Montage Mountain Resorts to host the USATF Half Marathon Trail Championships

The 2019 edition of the USATF Half Marathon Trail Championships will take place in Scranton, PA, on Sunday, June 9th. The competition, which will highlight some of the best competition in the country with offering $6,000 in an overall prize purse, age group awards, and a Masters Competition with $400 in prize money. The course will be run on the challenging terrain of Montage Mountain Resorts and offer over 3,400 feet of elevation gain over the half marathon course. The trails are true east coast style trails that can be technical, steep at times, and fast as well.

The top men’s and women’s open race will be competing for a $6,000 prize purse that will be split up in the following increments:
1st: $1,300
2nd: $800
3rd: $500
4th: $250
5th: $150

The Top Masters for both Male and Female will also receive $200 for winning the master division. Age Group awards for Top 3 Male/Female in the following categories: 19 and Under, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60+.

Montage Mountain Resorts has hosted challenging trail races the last five years with their series, Black Diamond Running Series, with distances ranging from 5k-10k but is excited to be adding the Half Marathon distance this year! Each participant will also have access to the Montage Mountain Water Park for the whole day following the race, a $29.99 value.

The Half Marathon Trail Championships are a joint presentation of USATF and Montage Mountain Resorts. “Montage Mountain Resorts received the nod to host our 2019 US Half Marathon Trail Championships, edging out the Birkie Trail Running Festival, which hosted the event in 2017 and 2018,” said Nancy Hobbs, USATF Mountain Ultra Trail council chairperson. “It was a competitive bid process and the committee resonated with the additional prize purse offered by Montage Mountain, the chance of moving to a new venue so that athletes could experience a different style of course and terrain, and a better date for the upcoming year’s race calendar. We are confident the organizers will stage a successful event in the Poconos and we look forward to welcoming everyone to the mountain in June.”

Runners can register on UltraSignup’s website under Montage Mountain Trail Half Marathon.

All runners looking to win the prize purse must also be members of USATF but all are welcome to run the race, if not.

Meet headquarters will be at Montage Mountain Resorts where packet pickup and the technical meeting on Saturday, June 8th, and post-race happy hour, awards, and party on Sunday, the 9th. Activities and things to do in the area can be found at the Discover NEPA.

Last year’s Half Marathon Trail Championships took place in Seeley, WI where the winners included the following:

MEN

  1. Joseph Gray, 34, Colorado Springs, CO
  2. Andy Wacker, 30, Boulder, CO
  3. Tyler Sigl, 32, Seymour, WI

WOMEN

  1. Megan Roche, 28, Boulder, CO
  2. Samantha Lewis, 24, Moscow, ID
  3. Megan Lacy, 24, Boise, ID

Additional Championships information can be found at USATF, UltraSignUp, FACEBOOK

For more information contact: [email protected]
Elite Athletes please contact: [email protected]

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USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. More at www.usatf.org

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