Grueling endurance race resumes in Santa Barbara after fires and mudslide – KEYT

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – One of the most grueling endurance races in the *country* will welcome some of the top endurance athletes to the starting line.

The Santa Barbara 9 Trails Ultra is a 35-mile endurance run that traverses through Santa Barbara and Montecito. 

If it wasn’t for the tireless work of local groups and volunteers who restored trails damaged by The Thomas Fire and Montecito Mudslide, this year’s race would have been re-routed, according to Race Director Luis Escobar. “The traditional route would not have been possible without the efforts of the Santa Barbara Trail Council and the Montecito Trails Foundation. 

The back-to-back disasters wiped out community trails leaving many of them impassable and closed off to the public. 

But, months of restoration and repairing put the 9 Trails Ultra back on course. 

“To show our recovery we need our events back, little victories are like a notch in our belt, and show the trails are open. We want the community back on the trails,” said Montecito Trails Foundation President Ashlee Mayfield. 

Escobar said the race will be even tougher this year, because the disasters changed the landscape. 

“What those debris flows did is open up those creeks and expose rocks. So there’s a lot more water than we are used to, a lot more rock than we are used to, and the course is going to be slow and tedious and challenging,” Escobar said. 

The race first started in 1990 with only about 60 competitions, including Escobar who is an accomplished ultra-runner.

This year, Escobar said 300 people are registered and the roster is stacked with a list of some of the sport’s best distance runners. 

“Not only do we have the largest field that we’ve ever had in the history of the race, but the quality of the runners is beyond description,” Escobar said. 

One of the elite runners in Santa Barbara for the race is Cat Bradley who won the 2017 Western States 100. 

Bradley said the 9 Trails Ultra is one of the most underrated and toughest 50k races in the country. 

“It’s stunning. It’s tough. It’s rugged and that’s everything you can ask for in a trail race,” Bradley said. 

Bradley and other professionals will share the trail with local runners, climbing and descending peaks, including Inspiration Point,  Tunnel and Cold Springs Trails with 10 thousand feet of vertical gain. 

The winners of this ultra race come away with bragging rights.

But, the biggest winner is the local community who can once again enjoy the outdoors now that most the trails are back open. 

When we leave, those trails are still going to be there for the community to use,” Escobar said. 

The race begins and ends at the Jesusita Trailhead on Saturday, March 23. 

For more information about Santa Barbara 9 Trails Ultra, click here.    http://www.allwedoisrun.com/nine-trails.html

For more information about the Montecito Trails Foundation, click here.  https://www.montecitotrailsfoundation.info/