In the spring of 1995, Sander Nelson had this
idea of a 50 mile adventure run from Peavy Arboretum in the
McDonald Forest to Mary’s Peak in the Siuslaw National
Forest. Sander figured a route and on Saturday April 29th, Dave
Bard and Chuck Cammack joined Sander and I for the run. It was
raining buckets that morning. The weather did get better as
the day wore on. Dave bailed out before McCulloch Peak and Chuck
and I quit after about 29 miles of running in the little town
of Wren, Oregon. We had invited many of our local running friends
to join us later in the run and several of them joined Sander
as he finished the run to Mary’s Peak.
After that run, Sander and I started brainstorming
an ultramarathon. I had organized marathons and other races
in Bend, Oregon as a member of the Central Oregon Running Klub
and convinced Sander that we needed to keep the race just in
the McDonald Forest for logistical purposes, such as; staging
area, aid stations, permission, etc. 50KM would be long enough,
considering we had no running club to help us organize the ultra.
At the time, my son and daughter were in high school and were
on the cross country team. I was aware that the team needed
some support and thought that this run could be a fund raiser. |
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Sander and I in the fall of 1995 started figuring out the first
McDonald Forest 50KM course. I wasn’t sure how many runners
would run this race, maybe 35-40. I knew we could not earn much
of a donation for the teams with an ultra of that size, so we
decided to add a 15KM race. The 15KM race would take place while
the 50KM was in progress. This was the format for the first
two years. After two years, both races were too large to organize
on the same day. The 50KM is a spring race, on the last Saturday
in April that fits in nicely with the Northwest schedule of
ultras. The 15KM race is now a fall race during the high school
cross country season, the weekend before the state of Oregon
high school cross country meet.
It has been a lot of work and a real pleasure. With the help
and generosity of lots of the local trailrunning friends and
the high school cross country runners, the races have earned
some funds for the high school cross country teams, OSU Research
Forest, and Corvallis Mountain Rescue. The McDonald races have
helped recruit an enthusiastic gang of long distance trailrunners
in the Corvallis area, who now run ultramarathons, throughout
the Pacific Northwest.
Clem LaCava
Race Director Emeritus
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