Suffer Better 9th Annual Fall Trail Runs

🏃‍♂️ Suffer Better 9th Annual Fall Trail Runs

We are stoked to once again invite you all to come run with us at Staunton State Park, off of Highway 285 near Conifer, CO, on October 11, 2025. We are even more stoked to again offer our special 25K Fishslappers edition (yes, it involves catching a fish!) and a new 5K run to our 50 and 25K race day offerings. Whichever distance you choose, rest assured you will be running on some of CO's best trails - lovely, flowing, and runnable single track - with some decent vert thrown in to keep you at least a little honest. And you will be helping raise real money to protect and preserve our exceedingly precious public lands and waters. As always, our Fall runs are a celebration of our public lands and waters, and a fundraiser for the good work of Conservation CO and Running Rivers to protect and preserve them.

📅 Race Details

• Race Date: Saturday, October 11, 2025
• Start Times:
  • 50K: 7:30 am
  • 25K: 8:30 am
  • 5K: 10:00 am
• Location: Lazy Parking lot, 1.5 miles into the Park
• Parking: Limited parking available: consider carpooling or using the Mountain View Park n Ride, just 6 miles from the start.

🚰 Hydration and Aid Stations

• Bottle-Free Event: Please bring your own bottles to fill up at aid stations.
• Available Drinks: Water and gNarly hydration drink at aid stations.
• Aid Station Assistance: Volunteers at the aid stations can assist with hydration and food needs.
• Course Maps: Available on the website with gpx files: download the Staunton Trail Map here.

🗺️ Course and Aid Stations

• Total Aid Stations: 4, each visited 2X in the 50K.
• Locations:
  • Bugling Elk and Staunton Ranch Trails (mile 4.6)
  • Old Mill (mile 7)
  • Dines Meadow and Staunton Ranch Trail (mile 10.6)
  • Davis Ponds (mile 13.4)

💰 Race Entry Fees

• 25K: $75 (regular and Fishslappers division)
• 50K: $110
• 5K: $25
• Fundraising Opportunity: Runners encouraged to raise funds for Conservation CO and Running Rivers.

⏳ Cutoff Times

• 50K: 9 and a half hours: reach the Old Mill Aid Station by 3:30 pm.
• 25K: 8 and a half hours: finish no later than 5:30 pm.

🔍 Distance Notes

We are using the distances laid out by the park, but you should know that we’ve done each of these routes multiple times, using a variety of standard measuring tools and apps (Suunto, Apple, Strava) and we have yet to record the same distance twice! So, for the record, the stated distances are effectively 5K-ish, 25K-ish and 50K-ish.

📣 Join Us!

Like last year, this year's events are both crazy fun and challenging trail races, and a major part of our effort to raise awareness and funds to preserve and protect our precious public lands and waters. We value these special outdoor places and believe strongly that as outdoor athletes we have an obligation to ensure their protection. We ask/encourage/beg each of our runners to become fundraisers themselves and we have a special award for the runner who has raised the most $ by race day. With our new Fishslappers Division, we are also raising money for Running Rivers, so check them out too. Runners also have the ability to enlist their friends and colleagues to help raise funds for Conservation CO and Running Rivers. The more we all raise, the more good we do.

For more details, please visit the race page: Suffer Better Fall Trail Run.