ST. LOUIS – Castlewood State Park in Ballwin, Mo., hosts the 2016 Marmot Trail Run Series, as it has done for the past six years. The first course for the four-run series will help participants get a feeling for the terrain at the park with an initial climb right off the bat before settling in for a picturesque run of approximately 3.5 miles.
The course starts, as always, at the pavilion on the left just past the bridge over Kiefer Creek. We’ll loop behind the playground to get a warm-up on some level ground before heading back across the bridge and making a right turn onto the Grotpeter Trail. The nearly mile-long climb up to the plateau is wide enough in most spots to allow for passing on this stretch of trail, but we do ask that participants who know they will not run up the entire incline, please start towards the back of the pack and keep to the right on your way up the hill. We’ll try to keep the logjam to a minimum.
Once we pass the intersection of The Rollercoaster on the right and the Fern Glen Connector on the left, we’ll continue on Grotpeter all the way to our Clif Bar Nutrition Station on the course just before Ries Rd. We’ll have bite-size bits of Clif Bars, water and hydration for your jaunt back down to the valley floor.
The Mountain Ridge Connector is one of Castlewood’s premiere single track runs. Enjoy it while it winds its way around the hill side until it finally puts you back on the main road where you’ll be just a quick two-tenths of a mile to the finish line. (Whether or not the course runs through Kiefer Creek will depend on the weather that day!)
The course map is below. We look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday and welcome you to the second race of the 2016 Off-Road Racing League!
