UMTR Banquet on Saturday, November 23rd
UMTR's Annual Banquet & Awardsfest will open at 5:30pm on Saturday 11/23 at Hope Church in Oakdale, with programming starting at 6:30. Arrive early to participate in the gear swap and grab a good seat for the potluck dinner. If you're joining us this year, please make sure to RSVP so we know you're coming, and let us know if you plan to bring something for the potluck.
The evening will begin with our Annual Meeting, where we'll report on our impact this year, review the results of our member survey and share a plan of action and elect new board members. Then, we'll move right into the presentation of awards for Trail Person and Trail Runner of the Year, and winners of our Trail, Ultra, and Gnarly Bandits series!
This year's special guest is Jeff Berg, a UMTR member and creator of The Ultra Pickle Project, a film exploring the motivations of ultra runners and the amazing community surrounding them here in the Upper Midwest. Jeff will be showing some never-before-seen footage that didn't make the final cut, and sharing lessons learned in creating his film. You don't want to miss this!
And, of course, what would the banquet be without DOOR PRIZES!? We've got some really good ones this year. Discounted races, free races, and guaranteed entries! Plus swag from some iconic races and top running shops. We'll be giving away prizes at the end of the evening, so don't plan on skipping out early!
Our annual Banquet and Awardsfest is happening this year on Saturday, November 18th at Hope Church in Oakdale, MN. We're excited to be returning to a potluck-style dinner along with our usual program. We'll review the year of UMTR, and hand out awards for Race Series winners, plus the Trail Person and Trail Runner of the Year!
As is tradition, we'll end the evening with a presentation from someone in the world of trail running. This year, we're honored to have Harvey Lewis joining us remotely to talk about his running career! Harvey has taken top honors at premier national events like Badwater 135 and the neverending Big Dog's Backyard Ultra, alongside some notable results at Upper Midwest favorites FANS 24hr races and the Superior Sawtooth 100.
We hope you can join us for what will be a great evening! Please RSVP with this form to let us know you're coming. And remember- you must be a UMTR member to attend.
This year UMTR is taking over an aid station at The Willow trail race just northeast of Hudson, WI, and that means WE NEED YOU!! We're looking for energetic folks to come help us on May 7th, 2022 from 7am until around 1pm (or any portion of time in-between).
If you've never helped at an aid station before this is a great way to give back and help out your fellow runners who are doing amazing things. The race will be providing food and supplies, so all we need is your smiling face.
Please email jamison.swift "at" umtr.org if you can help!
Whatever you're up to, we hope 2022 has exciting things ahead! It's shaping up to be a great year for UMTR members. Last weekend we hosted our annual Board of Directors retreat, where we outlined our vision for the year and began planning for some great programming. Here is an introduction to what we're up to in 2022.
New option for auto-renewing membership
Your annual membership is the financial backbone of our organization- without those dues, we wouldn't be able to sponsor volunteer opportunities, fun runs, or provide additional financial support to trail organizations across our region. Now, we've made it even easier to renew your membership each year. Now, when you login to renew your membership, you'll have the option to select automatically renewing membership, instead of having to submit a renewal each year. We've kept the manually renewing membership option, for those who don't wish to be billed automatically.
All current memberships have defaulted to manual renewal. If you'd like to switch to an automatic annual renewal, visit the membership renewal page and select the "UMTR Membership (auto-renewal)" option. You can always change your billing preference through your member profile on UMTR.org.
Flex your competitive muscles in the UMTR Race Series!
We are pleased to be bringing back our Trail and Ultra race series this year. Of course, if these challenges don't sound tough enough, you can take on the Gnarly Bandits series and attempt 5 of the toughest races on offer in the Upper Midwest! Series schedules have just been updated on our website, and you can sign up any time to take part in any of the race series you choose. All the details you need to get registered can be found at https://umtr.org/How-to-Sign-Up. (Participation in UMTR Race Series does not guarantee entry into individual races.)
Keep an eye out for more details on the Race Series, including this year's sponsors, coming soon!
Volunteer opportunities
UMTR members have access to so many incredible trail systems and racing opportunities, thanks in large part to volunteer efforts. We are proud to play a role in these efforts, and offer multiple ways for UMTR members to give back to the trails and the communities that support them. Looking to get involved this year? Stay tuned for information about volunteering at UMTR aid stations at several races this year, as well as several trail work projects that you can support.
Mid-Term Director positions available
Looking for a different way to volunteer? How about joining UMTR's Board of Directors? We recently had some board members step down, and are looking to fill the remainder of their terms. Are you interested in helping guide and implement UMTR's mission? Contact us at info@umtr.org, and let us know if you are interested in a one- or two-year term.
UMTR is once again partnering with the Superior Hiking Trail Association for some trail work. This is a great opportunity to get out there and give back to the trails, as well as learn what it takes to maintain the places we love to run.
Saturday Aug 28 9am - 2 pm Work on a trail project in Duluth led by the SHTA. Exact project TBD: could be hauling material for a structure and helping to construct it, working on a short section of new trail, or a maintenance project of brushing and widening a section of trail. UMTR will provide lunch + snacks Contact Rose Ryan (rose.ryan@umtr.org) with questions and RSVP Sign up by Wednesday Aug 25
Saturday Aug 28
9am - 2 pm
Work on a trail project in Duluth led by the SHTA. Exact project TBD: could be hauling material for a structure and helping to construct it, working on a short section of new trail, or a maintenance project of brushing and widening a section of trail.
