ST. LOUIS – Three months later than it was supposed to start and one rebuilt Castlewood State Park later, the 2017 FITS Socks Co. Trail Run Series will finally kick off on Thursday, August 3 with an approximately 3.21 mile course. Alpine Shop is pleased to finally welcome everyone to the seventh annual running of this four-run series.
With temperatures expected to be in the upper 80s to low 90s, we’ll start the series with a shorter course featuring one main climb and lots of shade. The course starts, as always, at the pavilion on the left just past the bridge over Kiefer Creek at 6:15 pm. We’ll immediately cross the bridge and over to the south side of Kiefer Creek Road and duck under the cover of the trees draping over the lowest sections of the Grotpeter Trail alongside Kiefer Creek for about three-quarters of a mile.
After you cross Kiefer Creek Road, the climb begins up Justin’s Trail (part of Grotpeter) for about half of a mile of switchback. Keep following Grotpeter to the Reis Road crossing where you’ll find our GU Energy table with GU gels and water. (Stay hydrated!)
Stay to the right after you leave the GU behind and jump onto to the Mountain Ridge Connector for another approximately 1.25 miles back down to the park valley floor and you’ll have just under a quarter of a mile to go, through Kiefer Creek, and to the finish line!
The course map is below and we look forward to welcoming everyone to the first race of the 2017 FITS Socks Co. Trail Run Series!
