Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run/Hike tests local athletes' endurance in race through the wilderness

September 19, 2014
NY-NJ Trail Conference

Title

Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run/Hike tests local athletes' endurance in race through the wilderness

Body


SHAWANGUNK RIDGE TRAIL RUN/HIKE RAISES AWARENESS OF ‘ONE OF EARTH’S LAST GREAT PLACES’

Athletes’ self-reliance will be tested as they race through the wilderness along the Shawangunk Ridge Trail

Endurance race starts in High Point State Park, NJ, and finishes at trail’s end in Rosendale, NY, this weekend, Sept. 19-21

MAHWAH, NJ, September 18, 2014 – The inaugural Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run/Hike will be held this Friday, Sept. 19 through Sunday, Sept. 21, with more than 100 racers testing their endurance along one of the most beautiful—and endangered—long trails in Southern New York.

Participants will race in three different segments: 20-mile, 32-mile, and 74-mile run/hikes throughout the weekend. The 74-mile race runs the length of the Shawangunk Ridge Trail (SRT), beginning at the Appalachian Trail in High Point State Park in Sussex County, NJ, and finishing in Rosendale in Ulster County, NY, where the event ends at a restored railroad trestle high above Rondout Creek.

The SRT runs along the Shawangunk Ridge, which features some of the most spectacular views in New York State. It passes through a number of diverse ecosystems, which prompted the Nature Conservancy to identify the ridgeline as “one of Earth’s last great places.”

Unlike New York’s biggest parks—the Adirondacks, Catskills, and Harriman—which were created by acts of government during the 19th or early 20th century, the Shawangunk Ridgeline has been preserved parcel by parcel, in just the last few decades, thanks to the work of the Open Space Institute, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, and other private entities. Event participants will cross through Sam's Point Preserve, Minnewaska State Park Preserve, the Mohonk Preserve, the Shawangunk Ridge, Roosa Gap and Wurtsboro Ridge State Forests, and the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area before finishing on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.

The SRT was created by Trail Conference volunteers and partner organizations. Many portions of the ridgeline are yet threatened with development; the SRT Run/Hike aims to raise awareness and promote support for the Trail Conference’s efforts to preserve this special place.

Kenneth Posner, founder of the Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run/Hike, currently holds the record for fastest time running the SRT and is available to talk about the race and conservation efforts along the Shawangunk Ridge. Contact Posner at 646-784-0341. Photos are available upon request.

For more information about the Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run/Hike, visit: www.srtrunhike.com. To learn more about the Shawangunk Ridge Trail and the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, visit: www.nynjtc.org or call 201-512-9348.

###

Contacts:

Amber Ray
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Communications Manager   
201-512-9348 x26
 

Kenneth Posner
Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run/Hike
Founder  
646-784-0341