Events
Suffer Better 50K
Suffer Better 25K
Suffer Better 25K - FishSlappers Division
Suffer Better 5K
Place
12102 S Elk Creek Rd
Pine, CO US 80470
Description
We are super stoked to once again invite you to come run with us at Staunton State Park, off of Highway 285 near Conifer, CO, on October 10, 2026. We are even more stoked to again offer our special 25K Fishslappers edition (yes, it involves catching a fish!) and our new 5K run to our 50 and 25K race day offerings. Whichever distance you choose, rest assured you will be running on some of CO's best and most beautiful trails - lovely, flowing, and runnable single track - with some decent vert thrown in to keep you at least a little honest. And you will be helping raise real money to protect and preserve our exceedingly precious public lands and waters. As always, our Fall runs are a celebration of our public lands and waters, and a fundraiser for the good work of Conservation CO, Western Resource Advocates and Running Rivers to protect and preserve them.
Race Date: Saturday, October 10, 2026
Start Time: Racers in the 50K will start at 7:30 am, with the 25K runners taking off at 8:30 am and the 5K runners blasting off at 10:00 am. We will be starting and finishing at the Lazy V Parking lot, about 1.5 miles into the Park. There is limited parking available, and the park will be busy on a Fall day. So, please do your best to carpool (see below for the link to the carpool sheet) or, as the Park staff encourage us, stop by the Mountain View Park n Ride, just 6 miles from the start, and see if you can snag a few other runners for the ride into the Park.
We are a bottle-free and cup-free event, so please bring your own bottles. We'll have both water and gNarly hydration drink at our aid stations, so you can fill up along the way.
Volunteers at the aid stations can assist you as needed on the hydration front, and ensure you get the nutrition you need.
There are course maps, including gpx files for each distance on this website, along with a written description of the course, so do check them out. You can also download the Staunton Trail Map here: https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/Staunton/Documents/StauntonTrailsMap.pdf
Aid Stations. We'll have 4, all of which you'll hit 2X in the 50K: One on at the intersection of Bugling Elk and Staunton Ranch Trails (mile 4.6), one at the Old Mill (mile 7), one at the intersection of Dines Meadow and Staunton Ranch Trail (mile 10.6) and one at the Davis Ponds (mile 13.4). We'll also have a few volunteers at the newly refilled Elk Falls Pond for those in the Fishslappers division to see if they can snag their fish early one.
Race Entry: 25K and 25K Fishslappers: $75; 50K: $110; and, 5K, just $25.
Like last year, this year's events are both crazy fun and challenging trail races, and a major part of our effort to raise awareness and funds to preserve and protect our precious public lands and waters. We value these special outdoor places and believe strongly that as outdoor athletes we have an obligation to ensure their protection. We ask/encourage/beg each of our runners to become fundraisers themselves and we have a special award for the runner who has raised the most $ by race day. With our new Fishslappers Division, we are also raising money for Running Rivers, so check them out too. Runners also have the ability to enlist their friends and colleagues to help raise funds for Conservation CO, WRA and Running Rivers. The more we all raise, the more good we do.
Cutoff Times:
50K: 9 and a half hours: You must reach Aid Station 2, at Old Mill by 3:30 pm on race day (8 hours in) in order to finish by 5:30. If you reach this aid station after 3:30, our volunteers will not let you continue up the trail but have you simply go down the Old Mill trail to the finish. Please, listen to them and do as asked.
A note about distances: We are using the distances laid out by the park, but you should know that we've done each of these routes multiple times, using a variety of standard measuring tools and apps (Suunto, Apple, Strava, COROS) and we have yet to record the same distance twice! So, for the record, the stated distances are effectively 5K-ish, 25K-ish and 50K-ish.
25K: 8 and a half hours or no later than 5:00 pm.
Race Contact Info
Course Maps
50K
After a lot of discussion, we collectively agreed that the 50K will again be 2 loops of the 25K route, but with the second loop the reverse of the first. It seemed to go well last year, and enabled us to mange things more readily. At least you'll hopefully know where you're going and get to see it all from a different perspective.
In words, the course is as follows: Scout Line to Marmot Passage to Elk Falls Pond to Bugling Elk to Staunton Ranch to Borderline to Mason Creek to Dines Meadow to Staunton Ranch to Historic Cabins (2nd option) to Chase Meadow to Davis Ponds Loop to Chase Meadow to Historic Cabins to Staunton Ranch to the Finish, then back out to Staunton Ranch to Historic Cabins to Chase Meadow to Davis Ponds loop to the ponds to Chase Meadow to Staunton Ranch to Dines Meadow to Mason Creek to the Old Mill to Borderline to Bugling Elk to Marmot Passage to Scout Line to the Finish!
