The Triple Trail Challenge is held in the Park City, Utah area and consists of 3 races: the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, the Park City Half Marathon, and the Mid Mountain Marathon. They're spaced two weeks apart.
The Jupiter Peak Steeplechase is a 16 mile race that rises roughly 3500 feet from Park City to the top of Jupiter Peak, then to a nearby summit, then back down. There were 163 runners this year. I had a lot of fun with this one. Tough though -- I didn't do much running at all going up, just power hiking, but then that's what most people were doing in the back half, enjoying the scenery :-) In a way these steeplechase type runs are easier to manage because it gives a natural division, a goal, after which it's all downhill. Makes it more simple to gauge energy levels. The course is probably 97% singletrack, 2% resort roads turned into singletrack, and a minuscule amount of dirt road ... so it really is a mountain trails course. I love that. The views near the top were amazing. The route going down pounds the knees and gets crazy steep for awhile, but it quickly turns into forested trails again. It got VERY hot for the last 3 miles or so, which was difficult to manage. I got a quarter-sized blister on the bottom of each of my heels, probably a combination of steep downhill and heat. That's the first time I've gotten big blisters like that. A great race though. Recommended.
The second race was the Park City Half Marathon. Park City would be a great place to live because they've got loads of trails, including these paths crisscrossing the rural areas which are easy to access. The Marathon and Half Marathon follow those rural bike/running paths, which are partly paved, partly dirt, and always smooth. So it's not a mountain race, which isn't to my liking. I'd much rather be IN the mountains, not on domesticated trails. However, I simply considered it training, and the valley and mountains are very scenic so the course is still enjoyable and more inspiring than a city road race. The course rises about 700 feet. There were a *lot* of runners (489) compared to the other two runs in the TTC. Not much to report really -- I ran it, enjoyed the exercise, and enjoyed taking to several other runners who had also run the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase.
The 3rd race is the Mid Mountain Marathon, which I reported on here:
http://www.backcountryrunner.com/forums/trail_reports/mid_mountain_marathon_2007_56/It's a wonderful course, probably 99% single track with stunning views.
So there you have it. As I mentioned in the MMM post, Triple Trail Challenge finishers get this cool green running jacket embroidered with the TTC logo. If you're close to the area, you should do it.
