Have you heard about the Under Armour Mountain Series yet? If you love trail running and adventures in some of the most stunning mountain locations in the US, listen up. There are not one, but three, in the Under Armour series, and there are distances for just about every runner to choose from. In July, I was lucky enough to experience the first race of the series, which was in Mt. Bachelor, OR. You can read about it here. If you missed out on this, there’s always next year, or better yet, come out to Killington, VT or Copper Mountain, CO for one of the others. After my amazing experience in Mt. Bachelor, I am eager to get out to Copper Mountain in September to give this one a go!
The Copper Mountain event promises to be a memorable one, as the host is the largest ski resort in Summit County with 35 miles of trails to explore throughout the Rocky Mountains. After what’s sure to be a fabulous day of pre-race festivities on Friday Sept 8th, there will be a 50k, a marathon, a half marathon, and a marathon relay to choose from on Saturday, September 9th, as well as the Vertical Challenge. Sunday will be the 5k, the 10k, and the kids race. You can read more detail about the various races in my previous race preview or on the event website.
It would be easy to justify making the Copper Mountain event a destination race well worth traveling for. Not only do you have a lot of different distances to choose from, but the lodging options are varied as well. There are large homes, condos, and hotel rooms all available for your stay, depending on what you want. Copper Mountain has three main villages, the East, Center, and West. The event will be at Center Village and there are so many options onsite that you won’t need to leave the village at all if you don’t want to. And bring the whole family, as there’s a lot of stuff to do for everyone, not to mention a lot of viewing spots to watch the races from. All three villages are pet-friendly too, so don’t feel like you need to leave Man’s Best Friend at home.
The weekend of the event, the Center Village will have a new mountain coaster, WreckTangle, which is described as “a ninja obstacle course” as well as a fall festival called Witchcraft. If this doesn’t interest you, there are many other things to do from a bungee adventure to a zipline or go karts and snowmobile tours. There’s also the Copper Creek Golf Course, spa treatments, and the Leadville Colorado & Southern Railroad. There are several Basecamp Adventure packages and lots of really great deals on Copper’s summer lodging and activities. Check out the 1 night package or the 2 night package, depending on what works best for your agenda. You can plan your lodging, your airport shuttle, and your activities here too.
Have you registered for Copper Mountain yet? Do it here and I’ll see you there!
Details:
What: Under Armour Mountain Series – Copper Mountain
When: September 9, 2017
- 8:00AM for 50k,
- 8:30AM for Marathon and Marathon Relay,
- 10:00AM for Half Marathon,
- 5:00PM for Vertical Challenge.
September 10
- 10:00AM for 10k,
- 11:00AM for 5k.
Where: Copper Mountain, CO
Register: Here and don’t forget to enter code “RUNOREGON” at checkout to get 20% off.
Registration Cost: $135 for 50k, $120 for Marathon, $105 for Half Marathon, $199 for Marathon Relay, $79 for 10k, $50 for 5k, $50 for Vertical Challenge.
Packet Pick-Up: Friday, September 8th at 2:00PM, 6:30AM on Saturday and Sunday.
