Five laps of the Orange Course, a mostly singletrack loop through Bear Creek Lake Park with two full aid stations per lap, Homestead and Cattail Creek. The 100K was added to the race in 2013, the same year flooding put the original Start/Finish under water and forced an alternate, flatter 10.3-mile loop for that one year only.
99% of the course is on soft surface and single track dirt trail. The race describes itself as pretty fast by trail/ultra standards and not overly technical.
The Bear Chase Race Endurance Festival is a trail-running weekend at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, Colorado: a 100K, 50 Mile and 50K on Saturday, and a Half Marathon on Sunday, all built from laps of the same singletrack loop around the park. The race markets itself as a good first ultra: fast by trail standards and not overly technical, with the whole field starting and finishing at one beach on Big Soda Lake.
The Bear Chase began in 2010 at Bear Creek Lake Park. Flooding has forced the Start/Finish to move three times since. In 2013 the park itself was flooded and the original Start/Finish sat under water, so that year's 100K ran a flatter, faster 10.3-mile alternate loop with more pavement instead of the usual course. The current Start/Finish, at Big Soda Lake Beach, leaves the Mount Carbon climb out of the short Blue Course used to open the 50K, though 50K runners still climb it twice on their two Orange Course laps.
| Mile | Station | Cutoff | Crew access | Bag | Pacer | Med | To next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | Start | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 5.30 |
| 5.30 |
Homestead Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.50 |
| 8.80 |
Cattail Creek Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.60 |
| 12.40 |
Start / Finish
None · basic first aid
|
? | ● | ● | ? | ● | 5.30 |
| 17.70 |
Homestead Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.50 |
| 21.20 |
Cattail Creek Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.60 |
| 24.80 |
Start / Finish
None · basic first aid
|
? | ● | ● | ? | ● | 5.30 |
| 30.10 |
Homestead Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.60 |
| 33.70 |
Cattail Creek Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.60 |
| 37.30 |
Start / Finish
None · basic first aid
|
? | ● | ● | ? | ● | 5.30 |
| 42.60 |
Homestead Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.50 |
| 46.10 |
Cattail Creek Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.60 |
| 49.70 |
Start / Finish
None · basic first aid
|
6:00pm | ● | ● | ? | ● | 5.30 |
| 55.00 |
Homestead Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.60 |
| 58.60 |
Cattail Creek Aid
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 3.60 |
| 62.20 | Finish | 9:30pm | ● | ? | ? | ? | ? |
3 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.
These are other people's work and we link straight to them. Watching costs nothing and needs no account. More of them: every race we hold, on film.
Nobody sees it until we have read it. No account, no sign-in.
This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.
Somebody watches it before it goes anywhere near this page. What we are after is footage of this course, on the ground. If it would be just as true of any other race, it is not this.
We want the address of the file the race publishes, not the file. We download it from there so the page can say where the line came from.
We read every one of these and we write back. Every fact here carries the source it came from, and the way a wrong one gets fixed is a person checking it against what you tell us.
NavRun builds your pacing from your own training, then turns it into a plan your crew can follow: when to leave and where to park.
Start free