We hope everyone has had a wonderful winter thus far and is as excited for the arrival of spring as we are! So whether you’ve been busy training for a big early season race or taking the opportunity to rest and recover from a long year of trail running, we hope you’re ready for another great year of racing trails on the No Coast!

First some updates:

-The Lake Macbride Trail Races are the newest addition to the No Coast Trail Series and will take place on July 20th this year! LMTR offers 50k and 25k distance races on the trails in and around Lake Macbride State Park in Solon, just north of Iowa City!

-The format for Club Division point scoring has been updated to better encompass the wide range of events available and to encourage teams to strategize their participation at each and every one of the NCTS events. Please see the ‘Club Division’ section on the NCTS website (https://nocoasttrailseries.com/how-it-works/) for a more detailed breakout of scoring and rules.

The series signup form is open! https://forms.gle/Q9PbWw4xbETtyqWv8

Registration is open and space still available in a number of this year’s races including the season opener at Red Shamrock, Crater and Booneville!

Registration is set to open for Schuetzen (Feb. 2nd), Lake Macbride Trail Races (Feb. 14th), ScoCo (Feb. 23rd) and Mines of Spain Trail Races (Mar. 1st) with registration opening a little later in the year for Pleasant Creek (April 1st) and Woodpecker (June 6th). All registration links can be found on the No Coast website or at each race’s website/social media.

-2024 NCTS Series Schedule-

Team Red Shamrock Trail Challenge – April 6

Sunderbruch B&B Trail Races – May 18

Crater Trail Run – June 1

Schuetzen NEIN Hour Endurance Run – June 15

Lake Macbride Trail Races – July 20

Mines of Spain Trail Races – August 10

ScoCo50 – August 24

Booneville Backroads Ultra – August 31

Pleasant Creek Trail Run – September 14

Doggone Tired Ultra – September 28

Swiss Valley Trail Run – October 5

Mines of Spain 100 – October 18-19

Woodpecker Six – November 9

All important information on the series including sign-up, info on the races, rules and past results can be found at https://nocoasttrailseries.com/ so please take a look and spend a minute browsing around! And always, be sure to Share the No Coast Trail Series Facebook page to help spread the word about NCTS!

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact NCTS via the Facebook page or nocoasttrailseries@gmail.com

Thank you and we hope you’ll join us for another year of training, racing and building this awesome slice of the trail running community on the No Coast!

The 10th year of the No Coast Trail Series has come to a close and we are left with another year’s worth of amazing memories shared with this incredible community of trail people. TWELVE races with 29 different distances available made for our most robust schedule to date with amazing trail race opportunities ranging from 5k to 100 miles!

Amazing job to all No Coast participants this year and special congratulations to all of the division award winners! On the team side, Thorsday T.C. and the QC-TUR(d)s put up a hard fought battle but Thorsday T.C. put all the pieces together and were able to dethrone the reigning 2x champs to claim the Club Division trophy!

A huge thank you to all of the hard working race organizers this year with the biggest thanks reserved for the incredible volunteers who consistently step up to ensure the preservation of our little community. THANK YOU!!!

Attention all division award winners! I’ll be in contact via email to make arrangements to get you your NCTS Hydro Flask division trophy!

Thank you!
Josh

Full 2023 NCTS Standings: https://nocoasttrailseries.com/standings/

#1 Overall Trail – Male – Tim Cahill
#1 Overall Trail – Female – Heather Picray
#1 Overall Ultra – Male – Bryan Powers
#1 Overall Ultra – Female – Eileen Yi Ni Tan

Open Trail – Male
1st – Michael Price
2nd – Leo Buzalsky
3rd – Aaron Little

Open Trail – Female
1st – Jaclyn Hoke
2nd – Rose Amundson
3rd – Ashley Chizek

Masters Trail – Male
1st – Jeff Haight
2nd -Brian Enearl
3rd – Steve Hagarty

Masters Trail – Female
1st – Becky Johnson
2nd – Jill Waterman
3rd – Cathy May

Open Ultra – Male
1st – Nathan Shaffer
2nd – Kyle Kaiser
3rd – Jacob Gallagher

Open Ultra – Female
1st – Jen Even
2nd – Lacy Arant
3rd – Rachel Seabold

Masters Ultra – Male
1st – Dan Harvey
2nd – Ted Smith
3rd – Rob Morrison

Masters Ultra – Female
1st – Tiffany Miller
2nd – Tiffany Gunhus
3rd – Ana Phillips

Club Division
1st – Thorsday T.C. – 932.9 points
2nd – Quad Cities Trail & Ultra Runners QC-TUR(d)s – 880.3 points
3rd – LoKeyz – 732.7 points
4th – The Runner’s Flat – 144.4 points
5th – No Regrets – 110.4 points
6th – Running Wild Elite – 29.3 points
7th – Trail Sisters – 27.9 points

The 2023 No Coast Trail Series wrapped up this past weekend with race #12 at the Woodpecker Six and what an epic closeout to an incredible year of racing on the No Coast! Gorgeous fall temps provided a beautiful day for the backdrop of 6 hours on the hilly and challenging Woodpecker loop! Every loop ran meant more series points and No Coast runners rose to the challenge throwing down some impressive mileage totals to finish the race season off!

