Local Race Directors Join Forces to Create Flathead Trail Running Series

For runners looking to test their mettle in the mountains, the Flathead Valley’s network of trails, forest roads and ridgelines offer an adventure for everyone. And as the region’s suite of running races grows in size and stature, it’s furnishing competitive mountain athletes with a proving ground to test their fitness while generating plenty of stoke among back-of-the-pack participants aiming to fill their summer weekends with a full slate of races.

There’s so much variety, in fact, that the organizers of four separate running events — the Herron Half Marathon, 10k and 5k Trail Run; the Foy’s to Blacktail Trail Marathon; the Whitefish Trail Blazer; and the Le Grizz 50-mile Ultramarathon — have joined forces to host the Flathead Race Series. By coordinating the races so there’s less overlap and scheduling conflicts for participants, race directors say the new format aims to galvanize the running community around a full docket of summer races organized under a single-series umbrella.

With distances ranging from 5k to 50 miles, and incentives to run the full gamut of races or pick-and-choose piecemeal style, there’s truly an option for everyone.

“I had this vision years ago when the Herron Half Marathon, the Foy’s to Blacktail Marathon and the 50k trail ultra in Whitefish were all going, that we should be supporting each other rather than competing for race slots on the calendar,” said Brian Miller, a local physical therapist and race director. As the brain child of the Herron Half Marathon, 10k and 5k Trail Run and the Foy’s to Blacktail Marathon, which historically have run as separate events at opposite ends of the summer to raise financial support for local trails, Miller decided to merge the events and host all four distances over a foot-race-filled weekend July 12-13.

Created in 2012, the popular Herron Half Marathon, 10k and 5k has traditionally run the first weekend of June, which for many families coincides with graduation weekend. Having created the Foy’s to Blacktail Trail Marathon in 2019, Miller said the pair of races have become the two largest fundraising events for the Foy’s to Blacktail Trail system. It made sense, he said, to reconfigure them into a single format and rebrand them as the FTBT Races.

Similarly, the Whitefish Trail Blazer is the flagship fundraising event of Whitefish Legacy Partners’ annual community trail running and open lands celebration, which includes the 50k on Oct. 4, and a half marathon, 10k and 5k on Oct. 5.

The impetus for the Flathead Race Series, meanwhile, was one of convenience and competition, he said.

“I wanted to collaborate with as many race directors as possible so we could communicate and coordinate the races so we weren’t stepping on each other’s toes as much,” Miller said. “And we could add another dimension that appeals to these ultra runners who like a big challenge.”

That “big challenge” will arrive in the form of the Crown of the Continent Champion’s League, which recognizes runners who complete the longest race in each of the three race groups, awarding them with a mug, a custom beanie from local hat-maker Sam Avery, a logo patch, and free entry into one of the race series events next year. At the end of the season, Competitive Timing will rank all Flathead Race Series participants and award individuals who have completed one race of any distance in every event of the series with a Buff. Series finishers will also receive a registration discount for one of each of the following year’s race series.

Everyone who participates in at least one of the FTBT races on July 12 and 13, one of the Whitefish Trail Blazer races on Oct. 4 and 5, and one of the Le Grizz races on Oct. 11 will be part of this series. Series participants will receive a buff, discounts on next year’s races, and will be ranked by Competitive Timing at the end of the series.

Gavin Wisdom, the race director of the Le Grizz 50-mile Ultramarathon, and Cody Moore, the race director of the Whitefish Trail Blazer, which includes a 50k ultrarunning event on Oct. 4 as well as half marathon, 10k and 5k race distances on Oct. 5, jumped at the opportunity to connect the events.

“This is another step toward uniting the Flathead trail running and outdoor community,” Moore said. “In the Flathead Valley you have lots of people who are into trail running, but we’re pretty spread out. So, by encouraging people to not only jump in the race in their backyard, but maybe also travel 30 minutes to participate in another race that’s part of a connected series, we hope to grow our community. A rising tide lifts all ships in running spaces so the more we can support each other, the better.”

For Wisdom, who, as the director of Le Grizz presides over one of the oldest ultramarathon events in the world, the race series builds on efforts over the past 10 years to make Le Grizz more accessible without sacrificing its enduring legacy. In 2015, Le Grizz changed both in ownership and location, moving from Hungry Horse Reservoir to a new course along the North Fork Flathead River, with the 2025 edition beginning and ending at the Polebridge Mercantile. The race also includes a relay option, as well as 10k and 5k distances, and supports the nonprofit Glacier Institute, which operates an outdoor education and learning center at Big Creek. Occurring on the second Saturday of October as it has since its debut in 1982, Le Grizz falls on Oct. 11 this year, one week after the Trail Blazer.

But Wisdom said the two courses feature very different terrain and elevation profiles, reassuring runners who choose to pursue them both that they will complement one another.

“The logic behind all of this was pretty simple,” Wisdom said. “There’s a push in the Flathead Valley to bring the running community together and putting together a race series is a great way to build community and submerse yourself in the local running culture.”

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