Run For Shoes 50k/100k - Factoria

What
Run For Shoes Ultra Races include the 50k / 100k FKT, May 16 - May 30, 2022.

The official FKT 50k race has a limit of 150 entries run on the Issaquah Alps near Issaquah Washington. The route starts at Upper Coal Creek Trail in Factoria and runs to Highway 18. The FKT 100k race has a limit of 50 entries and starts at the finish line of the 50k (Hwy 18) and runs out and back. Choose your day starting May 16, 2022 at 12:00 am through May 30, 2022, 11:59 pm to run the time trial course. The course encompasses the Issy Alps including Cougar, Squak and Tiger Mountain high points. You'll run over 8400 vertical feet (50K) or 15,900 feet (100k) of the most spectacular mountains that are just a few minutes away from the hustle of Seattle and shimmering beauty of Bellevue. These are the trails and mountains that many national and world class trail runners train on daily. You’ll find technical trails that have gut busting climbs, with long quad burning downhills. This is the only event that encompasses all three Issaquah Alps mountain areas of Cougar, Squak and Tiger Mountains.

Which ever event you choose know that you’re supporting Run For Shoes mission to eliminate barriers for underserved youth to develop a healthy lifestyle.

Presented by Mountain Running Races LLC

Why
Run For Shoes is a startup nonprofit designed to eliminate the barriers for underserved youth to develop a healthy lifestyle, through the gift of a 8 week running program, coaching, life skills and a pair of shoes.

$20 from each entry will go directly to the Run For Shoes program. All participants will receive a donation receipt from Run For Shoes after the event is completed.

Awards and more
50k Awards– Top 3 overall women's and men's awards and Top 3 Masters (50+) women's and men's. All custom wood awards.

100k Awards – Top 3 overall men and women's awards

NO FKT AWARDS for 2022

All participants will receive a custom coaster and Run For Shoes buff and of course the greatest reward of all is supporting Run For Shoes mission to eliminate barriers for underserved youth to develop a healthy lifestyle.



Course
Notice: Due to logging operations, the trails on upper West Tiger 1, 2 and 3 are closed. We don’t expect them to be open for our 2022 event and have laid out a reroute option. There will be no FKT awards and once the trails are re-established, we will have a new course and layout. Thanks for understanding.



The reroute course still is 31 miles and encompasses Middle Tiger. The course will still throw out 8,100+ vertical feet gain which will put the hurt on those quads The reroute can be seen at https://www.strava.com/routes/2886684856646407952 and it will still have over 8100′ of vert.

The official FKT course

The 50k is a point to point course and is a real challenging course. It is a bit over 50k, 31.8, and encompasses the Issaquah Alps Cougar Mountain, Squak Mountain and Tiger Mountains.

You'll start at Upper Coal Creek Trail West Trailhead, altitude 185 feet, run to Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park at Redtown Trailhead. Here you'll shoot up and then down into Coal Creek Falls and then back up to your highpoint for Cougar Mountain area, Wilderness Peak at 1598 feet. Leaving this peak wind yourself down to the next Issy Alps area Squak Mountain and the famed Maragret's Way trail. Squak Mountain area will give you some good challenging up and down, just when you think you're at the top, you'll drop back down and back up to another false summit. The actual highpoint on Squak is at 2028 feet. You'll exit the Squak Mountain area into Issaquah and through the streets by the Issaquah High School where you're on the final push onto the Tiger Mountain area. You're nearly halfway and about to take on the toughest part of the course. After a run up High School Trail you'll hit Section Line Trail. This is normally a long climb but due to the reroute only half of the climb is on this trail. The reroute takes you on Railroad Grade over to One View Trail and on to Tiger Mountain Trail which will take you over to the new addition of Middle Tiger for another short climb. Once you finish Middle Tiger you make your way over to the highpoint of th day, East Tiger at 2940 feet. Once you hit this highpoint you're on the way back down to the Highway 18 parking area and your finish. You'll have over 8100 feet of elevation gain during this beautiful yet very challenging course.

The 100k course starts at the finish line of the 50k course on Highway 18 and will be a full loop of the 50k course. It has over 15,000' of vertical gain and the steep ascent of Section Line is thrown at you during mile 48ish.

There are no aid stations, and you'll need to provide your own transportation. The Squak Mountain trailhead area and Issaquah High School area make for great spots to meet a support team if needed. Otherwise, we suggest self-support with water filter bottle like "Be Free" and knowing the water sources along these trails.

Please use extra caution when crossing State Road 900 from Cougar Mountain to Squak Mountain. There is a cross walk in Issaquah and we highly suggest that you utilize it.

Can you run with a pacer? Sure, but it's much more challenging mentally and physically doing it solo.


Rules
The rules are very simple.

Official 2022 Reroute Course
To be eligible for awards you must use the approved course provided.
Maps:
50k
GPX file is at: https://caltopo.com/m/4N18A
Strava Map 50k file: https://www.strava.com/routes/2886684856646407952
100k
Strava Map 100k file: https://www.strava.com/routes/2750617549815608476
Caltopo 100k Map file: https://caltopo.com/m/9AGV7
Run the course any day or time between May 16, 12:00 am and May 30, 2022, 11:59 pm.
Submit your results, and leave the rest to us.
Your results will need to include a link to a GPS tracking service such as Strava, Garmin Connect, MapMyRun, etc. to show you ran the 0fficial time trial course.
Only one submission per participant. So, make it be your best run ever!