The 3rd Annual AZT Oracle Rumble took place near the town of Oracle, AZ on Saturday, January 26. This trail running event directly benefits the Arizona Trail Association (ATA), the nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect, maintain, enhance, promote and sustain the Arizona Trail. Four distances are offered – 50 mile, 50K, Half Marathon and 12K – running through Oracle State Park (OSP) and parts of Passages 13 and 14 of the Arizona Trail (AZT). The scenery is spectacular on all the courses!
The 50 mile and and 50K start at the Freeman Road Trailhead of the AZT, north of Oracle, and run into OSP. The elevation gain on both courses make it especially challenging – @ 7300ft for the 50M, and @ 4900ft for the 50K. Prior to the race, I did trail maintenance on about 13 miles of Passage 13. That was enough for me, I can’t imagine being able to complete either course in the allowed time.
On race day, I started at the Oracle State Park guard house at 5:30am, checking in volunteers, participants and spectators. At 7:30 I moved to the staging and start areas, taking a few photos before the half marathon and 12K races started. Joel Acken also volunteered as a photographer and took this great shot of the sun coming up over the Galiuro Mountains. The temperature was in the upper 20s before sunrise, but by mid-afternoon was in the mid 60s with light winds. Perfect conditions!
Between 11am and noon, I was on the Mariposa trail, about a mile and a half from the finish line. While I missed the first runner of the 50 mile (who finished in under 8 hours!), I got photos of the first six runners to finish the 50K. As I saw friend Corey Keppel approaching, I framed the photo to include Antelope Peak in the distance, where he had started 5 hours and 10 minutes prior to this photo. He completed it in 5:20 for 6th place overall.
By 5pm, I had traveled to several locations on the courses, capturing as many photos of the runners as possible. I ended up with several hundred, many of which are posted on the Oracle Rumble Facebook page.
In the future, I might actually run one of the distances, but I’m at the park often hiking a lot of the trail, so I get to regularly enjoy it while others may only come out once a year. By volunteering for the Rumble and OSP, I get to interact with almost all of the runners (many are friends), which for me is a lot more fun and inspiring!