Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) selected the Rock/Creek StumpJump 50K trail race, which is organized by outdoor specialty retailer Rock/Creek, as one of just eight for its RRCA National Ultra Championships races.

 


RRCA is the oldest and largest organization in the United States dedicated to distance running. Every year it awards championship events based on competitive bids submitted by its more than 2,300 member clubs, which represent more than 250,000 members.

 

Now in its 13th year, the Rock/Creek StumpJump 50K is already considered the highlight of the Salomon Rock/Creek Trail Series, a collection of nine 10K to 100K trail races in and around Chattanooga, where Rock/Creek operates five bricks-and-mortar stores. The Rock/Creek StumpJump 50K draws hundreds of racers from across the United States and even from abroad and has helped Rock/Creek establish its brand nationally and grow its online sales to more than 40 percent of revenue. Rock/Creek expects 600 racers to compete in the this year’s edition of the race, which is scheduled to take place Oct. 4.

 

The race features breathtaking views of the Tennessee River Gorge, Signal Mountain and Walden Ridge. The course takes runners through over 4,400 feet of elevation gain on mostly narrow single track trails spattered with exposed roots and rocks. The trail features will challenge the runners as much or more than the distance.

 

“We continue to see a higher level of competition at StumpJump every year,” says race director and the Executive Director of Wild Trails Randy Whorton. “Over the race’s 12 year history, we have enjoyed watching this event grow to one of the largest trail races in the country. Last year we had 32 states and three foreign countries represented.”
Rock/Creek employees founded Wild Trails with local community members in order to provide resources, education and events to help expand and protect trails in the greater Chattanooga area. Twice a year, Wild Trails donates up to five grants of up to $2,000 each for worthy direct-action trail projects.

 

Rock/Creek released a video of the 2013 StumpJump 50K on YouTube Friday. http://www.youtube.com/rockcreeker.
Andrew Kornylak, producer of the video, explains the gear and setup he used: “We put tons of effort into making each Trail Series video special but we tend to go all out for this race video. Big crews, cranes, helicopters, no holds are barred for this special event. This year we worked with Atlanta-based Aerial Edge to shoot aerial and footage inside the woods with a custom Cinestar Octocopter and the new Freefly MoVI gimbal.”

 

“This cutting-edge platform can fly and remotely control any full-sized professional video camera. We also made use of our own aerial platform, the DJI Phantom, equipped with Zenmuse gimbal and flying a GoPro Hero 3. This only requires one operator, unlike the Cinestar/MoVI setup which requires two or three, and is quite a bit more portable and affordable. This year we are working with a new super-light backcountry jib from Lite Pro Gear called the Feather Camera Crane. This 10-foot jib can carry a DSLR or medium sized video camera, in this case a Nikon D800, weighs 3.8lbs total and packs about the size of a fly rod.”

 

Rock/Creek’s Marketing Director, Mark McKnight, said: “All this insanely cool gear is changing how productions happen in the backcountry, and we are very excited about what we will be working on with Andrew for Rock/Creek and Wild Trails in 2014.”

 

Joining title sponsors Salomon and Rock/Creek to support the event are Whole Foods Market, Get Out Magazine, Suunto, Toyota of Cleveland and Capitol Toyota, Marmot, Hammer Nutrition, High Point Climbing and Fitness, Smartwool, Outdoor Research, The North Face and Patagonia.