UMTR will provide lunch + snacks
Contact Rose Ryan (rose.ryan@umtr.org) with questions and RSVP
Sign up by Wednesday Aug 25
See you out there!
Wow, what a great time at the Aint City Trail event! Thank you to everyone who came out and joined in. Even though it was smoke-y out, a few folks were still able to discover some trails in their backyard. We can't wait to do more of these in the future.
We're going to attempt to hold our annual banquet this year, though it will probably look a little different (no potluck for example). Save the date of November 20th for our annual pre-banquet run and event.
We're also doing our final group run of the year at the Final Fall Fatass Frolic on November 13th at Elm Creek Park.
More details will be upcoming soon.
Keep an eye on your email and social media channels on how to join the UMTR board of directors next year. Nominations will be opening up in a few weeks.
Summer is heating up, and we're excited to see the return of so many social running events! After more than a year's long hiatus, UMTR is bringing back a number of non-competitive group runs that keep our members connected and welcome those who are new to trail running. Our next opportunity is coming up on Sunday, August 1st, with "Aint City Running"!
It's no secret that the Twin Cities Metro area has many amazing trails to run. This summer, we want to show off some of the best choices for city dwellers, that don't even require a trip in the car to get to! Join UMTR and Saint City Running on an urban trail exploration through Hidden Falls and Crosby Farm parks. We will have guides and trail buddies for a variety of distances and paces, making this a great event for all!
Happy Spring everyone and welcome back to racing! We wanted to take a brief moment to update everyone on how the race series are going to work this year.
We're hoping to hold our various series as close to as normal as possible, however, we ask that people have patience and understanding if circumstances require changing things at the last minute. Many race directors are struggling to get permission to hold an event, and sometimes that means shifting date or distances. Remember everyone is doing their best. Trail Series: The trail series has kicked off with Zumbro and Trail Mix, and Willow is right around the corner on May 1st. If you've signed up for this series you should have already heard from series director Mandy on how to submit your results. Ultra Series: We've had 4 events happen in the Ultra series with END Sure, Zumbro, Trail Mix, and the awesome Chippewa 50K finishing up right now. Series director Carl will be contacting folks after each race about submitting results. Timed Series: The first Timed Series event is the Treasured Havens Farm 3, 6, and 12 hour run on May 30th. The rest of the schedule is still very much in flux and we'll keep people posted as we hear more. Gnarly Bandit: This is the one everyone has been asking about... and YES we are hoping to have a Gnarly Bandit series for this year. However, with the absence of Zumbro, this will once again be a 4-race series this year; Kettle Moraine 100, Black Hills 100, Superior 100, and Wild Duluth 100K. Series director Brandon will be keeping track of results and who's still in, and who's still out, as the year goes on. Finally, there's still time to join in the fun, and it's as simple as 1, 2, 3...
We also want to thank our sponsors:
These are great folks in our running community and they've earned our support, and they are helping to support us. Go check them out!
Greetings UMTR!
Your Board of Directors just completed our annual retreat to plan for the year and we wanted to share a few things that you can expect coming up.
First, we know that everyone is very excited to know about the race series. We're going to send out a more detailed email in the coming weeks, but we wanted to let everyone know that we're going to try really hard to run the series as normally as we can. There will need to be adjustments and we'll communicate those as soon as we can.
Next up, we're really excited that 2021 holds the promise of more in-person gatherings. We're planning 3-4 fatass events over the year, and even if they need to be held in a socially distant fashion, they will still hopefully happen. As with all in person events we will be following guidance from the CDC and other governmental authorities to ensure everyone stays safe.
Finally, we are very, very hopeful that we'll be able to hold a year end gathering this year. Depending on the situation it may look a bit different, but our intention is to get everyone together at the end of the year to celebrate our bounce-back year!
Make sure you keep an eye on our website (https://umtr.org/), emails, and social media accounts to keep up to date on all the latest happenings. And if your membership is lapsing soon, please renew and help us keep supporting trail running in the Upper Midwest.
Happy New Year everyone! We can't wait to get 2021 kicked off right, and we're incredibly excited about what trail running holds for the next year.
BUT! We can't do it alone. In order for UMTR to give money back to trails, and put on fatass events, and have prizes for our race series, and sponsor trail work weekends... we need your support. 2020 has decimated our membership numbers, and we're looking at a tough road ahead in rebuilding. If you've been a member in the past, we'd love to have you join us again. We need as many people as possible to help make 2021 incredible.
Many of you may remember that when you signed up in 2019 there was an option for auto-renewal. Some people liked this, and other people didn't. Our software platform has a limitation in allowing users to choose to auto-renew, and therefore, we needed to turn off auto-renewal for everyone. That means that you may think you're still a member, but actually, your membership has lapsed. You can head over to https://umtr.org/Sys/Profile and check your membership details at any time to see what your status is. We'll be investigating other options for auto-renewal in the future, but for the time being we need to ask people to renew manually.
Thank you again for helping us advocate for this sport that we love! We're so proud of our community here in the upper midwest, and everywhere we travel we hear nothing but great things about runners from our region. Thank you for being amazing, and please come join us on this journey into an incredible future.
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