Maine is typically known in the running community for its road races, but a new trail running event later this month could change that.
The XTERRA Trail Run World Championship at Sugarloaf Mountain will pit the top international trail runners against one another. The marathon and half-marathon championship races will culminate a season of thirty qualifying races in twenty different countries.
Patrick Caron is a professional trail runner and founder of Move Free. He's been helping XTERRA showcase the forty-two kilometer course that has an elevation gain of four thousand feet.
"It's a pretty, pretty steep grade. Once the snow is off the slopes, underneath it's just like all rock and loose terrain. I just think it's unique in that it both caters to the strong mountain runners and the technical specialists," Caron said.
XTERRA will be holding a running expo at the Sugarloaf resort as part of the event. A 5k and 10k open to the public are scheduled for Saturday, September 30th. The two championship races will happen on Sunday, October first.
