Races
Trail and ultra races across the Front Range and the Colorado high country. Three are open now. Every race has one price that never goes up, distances that err long, and a course marked by hand. Details, climb and maps for each are below.
The calendar
- Nov 72026 · Saturdayopen nowThe Sandstone Sixer
- Jan 92027 · Saturdayopen nowFrozen Devil's Head
- Apr 32027 · Saturdayopen nowPopeye's Backyard Ultra
- May2027Sharptail Marathon and Half
- June2027Downhill Half
- July 42027 · SundayThe Minuteman
- Aug 142027 · SaturdayRoxborough Ultras
- September2027The Handcart
- Oct 92027 · SaturdayChatfield Farms to Deer Creek
- Halloweenweekend 2027East/West
- November2027The Sandstone Sixer
- Summer2028The Tenth
Open now
The Sandstone Sixer
Sandstone Ranch Open Space, Larkspur · 6 hour timed
Six hours on the clock and an 8.4 mile loop through Sandstone Ranch Open Space, 2,038 acres of red rock, meadow and ponderosa on the edge of Pike National Forest south of Larkspur. You run as many loops as you want and stop when you are done. There is no DNF in a timed race. Someone chasing their first ten miles and someone chasing a 50K finish start together, and both of them finish. Clear four loops and you have run a 50K with a finisher award to show for it. Clear five and you have climbed a vertical mile, with more coming for that.
Full aid lives at the start and finish, and the loop swings back past it around mile 3.5, so you hit aid twice every lap without ever being more than a few miles from it. Drop bags and crew stay at the hub. No shuttles, no logistics, park and race.
Everyone gets a hat at registration and raffle tickets at packet pickup. Prizes are drawn after results post. Second Stoke race ever, and the first one built for everyone. $75, one price, no increases, closes when the field is full.
The loop
Frozen Devil's Head
Rampart Range, Pike National Forest · 21.6 mi out and back
A closed mountain road, snow underfoot, no cars, a fire lookout at the turn, and aid stations run on snowmobiles because nothing else gets up there. On December 1 the Forest Service closes Rampart Range Road to vehicles and does not open it again until the mud dries out in spring. For one Saturday in January that closed road is the racecourse. 21.6 miles out and back from the gate at Highway 67 to the Devil's Head trailhead below the fire lookout and home, on snow, at 7,640 to 9,662 feet, with no cars anywhere on it.
Three aid stations, one at the turnaround and one roughly every five miles, run on snowmobiles and ATVs since nothing else gets up there. There is a mandatory gear list and it can be checked at packet pickup, the start and the turnaround.
Park and stage at the public lot on the south side of Highway 67 at Rampart Range Road, before the gate. Everything happens there: packet pickup, start and finish.
Course
Popeye’s Backyard Ultra
Greenland Open Space, Larkspur · Last runner standing
Every hour on the hour the bell rings and everyone still in it runs the same 4.167 mile loop on dirt. Finish inside the hour and you go again. Miss it and you’re done. It runs straight through the night on public land until one person is left, and that person has to run one more yard alone to win. Twelve yards is 50 miles. Twenty-four is 100.
It’s the easiest ultra to start and the hardest one to finish. A yard in an hour is 14:24 a mile, so walking the hills and jogging the flats gets most people back with time to sit down. One yard is a trail race. Seven is more than a marathon. Most people leave with a distance they’ve never run. Stop whenever you want to.
Greenland sits on the Palmer Divide an hour south of Denver: 1,200 acres of Douglas County open space, rolling grassland, oak draws and ponderosa with the Front Range filling the western horizon and the old mercantile at the trailhead. Early April is the quiet season. Gold grass, empty trail, and weather that can go from t-shirts to snow in the same day.
Park at the Greenland trailhead, I-25 exit 167. The trailhead is the aid station, so crews set up a few steps from the corral. Douglas County has permitted the race to run through the night, so there is no hard stop.
Registered with the Backyard Ultra Association. Results are reported after the race and every yard you complete counts in the world rankings. Official backyard rules apply: in the corral at the bell, each yard under an hour, no personal aid or pacers during a yard.
The loop
Coming in 2027
Course set · opens this winter
Sharptail Marathon and Half
Sharptail Ridge and Roxborough · Marathon, half
Two races on one weekend, both starting and finishing at Sharptail Ridge. The marathon runs through Roxborough and climbs into the Indian Creek country, topping out at 8,036 feet around mile 10. The half stays on the Roxborough side.
Both courses are loops. Start, finish and parking at Sharptail Ridge.
Dates and registration this winter.
