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The Ultrarunners' Annual Flat Rock

25K and 50K Trail Run

[5 minutes until the start of the 25K Run]

[The 25K run is underway near the shelter house below the dam at Elk City Lake]

[The Corps trailhead sign]

[A typical rocky uphill grind on the trail]

[Good news--a smooth level section of trail!  Bad news--it only lasts for about two hundred yards and then you will be back in the rocks!

[At this point the 50K runners are thirteen miles into the run and for a while at least they can "look up without going down"]

 [On the Elk River Hiking Trail at Elk City Lake]

By Rocky Shire

Eric Steele of Wichita, Kansas created and sponsored the first Flat Rock Trail Run in 1995.  He also founded the Kansas Utrarunners' Society during that same year.  As a youth Eric had hiked the Elk River Hiking Trail and was familiar with the area. Therefore it was an easy reach for him to pick this trail as the venue for one of the first Ultrarunners' events in Kansas. Under Eric's sponsorship this trail run has become an annual event and it is currently ranked fourth among the toughest ultra runs in the United States.

The word "ultra" simply means taking something to the limit or to an extreme level, and that is exactly what these runners do. They take the sport of running to limits that the average person simply can not relate. The ultra runner almost assuredly has run some or many marathons in the past and then taken the next step to tackle 30, 50, 100 and yes-even 200 mile runs. These distances require between 5 and 48 hours to complete. I have hiked twenty-five miles and ridden my mountain bike 80 miles in a day but running that far or farther is simply outside the scope of my imagination. It also needs to be stated here that many of these runners are forty, fifty and even sixty years old. It can hardly be labeled as strictly a young person's sport.

Put all of this in the context of the Elk River Hiking Trail and it is almost inconceivable that someone could run this 15 mile trail from end to end and back again and do it in five hours. Eddie Mulkey of Tulsa, Oklahoma has the Flat Rock Trail Run record with a finish time of 4:54 in 1999. Mulkey is 41 years old. Second place belongs to Phil Sheridan of Ellsworth, Kansas with a time of 5:04. Sheridan was 39 when he set this time.

The Corps of Engineers' sign at the trailhead predicts a minimum time of 11 hours to hike the trail from end to end and describes the terrain as rugged with a high degree of difficulty. Now, put yourself on the trail running fast enough to complete the 50K in five or six hours with the clear understanding that there are a number of places on the trail where no one could possibly run. This means that over the whole thirty miles the runners must have an average running pace  considerably faster than 6 miles an hour.

The motto for this run is "If you look up, you are going down." Those that take these words less than seriously will learn the hard way at the other end of "going down". Even in the open and level areas of the trail there are rocks and boulders waiting to grab the foot of a gawker or sightseer and bring them literally face to face with another rock lurking just beyond at less than a body's length. The worst injuries sustained during one of the Flat Rock Runs have been a broken ankle and/or dehydration. This is remarkable given the potential for accidents that could befall an inattentive hiker to say nothing of a runner on this trail.

Never assume that the Flat Rock Trail Run just attracts a few hearty Kansas souls. This year's run held on September 30, 2000 featured 69 entrants from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Nebraska and California. In the past entrants have come from Kentucky, Arizona and Minnesota among other states. This is not an obscure event that attracts a few Kansas ultra runners. It is known and respected at the national level among ultra runners.

The city of Independence, Elk City Lake, and the trail benefit from this influx of runners from around the country in terms of business and national exposure thanks to this run and the Kansas Ultrarunners' Society.  The Kansas Trails Council and the Corps of Engineers also owe a special debt of gratitude to Eric and his volunteers for taking over much of the annual maintenance of the Elk River Hiking Trail. Eric and his crew have spent more than 700 volunteer hours working on the trail over the past five years. Their primary objective, of course, is to prepare the trail for the Flat Rock Trail Run but they take great satisfaction in knowing that these efforts also benefit the many hikers who visit the trail. If you visit this trail certainly concentrate on the years of work dedicated to the creation and maintenance of the trail by Dolores and Bud Baker, Virginia Lefferd and many others, but remember that the Ultrarunners have done much for this trail also.

Editor's Note:

Eric is among many other things a marketing analyst, computer specialist and motivational speaker. I have included links below to both his business site and the Kansas Ultrarunners' Society site. If you want to learn more about the ultra runner's phenomenon and culture I would urge you to visit his web site.

[For the ultra runners and with respect for all of those who dare in some way to push the envelope of personal limitations and possibilities]