Oregon goes to Colorado: Trans-Rockies Run

Rogue Valley Runner and store employee Erik Skaggs (Ashland, OR) and Olympic Trials Steeplechase qualifier Max King (Bend, OR) head to the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for the second annual Gor-tex TransRockies Run. But unlike their head to head duel at the Siskiyou Out Back 50K Trail Run back in July, the boys will be running and working together as the Nike/Rogue Valley Runners Team at this race starting Monday morning.

Max King at the 8K USATF Championships. (photo courtesy of the New York Road Runners)

Last year's Trans-Rockies winners (r to l) Erik Skaggs with his brother and then partner, Kyle. (photo courtesy of Trailrunnermag.com)

Together with King's experience at the World Championship level and Skaggs' experience as the defending champion from last year's race; these two put together one of the fiercest resumes at this year's TransRockies Run. Their expertise will come in handy over the six-day stage race that pits the duo against some of the best mountain runners in the world. Race legs vary from 12 to 24 miles in length and the teams will spend the majority of their time between 9,000 and 12,000 feet. Daily course descriptions and elevation profiles can be found here. Teams must run together and finish side by side if they wish to be counted in the day's results. The Team with the fastest cumulative time at the end of the six days will be crowned winner.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention another Oregon runner participating in this year's race; Sean Meissner (Bend, OR) on Team Montrail.

Last year, the TransRockies Run web site did a good job of posting daily updates at the end of each leg. Check back Monday night for the first leg's results!

Good luck fellas!