ll pin on the front of your racing attire about chest or belly high. (Relay bibs will be color-coded.) Of note: we will have a portable restroom available next to Spring Street Park. Those who pre-ordered shirts will be able to pick them up at the Pre-Reg table.
Race start: The race starts on Spring Street (well-paved) in the block between Bayard & Cooper Street (a block away from Spring Street Park). We will have either a temporary police road block to help us across Cooper Street, or we will stop traffic ourselves with flagmen. We begin the race on pavement (for about 475 feet) so that runners have ample time to jockey for position before they leap onto the trail. A friendly reminder: Slower runners should always yield to a runner who politely asks to pass (“Passing on the left!” &c).
Race finish: The finishing line is located about halfway between the Spring Street Trailhead & Cooper Street. You will turn right onto Spring Street when you reach the end of the trail. Good people, we will not have you cross Cooper Street running at top speed! (& we pledge to keep you safe in the finish chute.)
Water: There is a water stop at mile 3.25. For the most part, we will be setting out reusable aluminum cups at the station. Naturally, there will be water available at Spring Street Park (near both the start & finish). If you predict that you will need more water than what’s available at the water station, you might want to carry your own water bottle, which you can also fill at the water station. Hide your anguish & give a friendly wave to your kind water bearers!
Course markings: Think of the race course as a big letter Q (admittedly, a very squiggly letter Q) with the “tail” being the trail from Spring Street to the Blue Loop (where the beige benches are located). The “tail” will be marked in blue tape. The Blue Loop itself will be marked—the circle part of the Q—in fluorescent green tape—very bright in the morning sun & easy to follow. In an unprecedented move, I’m going to use a little less tape than usual; people make fun of me for the amount I use, but they won’t this time! The grass on Boston Hill is so high that during the first half of the race, you will feel like you are cruising down a luge chute.
Marshals: Once you reach the Blue Loop, you will encounter no more race marshals, other than Serena & Matt from Aldo at the water station. I will place red & yellow arrows at key turns & flag the course sufficiently, but know that, other than a half-mile shortcut between the beige benches & Mile Marker 1, you are following the Blue Loop clockwise (which is marked with blue posts topped with arrows; see photo below).
Relay teams: There’s a whole set of instructions for all yall! (See yesterday’s email.) Both members of the relay team should check in at registration, pick up your bibs, receive your playing-card baton, & one of you should head promptly to the relay exchange/water station to await your partner.
Awards ceremony: The small awards ceremony will be held in Spring Street Park. I know that this Saturday is a busy one, so I will endeavor to begin the awards ceremony as soon as most of the award winners cross the finishing line. We will have fruit & chips at the race finish—nothing fancy—which we welcome you to enjoy post-race as you cheer in the finishers who didn’t have quite as fine a day on The Hill as you did.
Starting at 9 AM sharp: Silver Citizens are not known for their punctuality, but if we have a police escort to help us across Cooper Street, it’s important we don’t tie up officers from more important duties. I plan to hold my pre-race meeting at 8:50 near the starting line & start the race at 9. Give yourself plenty of time to register, pin your bib, warm up, & maybe lose some water weight in the portable toilet.
Results: I will post final race results on my website-- www.justteaching.org/joy/scat/all-souls-trail-race-2022.
Phone me if I’ve left any question unanswered! (575.574.2902)
Below: Blue Loop directional posts & arrows; even if someone messes with flagging the morning before the race, you could probably find your way around the course, simply by following existing markers.
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