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

Warm summertime conditions greeted runners at the Crater Trail Run for race #03 in this year’s No Coast Trail Series! With distances ranging from 5k to 50k, runners had a great time tackling beautiful trails & challenging courses up north!

Congratulations to all of the Crater runners and especially to those running their longest distance race on the trails ever! Extra kudos to No Coast runners Nate Shaffer and Ashley Chizek (both 1st in the 25k), Heather Picray (2nd in the 25k) and David Kline (2nd in the 10k) for placing at the top of their races!

In the Club Division, we had a strong showing from Thorsday TC and the LoKeyz with Thorsday continuing to lead with 165.8 points, LoKeyz in pursuit with 127 points and the QC-TUR(d)s in 3rd with 76 points!

Next up this weekend in Davenport is the Schuetzen NEIN Hour Endurance Run! 9 hours to run as many challenging miles as you can and those miles = points! For those of you running, get ready to feel all the feels…

Photo Credit: Nick Chill Photography

Absolutely PERFECT conditions greeted greeted runners this past weekend in Davenport at the Sunderbruch B&B Trail Races and runners were eager to enjoy beautiful weather, dry trails and lots and lots of bacon & beer!

Congratulations to all of the runners in the event and special kudos to the No Coast runners snagging spots on the podium! In the Men’s 10k, Phil Young took 2nd and Jasper Halekas 3rd! Sallie Coon came in 2nd in the Women’s 10k! In the 5k, Rob Walker took 3rd place and Jaclyn Hoke came in 2nd!
With lots of B&B runners participating in the Club Division, a great number of points were racked up but the placing stayed the same with Thorsday TC in a strong lead with 134.8 points followed by the LoKeyz (82.4) and the QC-TUR(d)s (73.😎 close behind!

Next up in the series is Crater Trail Run on June 3rd up in Decorah and Schuetzen NEIN Hour Endurance Run in Davenport on June 17th! Both offer Ultra and Trail division distances so there’s sure to be some moving and shaking in the standings through the summer!

Photo Credit: Austin Roe

Blustery winds and a cold spring morning greeted No Coast runners at this past weekend’s Team Red Shamrock Trail Challenge which helped kick off the 10th anniversary of the No Coast Trail Series! A new venue, a new course and new distances (10mi/5k) awaited runners at Red Shamrock and runners were quick to rise to the challenge!

Congratulations to all of the race winners including No Coast runners Ashley Chizek (1st 10mi), Brett Rosauer (1st 10mi), Rob Walker (1st 5k), Jodee Ross (2nd 10mi) and Rose Amundson (2nd 5k)!

In the Club Division, Thorsday TC have taken an early lead with 83 points followed by the LoKeyz (65 pts) and the QC-TUR(d)s (40.7 pts) in close pursuit!

A huge thanks and congratulations to Red Shamrock Foundation for putting on a fun and rewarding event and being such a strong supporter of this No Coast trail community!

Photo Credit: Justin Torner

Welcome to the start of 2023 on the No Coast and our 10th anniversary!

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:

-Hawkeye 50k/25k/10mi which has usually occurred in April is no longer taking place. Sad news for sure but we are happy to be left with so many great Hawkeye memories from over the past 10+ years!

-Team Red Shamrock Trail Challenge has changed locations and added a new 10mi distance! After the date shift last year, they are back to their usual date on the first Saturday of April, the 1st.

-The ScoCo50 is the newest addition to the No Coast Trail Series and will take place on August 26th this year! ScoCo offers a 50k and 10mi distance on the trails at Scott County Park, just north of Davenport in the Quad Cities!

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

Registration is set to open for Swiss Valley (Feb. 1st), Schuetzen (Feb. 3rd), ScoCo (Feb. 24th) and Mines of Spain Trail Races (Mar. 3rd) with registration opening a little later in the year for Pleasant Creek and Woodpecker. All registration links can be found on the No Coast website or at each race’s website/social media.

-2023 NCTS Series Schedule-

Team Red Shamrock Trail Challenge – April 1

Sunderbruch B&B Trail Races – May 20

Crater Trail Run – June 3

Schuetzen NEIN Hour Endurance Run – June 17

Mines of Spain Trail Races – August 12

ScoCo50 – August 26

Booneville Backroads Ultra – September 2

Pleasant Creek Trail Run – September 9

Doggone Tired (10M & 50K) – September 30

Swiss Valley Trail Run – October 7

Mines of Spain 100 – October 20-21

Woodpecker Six – November 11

All important information on the series including the sign-up link, 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 9th 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 this year 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 and the LoKeyz put up a hard fought battle but the QC-TUR(d)s stayed strong and claimed the Club Division trophy for a second year in a row!

