Checkpoint Chronicles: Experiencing the Unique Wood You Rather Trail Race

If you love trail running and want a real adventure, you gotta register for Wood You Rather, a choose-your-own-adventure style race brought to us by the always stellar Go Beyond Racing. This race is a checkpoint run in Forest Park and it’s guaranteed to be different than any other you’ve ever done.

Instead of what you’d find at your typical pre-set course, all participants will receive a map at the start of the race, which begins at 8:00AM on Saturday, May 4^th.  There will be 10 checkpoints highlighted on your map, and you have 2.5 hours to reach as many checkpoints as you can as well as get to the finish line in the alloted time. The first person to get the most checkpoints and then back to the finish line the fastest is the winner. Everyone else gets ranked in order of time, with those getting more checkpoints above those who get fewer.

Sound like an easy challenge? This event takes some strategy as well as some skill. Some trails might be shorter but more difficult. Some are longer but require more climbing. Which will slow you down more? Only time will tell and you can expect to get 7.5 to 11 miles of trail miles in, with 1200’ to 1600’ of gain.

You can register for this event as a solo runner or on a team of 3 to 6 people. There are both team and individual categories, so everyone gets a fair shot at a win. If you register with a team, you can all run the course together or you can split everyone up to explore on their own. The team with the fastest average time and highest number of checkpoints will win their category.

FYI if any of your team members comes in after the finish line cutoff at 10:30AM, the entire team will receive a Did Not Finish (DNF) and the checkpoints will shut down at 10:00AM so look out for your team members!!

All finishers will earn a Wood You Rather mug and the top male, female, non-binary, and team winners will earn prizes!

As always, Go Beyond Racing strongly encourages carpooling to Forest Park, as space is limited in the neighborhood streets around the park entrance. You have an opportunity to earn a Carpool Koozie if you share a ride! If you are looking for a carpooling buddy, check out this Google spreadsheet. Please note that this is a viewable and shareable link, so only post what you’re okay with being public.

If you’re running as a team, the captain should register the team and each person on the team can individually register themselves. The cost is $60 or $65 for day of race registration. There will be no transfers allowed and you will have your ID checked at when you arrive at check-in.  There are only a limited number of slots, so register ASAP!!