4sta Hike
Welcome to the 7th Annual 4sta Hike. Sitting along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi, this race takes place within the Loud Thunder Forest Preserve near Andalusia, IL.
Course:
A 1-mile loop that you get an opportunity to tackle as much as you’d like. We have a few different courses that we could potentially run. One of the courses sticks to the main trails (Easy) and another has a few off-trail sections (Hard) added for further enjoyment. We prefer the hard course and plan to use it if possible! Depending upon rain levels throughout the summer and leading up to the race, we won’t know the final course until a week or so out.
For the sake of clarifying these courses:
Easy = 230’ gain/230’ loss per loop
Hard = 304’ gain/304’ loss per loop
We've never run the easy course and don't plan on it. The current FKT's for the 4sta loop are as follows: 9:38 for the guys and 11:51 for the gals.
You will experience smooth single track, rocks, roots, downed trees, waterways and steep gradients (we’ve seen up to 48%). You can expect a gorgeous but challenging course with plenty of gently rolling terrain. This preserve is known to have deer, turkeys, coyotes and snakes commonly visible within its trail network. With your fellow runners joining you on the trail, about the only thing you are guaranteed to see are the sticks that look like snakes. We will consider everything else a bonus!
Time Limit: 4 Hours
It’s totally your call as to how much you want to work. Come out for 1 loop or stay and grind for all 4 hours. Your final loop needs to be completed by noon. A loop finished after 12:00pm doesn’t count.
We will have a small aid station at the Start/Finish. With this being a looped course, we also encourage chairs, pop up tents, etc. so you can make your own aid station as well. Depending on how fast you plan on going, you could hit this every 10-30 minutes.
We will have a cool and functional award for the male and female with the most loops completed within the time limit. We are also working on options for swag for each participant as well as post race food and cold beverages. More to come on this!
As we've done each year, all proceeds after minimal expenses will go back to the forest preserve. In our first 6 years, we’ve been able to put back over $5,000 into Loud Thunder! Your registration not only gets you into the race, but it provides real money the forest preserve can use to positively impact their trail network.
Rules:
Be honest and don’t litter
Show up and show out
Sponsors:
TBD
Event's current local time: 6:10 AM CT