Marathon course
Half marathon course
Course set · permit in progress
Downhill Half
Finishes at Redstone Park, Highlands Ranch · 13.1 mi point to point
A point to point half marathon that drops 988 feet from start to finish, with 317 feet of climbing along the way. It finishes at Redstone Park in Highlands Ranch.
A fast one on purpose. Date, start and shuttle this winter.
Course
Opens this winter
The Minuteman
Sterling Ranch · 17.76 mi, 7.76 mi, 1776 m
Independence Day in Sterling Ranch. 17.76 miles for the people who want a real morning, 7.76 for everyone else, and 1,776 meters for the kids. This one is going to be special, and we are working on starting it with an actual cannon.
Course and start times this winter.
Year two · opens this winter
Roxborough Ultras
Roxborough State Park and Sharptail Ridge · 50 mile, 50K
Second running. Year one was 81 registered, 70 starters and 67 finishers, with zero DNFs in the 50K and a course swept clean behind the last runner. The field goes to 200 this time.
The course runs from Roxborough State Park up Carpenter Peak and over Sharptail Ridge, down into Waterton Canyon and onto the first two segments of the Colorado Trail past Lenny's Rest, out to the South Platte and Indian Creek in Pike National Forest, and back to finish at Sharptail. Five aid stations, two of them hit twice. The longest carry is eight miles, Indian Creek to DC5.
No dogs and no pacers. All participants carry a minimum of 20 fluid ounces of water at all times on course. Runners ride the bus from Sharptail to the start. All parking is at the finish line at the Sharptail Ridge Open Space trailhead. Open Fuel provides all on-course nutrition.
Race video
50 mile course
50K course
Course set · permit in progress
The Handcart
Guanella Pass · 36.2 mi
The highest course on the calendar and the hardest day on it. A loop out of Handcart Gulch below Guanella Pass that never drops below 9,586 feet and tops out at 13,724. Nine thousand feet of climbing in 36 miles. Aspens if the date lands right, snow on the high passes if it does not.
Shorter distances are planned on the same course for people who want the high country without the full day.
Permit submitted · opens this winter
Chatfield Farms to Deer Creek
Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms · 50K, half
Start and finish at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms, run west through the TrailMark trails and up into the Deer Creek Canyon country, and back. The 50K climbs to 7,411 feet at the far end. The half turns around before the canyon and still packs 2,086 feet into 13.5 miles, which makes it steeper per mile than the 50K.
True loops, same start and finish, no buses. The Gardens are the venue for everything before and after.
50K course
Half marathon course
Halloween weekend 2027Course set · opens this winter
East/West
East-West Regional Trail to Redstone Park · Full trail, half · Costumes encouraged
The entire East-West Regional Trail on Halloween weekend, run east to west across Douglas County and finishing at Redstone Park in Highlands Ranch. Park at the finish and ride the charter to the start. Costumes encouraged at both distances.
Both finish at Redstone Park.
Exact date and registration this winter.
Full trail course
Half course
Year two · opens after the first one
The Sandstone Sixer
Sandstone Ranch Open Space, Larkspur · 6 hour timed
Second running of the six hour at Sandstone Ranch. Same 8.4 mile loop, same 1,056 feet per lap, same rule: run until you are done.
The loop
In the works for 2028
Summer 2028 · Vail Village to Camp Hale and BackConcept stage
The Tenth
Camp Hale, 1942. Vail Village, 2028.
Camp Hale is where the 10th Mountain Division trained for the Second World War. The men who came home from Italy built Vail, and most of the American ski industry with it. The course runs from the heart of Vail Village to Camp Hale and back because of that. A hundred miles on one loop, threading between the Holy Cross and Eagles Nest Wilderness and entering neither.
The weekend
The return leg runs the outbound trail in reverse from mile 82 to mile 95, so three stations serve runners twice and the last quarter of the race has the tightest coverage on the course. The one long carry is deliberate: 11.2 miles from Camp Hale over the high point to Searle Pass.
White River National Forest · Camp Hale National Monument · Town of Vail · Copper Mountain · Eagle and Summit Counties
Concept stage. Permits are in progress with the Forest Service and the Town of Vail. Figures and dates will move as they come together. Want to know the day it opens?
Aid stations
Partners
The Stoke Fine Racing Events is partnered with Revenant Running. These are the people and organizations behind every Stoke race.
Land partners · Colorado Parks and Wildlife · Douglas County Open Space · US Forest Service · Denver Water · Jefferson County Open Space · Denver Botanic Gardens
Race names, distances and dates are still taking shape as courses and permits come together. Questions go to Scott Schrader of The Stoke Fine Racing Events at Scott@StokeTrailRacing.com or 303-818-2239. More at about The Stoke and same forest.