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 2022 NCTS Standings: https://nocoasttrailseries.com/standings/

#1 Overall Trail – Male – Ross Salinas
#1 Overall Trail – Female – Jaclyn Hoke
#1 Overall Ultra – Male – Jacob Gallagher
#1 Overall Ultra – Female – Tiffany Gunhus

Open Trail – Male
1st – Justin Newnum
2nd – Andrew Gray

Open Trail – Female
1st – Jodee Ross
2nd – Mandi Martin
3rd – Kendal Hausmann

Masters Trail – Male
1st – Cary Richey
2nd -Donny Montgomery
3rd – Jeff Haight

Masters Trail – Female
1st – Jennifer Steadman
2nd – Julie Tyler
3rd – Susan Eisenbacher

Open Ultra – Male
1st – Leo Buzalsky
2nd – Michael Price
3rd – Kyle Weber

Open Ultra – Female
1st – Eileen Tan
2nd – Jen Even
3rd – Becky Rea

Masters Ultra – Male
1st – Travis Swanson
2nd – Scott Hundertmark
3rd – Gordon Graham

Masters Ultra – Female
1st – Tara Flesch
2nd – Tiffany Miller
3rd – Lois Cahill

Club Division
1st – Quad Cities Trail & Ultra Runners QC-TUR(d)s – 920.7 points
2nd – Thorsday TC – 713.7 points
3rd – LoKeyz – 547.5 points
4th – No Regrets – 241.7 points
5th – The Runner’s Flat – 119.4 points
6th – Trail Sisters – 56.1 points

The 2022 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! Winter came early for the weekend and dropped the temps and threw down some snow to make things interesting on the hilly 6 hour Woodpecker loop! Every loop ran meant more series points and No Coast runners rose to the challenge throwing down some impressive mileage totals in the conditions!

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): Michael Price, Ross Salinas, Matthew Yorek, Jacob Gallagher, Jodee Ross, Leo Buzalsky, Kyle Weber, Lauren Hoth and Tiffany Gunhus!

Brisk but gorgeous 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 1st place in the 100 miler and Jen Even for finishing 2nd place female in the 100 miler! Donny Montgomery was 3rd place Masters in the 100k and Tara Flesch was 2nd place Masters in the 100 miler! Jen, Tara and Gordon Graham were also 5x 100mi finishers at the Mines and part of the first class in the 500 Mile Club!

On the Club side, the QC-TUR(d)s (904.5 pts) showed up in force and threw down some BIG points adding SEVEN 100mi and 100k finishes to the team total! Just 7 points separate Thorsday (566.1 pts) in 2nd place from the LoKeyz (559.1 pts) in 3rd!

The series finale at the Woodpecker Six on November 12th rapidly approaches! Lots of points for individuals and teams in the 6 hour timed event!

The Swiss Valley Trail Run took place this past weekend near Dubuque on one of the most picture perfect October weekends possible! 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, Jacob Gallagher took 1st place and Scott Hundertmark was 3rd!
In the 25k, Ross Salinas was 1st place male, Cary Richey was 3rd place male and Jodee Ross rounded out the female podium in 3rd place!

On the Club side, the QC-TUR(d)s (654 pts) maintain their commanding lead ahead of Thorsday TC (536.8 pts) and the LoKeyz (399.1 pts) but the gap between the trophy and 2nd place continues to shrink as Thorsday throws down some commanding performances including Jacob Gallagher’s 2nd 50k victory on back to back weekends!

With there only being two races left, 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 No Coast’s newest member race, 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! Get signed up now before the race sells out!

The Doggone Tired Ultra took place this past Saturday in Vinton for race #09 of this year’s series and runners enjoyed some beautiful late summer weather 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, Rose Amundson took 1st place for the women along with Leo Buzalsky in 3rd place for the men!
In the 50k, Tiffany Gunhus got 1st place and Melissa Barnard got 3rd place for the women along with Jacob Gallagher winning the men’s race (and setting a new course record) and Michael Price taking 3rd place for the men!

On the Club side, the QC-TUR(d)s are still in the lead with 642.6 points but Thorsday TC (487.6 pts) showed up in force at Doggone in the 50k and chipped away at that TUR(d) lead! The LoKeyz (395.9 pts) are in close pursuit in 3rd place!

Just 3 races remaining in this year’s No Coast Trail Series with the Swiss Valley Trail Run coming up fast this Saturday (Oct. 1st) followed by the Mines of Spain 100 on Oct. 15th and the series finale at Woodpecker Six on Nov. 12th! Registration is still open for Swiss Valley this weekend as well as Woodpecker so get signed up if you haven’t already!