Afton 2024 Recap

Photo Credit Cary Johnson

Founded in 1994, the Afton Trail Run is the Twin Cities heart of Summer trail and ultrarunning tradition. The 2024 race marked the 31st Annual. The race sold out again this year with 980 registered runners from 3 countries, 30 states and 210 Minnesota cities. We had 140 volunteers and a few hundred family, friends, and spectators join us as well. Even with the extremely wet spring and early summer in our region, Afton State Park was not too heavily impacted by flooding, and the trails were in real good shape for the race. We started the morning under clear skies and 65 degrees, and topped out at a reasonable 81 degrees. The humidity dropped a little and we gained some cloud cover as the day went on.

The Afton Trail Run is a bit of a paradox. It has the feel of an intimate local race without any extra fanfare or hype, at the same time it garners the keen interest of runners from all over the country. By todays trail race standards it is fairly old – having been founded in 1994, and fairly big – with nearly 1000 registered runners each year. The timing of the race starts, the layout of the course, and the nature of the trails within Afton State Park combine to provide for a nice quiet time on the trail once things get spread out after the boisterous start. Just as Cheri and I have done each summer for nearly 20 years, we produce this race with our friends and family, out of our home in Hastings, which is about 15 minutes from the state park. Having been visiting and enjoying the park since I was a kid, and spending a significant amount of time volunteering in the park each year, every time we produce the race it brings us great joy to showcase our little slice of paradise in the St. Croix River Valley.

As always, it is impossible to tell every interesting story from race day, but we like to try and tell at least a few. With his finish this year, Joseph Galloway tied Herb Byun for the most Afton 50K finishes at 20. He snuck in under the 25K cutoff by one minute twenty-three seconds in order to get out on his second loop and earn his finish. It runs in the family; Joseph’s son Carson finished his 7th Afton 50K (just a week after finishing Western States 100) and Herb’s son Eric finished his 5th – allez to your 20 fellas! 23 year old Alex Forte won the 50K beating the previous course record by nearly four minutes, running 3:26.52. That is an average pace of 6:39 per mile. I am starting to wonder how much room for ‘improvement’ on this record remains. Alex’s first (25K) lap time was only 1 second slower than the time of the winner of the 25K, Kirk Dewindt with his 1:42.09, which is an incredible time in itself. Kirk was only 2 seconds slower than his own time (and current Master’s record) of 1:42:07, which he set in 2023. Erica Mitchell took the women’s title in the 50K in 4:29:59, this was her third Afton 50K win, having also won in 2023 and 2021. Speaking of family ties, Erica’s dad is the legendary Gene Dykes who has a couple of Afton 50K finishes to his name, was able to join her, and us, again this year. The Female winner of the 25k was 14 year old Linnea Ousdigian in 2:11.31. Our 25K champ in the non-binary division was Matthew Vosters with a time of 2:07:15. In meeting my (at least) two new people on Saturday (and did you meet yours?) I was struck by the number of people I spoke with who were running after coming back from severe injury, or illness, that could easily keep folks from ever running again, let alone a challenging race like Afton. Whether you are competing for place or time, or are just there to enrich your spirit, or a little bit of both, what a blessing this is for all of us.

We cannot thank Afton Alps Ski Area enough for the use of their property for overflow parking – we are so appreciative! A huge thank you to all of the (mostly) 25K runners who obviously read the information we put out in advance of the race, arriving, parking and walking up to the race start plenty early. This allowed for manageable check-in and bathroom lines, and an on-time 25K start – I was again overwhelmed by your conscientiousness and compliance. Importantly, you helping to make the overflow parking situation a success allows 100’s of non-race-related park users to enjoy the park while our race is happening – great, great job all.

Having a solid medical team in place for any large trail / ultra race is important, but more so at Afton due to it being a hot weather race. A huge thank you to our medical volunteers and Hastings EMS for taking great care of our participants throughout the day.