A huge congratulations to each and every runner who ran at Woodpecker and extra kudos to the those No Coast runners placing at the top of the pack and earned themselves a Woodpecker trophy (in order of total mileage): Kyle Kaiser, Matthew Yorek, Leo Buzalsky, Bryan Powers, Michele Sun & Tiffany Gunhus!

BEAUTIFUL fall weather greeted runners at the Mines of Spain 100 this past weekend! Dry conditions complimented a beautiful course covering a wide range of trail terrain and of course, some big Dubuque hills! 100mi and 100k runners alike really had to buckle down and see what they were made of to reach that finish line but the reward was definitely worth the challenge!

A huge congratulations to each and every runner who stepped up to the line and gave it their all! Special kudos to Tiffany Gunhus for taking 3rd place overall (100mi), Tara Flesch finishing 1st place Masters (100mi) and Nate Shaffer finishing 2nd place overall in the 100k! Some distance PRs as well for No Coast runners with Kyle Kaiser, Nate Shaffer, Tiffany Miller and Ted Smith’s finishing their first 100k and Lacy Arant, Brad Hammes and Ana Phillips finishing their first 100 miler!!!

On the Club side, both Thorsday TC (944.5 pts) and the QC-TUR(d)s (904.4 pts) showed up in force and threw down some BIG points! The gap separating the 2x defending champs and the hammer wielding Thors-men and Valkyries has become quite narrow and will come down to the final series finale race at the Woodpecker Six on November 11th! Lots of points for individuals and teams in the 6 hour timed event so anything can happen!

The Swiss Valley Trail Run took place this past weekend near Dubuque on a beautiful crisp October morning! Race #10 saw runners tackling the 5.2mi loop once, 3x for the 25k or 6x for the 50k!

Congratulations to all of the Swiss Valley runners and special kudos to the TWENTY TWO No Coast runners at the race, many of whom placed on the podium!

In the 50k, Bryan Powers and Eileen Yi Ni Tan both took 3rd place! In the 25k, Nate Shaffer and Melissa Taylor both took 1st place and in the 5.2mi race, Jacob Gallagher took 1st place!

On the Club side, Thorsday TC (749.3 pts) maintain their commanding lead ahead of the QC-TUR(d)s (654.3 pts) and the LoKeyz (619.3 pts) but it’s a small gap that’s sure to shrink and stretch with the last two big point races left on the line!

The 3 race minimum rule is beginning to take effect and we’re seeing the point spread becoming much closer in both the individual and club competitions! A big Ultra slugfest rapidly approaches at the Mines of Spain 100 next weekend followed up with the Woodpecker Six on November 12th! The six hour timed format provides something for everyone and will be a great opportunity to score some final series points!

The Doggone Tired Ultra took place this past Saturday in Vinton for race #09 of this year’s series and runners enjoyed some last minute summer heat for their 50k or 10mi races in and around Rodgers Park!

Congratulations to all of the Doggone runners and special kudos to the No Coast runners at the race, many of whom placed on the podium!

In the 10 miler, Heather Picray was in 1st place and Rose Amundson took 2nd place for the women along with Nate Shaffer taking 1st place and Leo Buzalsky in 3rd place for the men! In the 50k, Bryan Powers finished in 1st place!

On the Club side, Thorsday TC are still in the lead with 749.3 points, QC-TUR(d)s in 2nd place with 654.3 points and the LoKeyz in 3rd but in hot pursuit with 619.3 points!

Just 3 races remaining in this year’s No Coast Trail Series with the Swiss Valley Trail Run coming up this weekend followed by the Mines of Spain 100 on Oct. 20th and the series finale at Woodpecker Six on Nov. 11th!

The Pleasant Creek Trail Runs took place this past Saturday and runners were treated to some cool and overcast skies at the start that eventually gave way for some sunny but moderate temps. All in all, it was some great running weather on this fun, fast and flowy loop around the lake!

Congratulations to all PCTR runners and special kudos to all of the No Coast runners at the race, many of which placed high in the standings and top in their age groups!
Brett Rosauer, Grant Stimart, Jodee Ross & Michele Sun in the 15k!
Ashley Chizek, Leo Buzalsky, Allison Hartwig & Tim Cahill in the 30k!
Bryan Powers, Candace Wood, Tiffany Miller & Eileen Yi Ni Tan in the 45k!

On the Club side, Thorsday TC (749 pts) maintain a strong lead over the QC-TUR(ds)s in 2nd (654.3 pts) while the LoKeyz made some big gains at PCTR and are in a close 3rd with 615.6 pts! These top 3 teams all have all 20 Trail slots and all 15 Ultra slots filled so these last few races, it’ll be a pure shootout to run long and fast at the final races of the year!