GPX File: https://www.viewgpx.com/route/RaZa8KUP
25K and Fishslappers 25K
The new 25K course is shown below, along with a link to the gpx file. The course is as follows: Scout Line to Marmot Passage to Elk Falls Pond to Bugling Elk to Staunton Ranch to Borderline to Mason Creek to Dines Meadow to Staunton Ranch to Historic Cabins (2nd option) to Chase Meadow to Davis Ponds Loop to Chase Meadow to Historic Cabins to Staunton Ranch to Finish. According to our GPS the distance is 15.7 miles with 2630' of vert. Fishslappers will toss their flies at Davis Ponds (2 ponds). We've arranged it so fishslappers hit the ponds later in the run to avoid (well, hopefully) the risk of the ponds being frozen.
GPX File: https://www.viewgpx.com/route/RaZa8KUP
5K
The new 5K route will test you. It's up the Scout Line Trail and then right back down. The course is 3.2 miles with 762 feet of vert. See below for the trail and elevation.
The gpx file is here: https://www.viewgpx.com/route/kFuEZVGa
Staunton Trails Map
Staunton Trail Map
Just so you have it, we've included the basic Staunton Trail Map, showing both the trails and their respective mileage.
It's worth perusing this, along with the 25 and 50K course maps, just so you can orient yourselves in the park. You can also download the pdf below.
Click the icon below to download the attached PDF.
Fundraising
This year we've been wildly fortunate to partner with a few great companies to offer some cool incentives to encourage you to get even more serious about fundraising. Seriously, our public lands and waters need all the help we can offer, especially given the efforts of the current administration to turn our public lands into places for billionaires to profit instead of for the public to enjoy. So here's what we're offering:
Raise $250 and receive a customized Suffer Better-Yeti Travel Mug.
Raise $500 and receive the mug and a Suffer Better branded Patagonia Pack.
Raise $1000 and get the mug, the pack and a pair of Hokas.
ActiveAcuity: A New Program to Focus on your Mental Training!
Thanks to our good friends at ActiveAcuity, we're now offering a special program, at a very discounted price, to enable you to add to your race training by working on the mental side of it all. We all say running is largely mental, well, now you have a program that can really help you focus on that while you are working on distance, speed, agility, etc.
Try it out.
Fishslappers - Rules and Regs
For those of you joining the unique Fishslappers Division:
1) First, thanks for joining this fun addition to the day. What started 5 years ago with a few whacky fisherfolk has consistently grown over the years, with over 30 entrants last year. For 2026 you'll have 2 opportunities to catch fish this year - one at the newly refilled Elk Falls Pond at about mile 4, and the other at either of the Davis Ponds at mile 11-ish.
2) You must have a valid CO fishing license in order to join the FS division. You'll be asked to show that at check-in.
3) You must carry your rod, net and any fishing gear you expect to use for the entire 25K. Flies worked great last year - the ponds are chock full of little rainbows and even littler brookies (especially at Elk Falls Pond, which now refilled and reopened).
4) A volunteer at either pond will confirm your "catch" and check that box for you. Make sure that they see and check off that you caught the whopper you did.
5) We heard a rumor that there will also be whiskey at the aid station to "celebrate" your catch. The whiskey is, of course, optional.
Haiku
We know you all love trail running, that's why you are here. But we also know that sometimes the "fun meter" needs a little boost. So just to keep us all smiling, we've got our usual fun piece to add to your race day joy.
Haiku
We have a ton of amazing prizes from our incredible partners - everything from packs to hats to water bottles to mugs to..... Rather than just call out numbers, we'll be awarding prizes to those of you who can run and compose haiku at the same time. Unlike walking and chewing gum, which we all know makes one presidential material, composing haiku requires at least a little thought. We'll have cards and pens at the Elk Pond aid station for the 50K and 25K runners, and at the Start/Finish where you can pen your piece. What's a haiku you ask? Fair question:
"A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression."
It so fits with running and being outdoors - simple, intense and direct. Start there and have fun with it. We'll pick from the lot and ask you to read yours to claim your prize.
Race Participant Survey
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