BIG SKY — The 7th annual Rut Mountain Runs took over Big Sky Resort this weekend, with runners displaying plenty of grit and stamina.
"So we’ve got a five different distances for all the rut runs. We have the vertical kilometer which goes all the way up the mountain," said Mike Foote, Race Director of the Rut Mountain Runs.
"We have an 11 kilometer race, a 28 kilometer race, a 50 kilometer race. And then everybody’s favorite, the 1K Runt Run for the kids."
Just over 3,000 runners competed this weekend and came from all across Montana and the country to participate.
Sunday brought the 11K race, which is just shy of 7 miles, and the 50K race, which is about 31 miles.
Erika Flowers of Bozeman was the women’s 50k winner with a time of 06:51:52.
Cody Lind won the men’s 50k race with a time of 05:29:44.
"I tried to just enjoy the scenery. Somebody before the race, a friend just said smile every mile and so that’s what I was trying to do, just appreciate being out there and go on a big long run for fun," said Flowers.
"I signed up for this race on a whim back in like, January. I needed something to kick start because I hadn’t been training much," said Dan Jackson, a Bozeman runner who finished in the top 20 of the men's 50k race.
"So I just on a whim signed up for the 50k and signed my wife up for the 11k unbeknownst to her. Here we are today, nine months later," Jackson said.
"It’s a mixture of landscape and culture. The landscape is as good as it gets anywhere. I mean, the course itself is so challenging and so beautiful and hard," said Foote.
The Rut Mountain Runs take place every Labor Day at Big Sky Resort.