Just 4 races remaining in this year’s No Coast Trail Series with the Vinton Pizza Hut Runs Doggone Tired 50k/10mi up in two weeks on the 30th followed in rapid succession by the Swiss Valley Trail Run on Oct. 7th, the Mines of Spain 100 on Oct. 20th and the season finale at the Woodpecker Six on November 11th!

The ScoCo50K and 10mi trail races took place north of Davenport this past weekend and the trail miles, smiles and summer vibes were FLOWIN’ for race #06 in this year’s No Coast Trail Series!

Congrats to all ScoCo runners and special kudos to all of the No Coast runners at the race, several of whom placed on the podium! Devin Allbaugh (1st Male 10M), Phil Young (1st Male 50K) and Nathan Shaffer (2nd Male 50K)! With both Trail and Ultra distance offered at ScoCo, we saw some shake-ups in the top 3 of most of the divisions!

On the Club side, Thorsday TC (726.8 pts) have extended their lead a bit over over the QC-TUR(d)s (648.9 pts) with the LoKeyz making some big gains to stay in 3rd place with 521.4 pts! The top two teams have filled out all of their point slots so now it comes down to running faster and/or further than the other in the remaining races! Please note, the deadline to join/change Club affiliation is September 11th.

You or someone you know running No Coast races and aren’t signed up for the series yet?! Sign up! It’s free, takes all of 10 seconds and will put you (and your running club) in the chase for some sweet division awards! Plus your participation supports an incredible community of trail races in this great state of Iowa!

We’ve got two more back to back race weekends coming up with Booneville Backroads Ultra this weekend followed by PCTR – Pleasant Creek Trail Run on Sept. 9th and then Doggone Tired Ultra (Vinton Pizza Hut Runs) rounding out the month on the 23rd!

The Mines of Spain Trail Races took place this past Saturday in Dubuque and runners were treated to beautiful August weather and some challenging but gorgeous trails for series race #05!

Congratulations to all MoSTR runners and special kudos to all of the No Coast runners at the race, many of which placed high in the standings and in their age groups!

On the Club side, Thorsday TC (674.3 pts) are maintaining a narrow lead over the QC-TUR(d)s (648.2 pts) with the LoKeyz staying within sight in 3rd place with 434.4 pts! We now move into the second half of the series schedule where lots of Ultra points wait for the taking! Please note, the deadline to join/change Club affiliation is September 11th.

You or someone you know running No Coast races and aren’t signed up for the series yet?! Sign up! It’s free, takes all of 10 seconds and will put you (and your running club) in the chase for some sweet division awards! Plus your participation supports an incredible community of trail races in this great state of Iowa!

Next weekend we have the newest race to No Coast, the ScoCo50 featuring 50k and 10mi races and September brings us the Booneville Backroads Ultra on the 2nd with PCTR – Pleasant Creek Trail Run the following weekend on the 9th and the Doggone Tired Ultra rounding out the month on the 23rd!

Runners at the start of this past weekend’s Schuetzen NEIN Hour Endurance Run were treated to some cooler than normal temps to start but the heat, stairs and hills that Schuetzen is known for quickly made their presence known! Race #04 in the series challenged runners to either run solo or as a relay team for nine hours for as many miles as possible in that time and the NEIN did not make it easy!

Congratulation to all the “survivors” and special kudos to No Coast runners Mark Thompson, Kyle Kaiser, Nathan Shaffer, Jen Even, Sallie Coon, Bryan Powers, Nate Canton, Don Montgomery, Rachel Seabold, Lauren Hoth, Robert Walker, Steve Lutz, Dan Harvey, Michael Price, Michala Mielke, Chris Beveroth, Adam Coon, Dan James, Jennifer Steadman, Brian Pope, Ana Phillips, Terri Smith,
Ted Smith, Tiffany Miller, Jill Waterman, Lois Cahill & Lacy Arant
for digging deep and hitting 50k or more within the nine hours to earn themselves a Schuetzen Spanker.

On the Club side, the QC-TUR(d)s (438.1) showed up in a huge way on their home turf and scored big ultra points to slip past LoKeyz (415.3) into second place but Thorsday TC was not to be outdone and made their presence felt and fought off the TUR(d)s to maintain a strong first place lead of 605.7 points!

Remember! If you ran over 26.2 miles this weekend but want to opt to stay in the Trail division, per the series rules outlined on the website, you have one week post-race to contact the series and let us know otherwise you will stay in the Ultra division.

You or someone you know running No Coast races and aren’t signed up for the series yet?! Sign up! It’s free, takes all of 10 seconds and will put you (and your running club) in the chase for some sweet division awards! Plus your participation supports an incredible community of trail races in this great state of Iowa!

We have a bit of a summer break in No Coast racing through July and then race #05 is scheduled to take place at the Mines of Spain Trail Races on August 12th in Dubuque followed up two weeks later at the newest series race the ScoCo50 on August 26th north of Davenport at the beautiful Scott County Park!

Photo Credit: A. Roe Photography