Dirty Kiln Trail 5-Mile and Half-Marathon: Early Registration Ends Today!!!

If you like trail running, check out the Dirty Kiln Trail 5-Mile and Half-Marathon on Saturday, April 5th. And if you're interested, hurry up and register now on their site because the price goes up after March 14th. Also, there is no day-of-race registration, and the field is limited to 350 runners. Our friends the Allegheny Trailrunners host the event, and they are promising awards, door prizes, and discounts from REI, Salomon, Subaru gear and more. Looks like fun!

Here is some information from the race's website:

Description 

The third annual “Dirty Kiln Trail Races at Canoe Creek State Park” brought to you by Allegheny Trailrunners, Inc. will be Saturday, April 5th, 2014! WE ARE A "TRAIL RUNNER MAGAZINE" RACE SERIES EVENT! Trail runners will have a choice to run the 5-mile course up Moore’s Hill and around the lake. The half-marathon course will go around the park a second time but on a more hilly and challenging half-marathon course! Both courses have a lot of variety of trails from wide paths, winding singletrack, stream crossings and mud… lots of mud.
Course maps, descriptions, photos and more are on the website - http://www.alleghenytrailrunners.com/dirty-kiln-trail-race/ 

The Course 

The First Loop Around the Lake (5 mile)
Runners will start in the ball field in a long mass start before heading down a slight hill toward the lake. You will cross a paved service road and then onto Limestone Trail past the Blair Limestone Company Kilns on your right and onto Moore’s Hill Trail which circles the hill before climbing to the top and then down the other side. At the bottom, you will pass the remains of another kiln on your right and the first stream crossing and onto Beaverdam Trail back to the lake to a boat mooring area near Pavilion #3 and a water stop. 

After the mooring area, it is single-track to the breast of Brumbaugh Dam. The trail then hugs the shoreline which lots of rolly-polly up and downs until you make it near the spillway, up a grassy service road up a hill, and second stream crossing. The last half mile is a service road past the spillway, and past the main park grounds and to the 5-mile finish. 

FOR HALF MARATHONERS: After passing the 5 mile mark with the other runners, continue past the 5-mile finish. Instead of bearing right toward The Limestone Kilns, runners will run up the hill to the left called Smith Hillside Trail, along the edge, then back to Limestone Trail but running opposite direction you did on the first loop. Next, you will take a sharp left onto a nice limestone grade up to Hartman Trail as it climbs up above the quarry cliffs to the top. Runners will reach a four-way intersection – continue straight down the hill toward a water tower, and back up the top of the hill to The Horse’s Back. The trail will drop down the spine of the hill back to rear of the Limestone Kilns. Behind the kilns, you make a left and uphill to another climb, then down, then back up, down and back up again Moore’s Hill until the final downhill on the backside of Moore's Hill to the first stream crossing you made on the first loop. Follow the same course you did around the lake past the breast of the dam and the stream crossing. (4 stream crossings for half marathoners). Before the finish, runners will make a left past the wastewater plant instead of going straight. From here you will zigzag along a few of the horse trails before reaching the finish.