Groundhog Grind Trail Run

The Groundhog Grind Trail Run kicks off the Altoona Running Club's 2026 race season.  The race is held at Thomas Mitchell Park, just east of Altoona, Iowa.  There are two distance options for this winter trail race.  We offer the 5k for those of you that are looking for a quick Sunday run and a 10K, two loop, race for those of you that really love a challenge.  And that's the thing this race can be a challenge in February.

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Groundhog Grind Trail Run
Events:   5k - 1 loop, 10k - 2 loops
Start time: 10:00 AM
Date: Sunday February 1st, 2026
Location: Thomas Mitchell Park, east of Altoona, IA (start area is in the campground)

Welcome to the 5th running of the Groundhog Grind and what we hope will continue to be a challenging running event in the Des Moines area!  We frequently run our small county park, Thomas Mitchell Park, and we'd love to show it off to you. This course itself is not necessarily super challenging but running it on the first weekend in February in Iowa will definitely be! The temperature on this day in 2021 was -2° real temperature for the high and -9° for the low, before adding in wind chill.  There was also snow on the ground. We've also had no snow and warmer than normal temps.  February in Iowa is unpredictable. We hope to challenge and humble you with this race, it will be a grind! The 5k will be fun, and the 10k will have you wishing you signed up for the 5k! 

Course Details:
Course will be marked with ribbons and cones with directional arrows. Please note that you must stay on course or if you go off course go back to the location where you went off. If you do not complete the full distance on the course we will be forced to disqualify your results. We will have course marshals, but you are responsible for following the course. Please pay attention to the course markings!

Distances will be measured by GPS, but more than likely won't be exactly 5k/10k. No whining. The course is a 5k loop, so 1 loop for 5kers and 2 for 10kers. Start finish area will be in the campground where we will also have our race HQ and timing setup from True Time Racing. This will be a chip timed event. The course will head out over the red bridge and through the scout camp area and up our first challenging hill. If you push this one hard you may pick up a Strava KOM with our favorite segment straight up DeVotie Hill . At the top of the hill you will pass by the Dewitt DeVotie grave stone marker and head into the main trail. Shortly after you will take a sharp left into a newly created trail area we like to call Groundhog Gulch. If it snows a lot this could be a factor here so be prepared! A loop around the Gulch and you head back out onto the trail through the woods. You'll come to a Y in the trail and head left following the trail around to the west side of the woods. There will be a quick left and you will head out into the northwest section of the park, Bone Chiller Prairie. This will be another area of the course where a Northwest wind and some snow will be a challenge. You will head down the west boarder of the park and back through the middle of the prairie where you will hit a small trail section that will take you along the Thomas Mitchell Pond. With a small pond section you will head down into the lower section of the trail and do a quick loop along Camp Creek. You will pop back out and head up the trail on another challenging hill back to the Y section and back along the ridge towards the grave marker, back down DeVottie Hill, over the red bridge and back to the start finish area. 10kers will get to have the true groundhog day experience and turn around and do it all over again!

Winning runs may need to verified for correct course running as we have had people miss some sections of the course. If you have cut the course and not gone back to correct the missed section your time will be disqualified.