by Marc Lunde

Larry Pederson likes to run. The 53-year old Zumbro Falls resident doesn’t just like running on his own, but has helped direct many trail races, particularly on the northern shore of Minnesota.

Promoting these races isn’t easy, though.

“I casually mentioned that we should join a (club) to help promote all of our races together instead of doing that by ourselves. It sort of evolved from there,” Pederson said.

Thus, the wheels started turning for the creation of a full-service running club devoted just to trail running. Soon after, Pederson’s idea, the Upper Midwest Trail Runners Club, was born.

“I think people were really excited,” UMTR board member Kate Havelin said. “Everybody that we talked to about it said, ‘What a great idea.’”

It’s a hit, too. There are more than 70 members in UMTR’s inaugural year. This is just seven years after Pederson and two others established the Minnesota Trail Run Series, a program with six races across the state. Now the series has 12 races.

“It gives people incentive to travel and run on new courses,” Havelin said.

But why push trail running so heavily? “People have various different reasons why they want to get off the roads,” Pederson said. “A fair number of the trail runners are older and have been racing on roads for a long time.”

They realize that after pounding on the hard pavement they need a couple days to recover, Pederson said.

“There are so many running clubs out there, and they are primarily all for road runners,” Havelin said. “It’s a fun sport, and it is nice being able to connect to more trail runners.”

Havelin admires Pederson for his creativity for uniquely promoting races. One of Pederson’s ideas includes having a UMTR championship ultra race (anything longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles). His hope is to rotate it every year to a different site or distance.

“(Winners) can say they are the Upper Midwest champion,” Pederson said.

More at news.postbulletin.com

Bookmark to: