Change doesn’t mix well with the Steamworks Half Marathon.
The race will start at 8 a.m. Saturday at Baker’s Bridge and traverse Country Road 250 through the Animas Valley to the Durango Sports Club, as it always has.
“It’s always the thing that people want the same thing,” fifth-year race director Matthew Krichman said. “We don’t mess with it. It’s the kind of race that people know what to expect.”
They keep coming back, too.
The field is at full capacity with 300 participants, and it has been since shortly after registration opened in February.
Those 300 runners will traverse the 13.1-mile course that features rolling hills and an overall elevation loss from start to finish.
An early start is available at 7:15 a.m. for runners who want or need extra time on the course.
Logan Ott, a three-time race winner and alumnus of Mancos High School and Fort Lewis College, fwon the men’s race last year in 1 hour, 14 minutes, 20 seconds.
“It’s considered a pretty fast course, which is why a lot of runners like it,” Krichman said.
The post-race party may also have something to do with it.
The Durango Sports Club opens up its facilities to race participants, including full use of the pool and massage therapists for a post-race mini-massage.
Title sponsor Steamworks provides a big barbeque with beer for the runners and their friends and family.
“A lot of runners will stick around the whole day,” Krichman said. “That’s one of the things that’s fun, you don’t have to go home right after you cross the finish line.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