We simply could not host this race, not only with the permission of the Minnesota DNR and Afton State Park, but as importantly without all of the sweat equity that their staff puts into the race, helping us get ready, to host all of you.

A huge thank you to all of our volunteers, which I expand on below.

It was another stellar year at Afton, we look forward to seeing many of you again in 2025.

Photo Credit Cary Johnson

Photo Credit Mike Wheeler

Photo Credit Brenda Piekarski

Photo Credit Bill Kelley

Photo Credit Mike Wheeler (photo taken in 2022)

Remembering Bob Frawley.
A number of Afton runners dedicated their race to Bob Frawley on Saturday as the Minnesota trail and ultrarunning community continues to mourn his passing. Bob passed away on June 11th while running the trails at Hyland Park Reserve in Bloomington. He was the founder of the FANS 6/12/24 Hour Race, was planning to go for his 30th Voyageur 50 Mile finish this July, volunteered with us / RSR, and had participated in the Afton 50K ten times, including the inaugural race in 1994. A great remembrance was published in the Star Tribune HERE https://www.startribune.com/fans-ultramarathon-bob-frawley-running-courtney-dauwalter-harvey-lewis/600374792/

Photo Credit Bill Kelley

Volunteers:
A huge thank you to all 140 volunteers that made this year’s Afton Trail Run a success. Course marking, setup, parking, check-in, communications, aid stations, logistics, photography, medical, timing, sweeping, the post-race meal, cleanup and on and on… all volunteers. I know most of you who ran are also sharing your skills at a race or two when you are not running. If you are not, don’t cheat yourself of the experience – get involved in your trail running community. Want to see something amazing, THIS is what it takes to put on the Afton Trail Run https://www.aftontrailrun.com/volunteer-assignments/ I encourage you to take the time to read the volunteer recap / thank you HERE https://www.aftontrailrun.com/2024-volunteer-thank-you/ – Please consider volunteering at the Superior Fall Trail Race / the Superior 100 on September 6 & 7. The Superior 100 in Northern Minnesota is the 10th oldest 100 mile trail race in the country. Grab a friend or two, make some camping or lodging plans and come and be a part of something really special https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/read-first/

Kind Words:
I usually include some kind words / a testimonial or two directly from racers, this year I would like to include this bit of prose from Bill, a 25K participant…

“You hope to sleep until 5:00, but you’re out of bed by 4:40. You dress, caffeinate, and break your fast. You inventory your gear, fill your water flasks and triple-check your snacks. You pee a little. You leave the house at 5:45 to park at Afton Alps by 6:25. You take in the scene for a minute. You apply sunscreen and bug spray. To get to the starting area, you walk up the first of the eight hills you will climb before you cross the finish line. You wonder whose idea this was. You check in at 6:45. You affix your bib with safety pins. You wait in line at the porta-potty, and make nervous pleasantries with strangers until it’s your turn. You pee again. You head back to the starting area. You sway your hips from side to side without knowing it. You scrupulously avoid thinking about your sore right foot. You see lots of younger people, and nod at the other graybeards. You retie your shoelaces. You wait for John’s announcements at 7:25. You push back against the sudden disbelief that this is happening right now. You count backwards from 5 to 1. You start the timer on your watch. You run. Thank you for putting on such an incredible mid-summer event, and for fostering a welcoming community of all ages! I can only imagine how much time and effort you put into it.” – Bill

Photo Credit Scott Rokis

Photos:
All of our photographers have submitted their photos from the race. Please keep in mind that some of our photographers sell their photos, some make low res images available for free and sell the high res versions, some will accept tips and some give away the high res images for free. Please look for notes / prompts for each photographer / gallery. All of them put a ton of time into it and have a pile of expensive gear that makes this possible. As always it is good form to always credit (by name) and thank photographers for the photos you are sharing on your social media or elsewhere. If you want to use photos for commercial purposes please contact the photographers directly or contact me if you are unable to find their contact information. If you are a photographer or aspiring photographer and you would like to come and help tell the Afton story at future editions of the race, please contact us, we would love to have you and your fellow runners would appreciate it. https://www.aftontrailrun.com/photos/

Results and Splits:
Official race results are available on our website [ 50K, 25K ]. Results have also been uploaded to UltraSignup [ 50K, 25K ] and have been sent into UTMB [ 50K, 25K ] so qualifying points can be awarded to those that wish to do those races some day (UTMB, CCC, TDS, OCC).

