THE SMOKEY
JULY, 2025
The Smokey and the Half Smokey will be back for 2025 and are again designed to blend long distance running with compass navigation for solo racers (however running with others is acceptable). The courses for both distances will again be equally challenging and scenic to run on and will provide their own set of challenges based on terrain and time limits. The Full Smokey may be 10 hours in duration again, while its cousin the Half Smokey is...well...half the duration (5 hours). Like the 2023 race, The Smokey is a mostly self-supported style event (with minimal aid) and, as this race is smack in the middle of the summer, you need to be prepared for the heat, but have no fear, we will have water and ice at both our start/finish point and, for the full Smokey only, our transition area. Come experience a beautiful and challenging race with typical adventure running terrain, LOTS of elevation change, creek crossings and a whole lot of running - so lots of adventure.
2024 RESULTS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This years race was again one for the books! With high water in Grindstone creek and increased elevation, this course was again a test of attrition and efficient navigation.
In the Full Smokey, the results are as followed.
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Jumping up from their combined 4th place finish at last years Half Smokey, Matt Barrett and William Maize took the overall win for the Full Smokey in a time of 8:43 and cleared all courses!
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In second place, with her best finish in all three runs at the Full Smokey, was Una Hall in a time of 8:48!
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In third place, the honour was shared by another return trip from Derrick Bessette in a time of 8:48 and Rob Howe in a time of 9:24 but with excellent checkpoint completion, bumping his place up! Practice good nav folks!
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Vadim Culic and Viktoria Brown also had solid days, getting the full Smokey experience while learning just how difficult the combined nav and terrain can be on this course!
In the Half Smokey, we had another strong year!
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First place went to newcomer Vadim Aksenov, who successfully cleared the course in a time of 4:02!
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Second place went to Brendan Doogan, fresh off a trip racing in Europe
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Third place went to the very experienced Ray Kitowski, showing that navigation prowess and persistence gets you to the podium
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Fourth place went to our very own Patrick Saile
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Fifth place went to Kimberley Birch
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Sixth place went to Margaret Stefels, Chris Carella & Igor Lehnherr
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Sixth place went to David Newton
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Seventh place went to Elena Sitnikova
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Eighth place went to Alya Sharov
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Ninth place went to Davin Power & Jake St. Pierre and Alex Parent who came in only a few minutes before cut-off!
A huge amount of respect goes to all of our other Half Smokey participants, many who made it through the course but just a bit over time or just outside of checkpoint completion ranking (next year folks!) Shout out (in no particular order) to:
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Kurt Schmidt
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Andrew Bell
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Trirell Biggart
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Scott Grieve
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Bryan Hall who had a swim and sustained an injury but still made it back on his own two feet
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Robin Hallett
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Richard Lee
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Artem Rodin
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Keith Wilson
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Ken de Jong
SEE YOU IN JULY 2025
2023 PHOTOS HERE
2024 PHOTOS TO COME SOON
START LOCATION
CATEGORIES
Junior Men & Junior Women (Half Smokey only), Open Men, Open Women, Masters Men (45+), Masters Women (45+)
[all ages as of December 31, 2023].
** NOTE: THIS EVENT IS LIMITED TO 50 ATHLETES IN EACH OF THE SMOKEY AND HALF SMOKEY RACES.
RACE DISTANCES
Full Smokey: 50-60ish (10 hours max)
Half Smokey: 25-30ish (5 hours max)
RACE FORMATS
Full Smokey competitors will have 10 hours (or more) to run various point-to-point maps
The Half Smokey course will take half the time (5 hours) and be roughly half the distance, but you still get to experience many of the same challenges, and joys, as it's full cousin. If you have completed one of our Raids or a 25km trail race (and have some navigation experience), this race is for you. Although a challenge, this race will be approachable and has a good amount of both navigation but also open trail running.
RACE FEE
Full Smokey ~ $170
Half Smokey ~ $125
* Race fee will include swag and post race food
RACE DAY SCHEDULE
Full Smokey (10 hour time limit): Start at 8am / Finish by 6pm
Half Smokey (5 hour time limit): Start at 9am/ Finish by 2pm
* Check-in and first map distribution: one hour prior to start
POST RACE FOOD & BEER
Pizza and beverages will be provided following the races
AID STATION
There will be a primary aid station at the start/finish, an aid station on route (also a drop bag location) and a water drop on course.
The full Smokey will likely revisit the Start/Finish Aid station two times (TBD) and the additional aid station. There will also be a water drop on the farthest section of the course. You may have a personal aid station set up at the start/finish (along with provided aid) and you may also send a drop bag to the on course aid station.
REQUIRED GEAR - Full & Half Smokey
Compass
Hydration Pack
Whistle
Emergency space blanket
Water and electrolytes (water drops will be available at the aid station/transition and potentially on course (TBD)
Appropriate nutrition for a long day on your feet (think 'self-supported')
Small First Aid kit
Fully Charged Cell Phone
A really good attitude (which we had in spades in our previous races, you all were awesome!)
Full Smokey only: any other personal items you deem necessary for a full day of racing may be placed in a drop bag which will be delivered to the aid station on course.
CONTACT
Jay Thompson
