Overview
Welcome to Uphill Will, the East's only 24 hour uphill-only race! How far could you climb if you never had to trash your quads running downhill? Well, we are going to find out. Can you make it higher than the Northeast's Mt Washington in 6 hours? How about Mt Whitney in 12 hours? And who will step into the "Everesting" Hall of Fame with a 24 hour effort of 29,029 ft?
Join TruStrength Athletics and Run The Whites on September 22-23rd at Sunday River for what will be one of the biggest races of the year. The premise is simple. The event is not.
Racers start at South Ridge Express and run 1,200 ft uphill on wooded single track, open rock slab ridges, ski trails and gravel roads to reach the North peak Lodge. From there racers hop into an 8 person Chondola car and ride back to the start. Spend the 10 mins gazing across the immense scenery as fall approaches the White Mountains of New England while you refuel and chat with other racers. The Chondola spits you out and away you go for another lap! Repeat this for 6, 12 or 24 hours and we have one epic showdown. Let's get some vert!
What you get!
- Intense satisfaction from running endlessly for 6, 12 or 24 hours
- A rad locally made custom award
- A rad pair of socks you will want to wear
- Entry to a crazy festival of Female timber sports events, food vendors, beer tents, and live blue grass bands
- Incredible fireworks display after the awards ceremony
- bragging rights that you did something this nuts
Rules
This is pretty simple:
- The 24 hour category will start at 7pm on Friday the 22nd.
- A headlamp is the only mandatory gear for racers to have on their person. Aid bags (1 per racer) may be sent to North Peak Lodge before race start (must be in loading area by 6pm)
- Racers will follow the night time route up Service roads and mowed ski trails and then enter the woods on old MTB trail to gain the service Road at North Peak Lodge.
- Racers can access their aid bag for things like fresh clothes, food, etc before getting on the chondola to ride down and start again.
- All racers must remain on course and complete a full lap uphill in order for that lap to be counted. Partial laps will not count towards race totals or ranking.
- We will only count official laps on course and completed by 7pm on Sat (racer back at South Ridge).
- At 7am on Sat the 23rd 24 hour racers will switch to the day time course.
- 6 and 12 hour racers will be lined up and ready to start at 7am.
- 24 hour racers may pass by the starting line in an effort to continue on course (do not need to wait for 7am mass start)
- Day time route will have the same 1/3 mile start on wide service roads before taking a ski trail into the woods and following wide single track for the majority of the climb. The final 1/3 mile is on rocks slabs and mowed grass to North peak lodge.
- All racers descend via the Chondola.
- 6 hour racers end at 1pm. Racers must be back at the start line by 1pm for laps to be official.
- 12&24 hour racers continue until 7pm (if they choose) and same rules apply for official laps.
- Racers may leave the course at ANY time after and before starting a new lap to go to the bathroom, sleep, eat, or whatever reason. The category is a time limit, racers do not need to race for the entire period. (ex: you can race for 6 hours, check out at start line, go sleep for 4 hours, return and check in at start line, race for 14 hours)
- Before racers leave the course after exiting the Chondola they are REQUIRED to check in with race timing staff to make sure we know you are not on course. This is for racer accountability and safety. We don't want to be looking for you on course if you're in your hotel room having a snooze.
- You shouldn't need to carry much but there is absolutely no littering allowed at this event. Trash goes in receptacles or in your bag or carried on your person.
- Race organizers may require GPS data (Strava or the like) to verify completed laps for podium winners.
Mountain Course Stats
Each lap will consist of:
- app 1,200 ft of vertical gain
- Just under 2 miles of linear travel
- average download time is 10 mins
- New car comes through average of every 30-45 sec
Prizes
Winners of each category will receive some great swag & prizes from our sponsors:
24 Hour Female
24 Hour Male or non binary
12 Hour Female
12 Hour Male or non binary
6 Hour Female
6 Hour Male or non binary
Know Your Race Promoters
TruStrength Athletics and Run the Whites have joined forces to produce this amazing challenge, come race with two of New England's premiere companies.
TruStrength Athletics is the premiere strength training company of Maine. The TS staff puts their skills to work helping teams and individual athletes train to compete at the highest levels they can attain. TruStrength has served athletes from D1 athletes, semi pro MMA fighters, to HS athletes of every sport. Their mountain athlete division focuses on training endurance sports athletes to run safer, further, and faster as well as climb their greatest summits. You will recognize TruStrength races such as Uphill Will - 24hr ski, The TS Cup uphill ski race series, and the Land to Trust 100k.
Run The Whites, located in Jackson, NH, is a leading retail shop that services the world-class trail running region of the White Mountains. They offer products suited for short runs in the foothills of North Conway, right up to multi-day adventures or FKT pursuits in the largest mountains in the New England. You also know RTW from their community events like Friday Night Vertical, weekly trail runs, and huge seasonal races like Bubba's Backyard Ultra and Last Skier Standing.
Lodging Deals!
Racers, why wake up at 4am to drive or worse drive home half asleep after a day of racing when you can enjoy great lodging at Sunday River Resort with access to the pools, hot tubs and sauna after the event?!
We have secured 15% lodging for all racers! You will receive a code in your confirmation email after sign up.
Festival Schedule
Mahoosuc Adventure Festival Schedule
Friday, September 22
Uphill Will Vertical Challenge
South Ridge Lodge | Bib Pickup & Racer briefing 4-6PM - 24 HR Race Begins at 7PM
Timber Sports - New England Axe-Women demonstrations
Slopeside at South Ridge | 4:30-7PM
Live Music - South Ridge Lodge | 4-7PM
Saturday, September 23
Uphill Will Vertical Challenge
South Ridge Lodge | 6 & 12 Hour Races Begin at 7AM
Timber Sports demos - Slopeside at South Ridge | 11:30AM-5PM
Live Music - Bluegrass music with Tricky Britches, Breakin' Strings, and more
Slopeside at South Ridge | 12-7PM
Uphill Will Race Awards Ceremony - Slopeside at South Ridge | 7PM
Fireworks
Slopeside at South Ridge | 7:30PM
Sunday, September 24
All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast
Slopeside at South Ridge | 8-11AM
Recovery Yoga
Slopeside at South Ridge | 11AM-12PM
Your Support Crew
This is an incredible event to bring your support crew to. Most races get pretty long for your friends at the base as they wait hours to see or help you. Well, how does live music and a timber sports festival sound to keep them busy?! You'll be passing through the base area about once an hour so that gives them a solid 40 mins to grab food from our craft vendors, listen to some tunes and watch some logs get cut with blinding speed. Let's face it, how can your friend not want to come?
Pacers are not allowed on the course at any time but you can have supporters at the base area to root you on or give you food or other supplies.
Event's current local time: 4:31 AM ET
