Run Wild at a Ragnar Relay

By Giselle Domdom
Active.com

Whether you're a competitive ultrarunner looking for a challenge or an everyday runner looking for a good time, the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back has something for you. This 188-mile adventure through the beautiful hills and valleys of Utah is the state's largest race--and the nation's second largest relay event behind the historic Nike Hood to Coast.

What's Ragnar?

Ragnar, the race's namesake, was a legendary 9th century Viking who lived by his own rules.

"He was a pirate, a conquerer, a wanderer," said Ragnar Relay co-founder, Tanner Bell. "He was just an all-around bad mamajama, and (he) embodies the spirit of the race... It's really just an overnight adventure party with 12 good friends. There's a Ragnar inside everybody and out here we're just unleashing that Ragnar and letting them go crazy."

And go crazy they do. Picture the costume-filled fun of Bay to Breakers meets a 36-leg, (roughly) 200-mile relay that lasts for about 24 hours. Each member of a 12-person team runs three course legs, ranging in degree of difficulty and distance--three to eight miles each. Ultrarunners looking to push the envelope can compete in teams of six.

Add in a couple of team cars, night running, a bottle opener finisher's medal, and you've got yourself the recipe for a Ragnar. The series breaks it down as simply: "Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat."

 

The Ragnar Relay car

Wasatch Back--The Original

Growing up in Utah, Ragnar Relay co-founder, Dan Hill, remembers routing local races with his dad, Steve, at an early age. As an avid runner, Steve always had a pipe dream to put on a race in Utah. In 2004, Hill and childhood friend, Bell, made the dream a reality by staging the first Wasatch Back Relay, named after the beautiful Utah landscape it runs through.

There have been some changes through the years, but overall the relay takes runners through the same beautiful course that started it all. Teams start in Logan, Utah and travel through the wildflower-filled Avon Pass and Ogden Valley. Then runners climb up Snow Basin before getting into the heart of the Wasatch Back mountains and ending in Park City, Utah.



A view from the Wasatch Back mountains