2024	Registered	Started	Start %	DNS	DNS %	DNFd	DNF %	Finished	Finsh %
50K	351	291	83%	60	17%	32	11%	259	89%
25K	630	507	80%	123	20%	1	0%	506	100%
Total	981	798	81%	183	19%	33	4%	765	96%

Sweatshirts, T-Shirts, Hats and More for Sale:
If you were hoping to but did not get a chance to purchase something at the race, you can do that on our online store HERE https://www.rocksteadyrunning.com/shop/ – you can use the “filters” on the side of the page to sort and search for specific items. We ordered some extras of this years hat if you like to grab a couple more for family, friends, crew, etc.

Wood Print Course Map and Elevation Charts:
Beyond the pre-orders we took for in-person pickup at Afton, we were able to produce a few extras. Maps, Elevation Charts, and RSR Logo prints are available on our website.

Rocksteady Community:
The Rocksteady Running Community is an online forum designed for community members to have civil conversations about all things pertaining to Rocksteady Running events (Zumbro, Superior Spring, Afton, Superior Fall, ESTRS), trail / ultrarunning in general, and more. This online forum has been built on our own platform and is not tied to any social media platform. It is free from advertising, invasive algorithms, tracking, etc. We intend for this to be a safe place to connect. Feel free to discuss registering, training for and racing our events. Discussion about the race courses, terrain, training, gear, challenges, triumphs and more are welcomed and encouraged. If you would like to create an account and participate you can do so HERE https://community.rocksteadyrunning.com/login For safety and transparency we ask that you provide both your first and last name when creating an account. My hope is that this forum will be an engaging and useful resource that allows you to connect with one and other.

Mile in My Shoes:
Rocksteady Running is proud to have Mile in My Shoes as an official Afton Trail Run charity partner. MiMS is a local nonprofit that uses the power of running to bring together people from diverse backgrounds to build connections, boost wellness, spark social change, and center people traditionally excluded from running spaces. Based in homeless shelters, addiction recovery programs and re-entry centers for people exiting incarceration, MiMS views running as a tool for both personal and collective transformation. By focusing on people and spaces often marginalized in our society, MiMS teams use movement as a catalyst for social justice. By bringing together people from all walks of life, Members not only find common ground, but learn from and reach out to one another for support. Learn more HERE https://www.aftontrailrun.com/mile-in-my-shoes/

Sponsors:
A huge thank you to all of our sponsors for making our event possible!

Mill City / Saint City Running
Vaniply / Vanicream
Trail Transformation
Afton Alps
Steve Smillie Edina Realty
Art and Science Family Dentistry
Bell Bank Mortgage – Jerry Schmidt
Northwoods Running
Performance Running Gym
Consilience Coaching
Mile in My Shoes
Bridge Realty – Bill Pomerenke
St. Croix Law
Critical Connections Ecological Services

Afton Trail Run Charitable Legacy:
Each year the Afton Trail Run donates dollars and volunteer hours to Afton State Park. To date we have donated 1000’s of labor hours and gifted over $60,000 to the park for trail and infrastructure improvements, equipment and programming.

Next Year
The Afton Trail Run is always held the first Saturday in July. The 2025 race will be Saturday July 5. Registration will open on January 1.

In Closing:
I cannot thank you all enough for being part of the Afton / RSR family! Thank you for an awesome race, we look forward to seeing you next year! As always, if you need anything please reach out.

Sincerely,

John Storkamp
Race Director
Afton Trail Run

Photo Credit Bill Kelley