Welcome (Back) To Hale Reservation!
Winters can be long in New England. Very long. In year's past, the Animals would shake off the sleepy eyes of a winter spent hibernating at the Spring Thaw. This year, the Animals will be crawling out of hibernation to welcome dirt and longer days, back at Hale Reservation, at the TARC: To Hale and Back 5k & 6-Hour!
Moved a couple of weeks later in March in the hopes that we can avoid feet of snow pack and maybe get a chance to feel some fresh dirt under our paws (er, shoes), the 6-hour race will now be held on March 23, starting at 9:05 AM. The 5K will get started 5-minutes prior, right at 9:00, to give all those super-fast people a chance to motor up ahead.
So come on out, shake all that winter snow off your back, and join the pack to run To Hale and Back! AHHHHHWWWWOOOO!
This event will be (or is) sanctioned and insured by USA Track & Field - those guys are the best!
Course Description
A Garmin file for the course can be found here: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/957766356
The course is certainly not the easiest 5K you've ever run! It is largely singletrack, with a few short/stout climbs, but overall, just a general flow of up/down/side-to-side. There is technical footing, but the reward is following the shores of two idyllic ponds (dare you to jump in!), and getting out onto nice stretches of singletrack.
There will be ONE aid station at the start/finish. We'll have Tailwind electrolyte drink, and, depending on the weather, some hot soups to serve. YOU ALL will provide the crazy assortment of sweet, salty, fruity deliciousness you've come to know and love at TARC events!
Given the time of year though, we may have to adjust the course because of parking. If, like in 2015, we get some 100+ feet snow again, it will severely limit where we can park, which may also require adjusting the course and adding in some sections of road to let you actually run a little more!
Course map (mostly accurate, the only change being that the start/finish is at a different location, at Powisett Lodge, and requires about ~75 meters of different trails): Click here.
Let There NOT Be Cups
You heard that correctly. We will NOT have cups for your drinks, ESPECIALLY after you finish. We strive to do everything we can to limit our impact. Please simply use your water-bottle, or bring a light-weight, collapsible cup with you. It takes just a little more planning on your part, and means we won't have pre-poured soda and drinks, but it will mean our impact on Ma' Nature is significantly less than it could be.
BE PREPARED FOR THIS! WE ARE SERIOUS! THERE WILL BE NO CUPS, EVEN AFTER YOU FINISH, EITHER RACE!
Getting There & Parking
The start/finish will be at Powisett Lodge in Hale Reservation. Use 80 Carby St, Westwood, MA for GPS, and then drive down the road about 1.5 miles (it's the last building, on the left, down the road). Please drive very slowly through the reservation as there will likely be other users on the road.
Please start arriving around 7:00 AM to give us time to setup beforehand.
As always, parking will be tight. Given the potential for complications from huge amounts of snow, parking will be EXTRA tight at this event. If at all possible, run/bike/carpool to the race. The fewer cars we have onsite, the happier we will all be.
Also, please be aware that given the chance of snow piles taking up parking spaces, you MAY need to walk up to ~3/4 of a mile to get to the start/finish. Bear with us (see that, because BEARs are Trail Animals!), and hope that all the snow is gone by the middle of March!
If you are willing to park at Hale's Trading Post and/or the parking lot JUST PAST Trading Post and walk a little extra down the road, that will help us A LOT! Thank you!
Local time: 1:46 PM
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