This past weekend we held our 2nd annual training camp for the M PF Team & Adventure Club and based it around the Manitou’s Revenge Ultra Marathon course in the Northeastern Catskills (Trail map 141). The Manitou’s Revenge Ultramarathon takes place June 22nd and spawned into life as an extension of the legendary Escarpment Trail Run. The Escarpment trail, due to its extreme terrain and tough mountain climbs has been labeled the toughest 18.2 mile trail race around and has been organized by Dick Vincent since the 70’s. Why not add to it? Charlie Gadol and friends decided to add 10,000 ft of climbing, give or take and 37 more miles, more or less and include the infamous Devil’s Path (the hardest trail on the eastern seaboard) to the mix. Hence the Manitou’s Revenge Ultramarathon was born, 56 miles of endless rocks, mud, roots and hand over foot climbing and of course don’t forget the mountain top views.

Sounds like fun? Why not? The time limit is 24 hours, yup 24 hours for 56 miles! Sounded like perfect training for our upcoming mountain ultra’s so we said lets go! Mountain Peak Fitness will be sponsoring 2 aid stations, Dutchers Notch (AS #2) and North Lake (AS #3) and giving away some fitness related goodies at the finish! If you can’t participate feel free to come out to pace or hang at the finish line. This will be a true test of technical trail running, hiking and perseverance.

Friday had us arriving to the campsite in a down pour but we quickly set up camp and made the best of it by heading off to the trails with Julian, Harry, Lenny, Adam, Sam & Gracie to loosen the legs up for Saturday & Sundays run.

After an easy run through streams and ponds that evening, we dried off a little and got some rest. We awoke about 5am and the rain had finally stopped around 6. We quickly got dressed, fueled up and ran from the campsite to tackle about 30 miles of the course, starting from the Escarpment trail by North Lake, making our way to Platte Clove Road Aid Station #6 and onto Devils Path. The video below is from this segment.

It was a great day on the trails and nice to get back to camp to dry up, eat and get ready for tomorrows adventure. The views from Devils Path on Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf and Plateau Mountain were amazing and rewarding as always. Be sure to take a moment during the race and have a look yourself; if it is still light out...

The next days plan was to get out early again and run the beginning of the course to North Lake. This race starts with some road which allows plenty of time for the legs to loosen up for the trails and climbs ahead. We dove into the RED trail that you find on your immediate left as you enter the trail head parking lot off of Big Hollow Road and made our way up to the Escarpment Trail and Acra Point. From there we would make our way to Blackhead Mountain and continue to follow the Escarpment Trail (Long Path) all the way to North Lake. The video below is from this segment.

We are looking forward to June 22nd and are getting excited to see everyone out on the course truly testing themselves. Don't take this course lightly, be safe and enjoy your time out there! Let us know if you have any questions about the upcoming Manitou's Revenge Ultra & Relay.