The Herring Run 10k/20k Trail Race

Race - Jul 7, 2019

Dogs No Dogs

Features River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

The run is mostly on singletrack with some doubletrack as well. There is a 300m section of paved road and a half mile of dirt road.

This race is special because of several things;
1. There is a local organic luncheon following the race.
2. You'll run along the rocky salt-water coast for about a kilometer (.6 miles)
3. You'll even cross a big cove at low tide and do a bit of rock scrambling. Tides are 28 feet up here.

Views along the shore are very nice and, if you have time, stop to take it in.

The singletrack on this trail is fairly technical but runnable for sure. Shoes with good traction will help. We always start right on time (9:00 am) in order to make sure that all runners have a chance at making it across the cove at low tide.

Due to the complexity of the low-tide crossing, we need all racers to be finished by 12:30 (3.5 hours after the start). So, if you sign up for the 20k, we are imposing a 1:45:00 time limit on your first lap. If you do not think you can make this, please sign up for the 10k as you'll have 3.5 hours to complete one lap.

Anyone is welcome to try, but please be prepared to be asked to stop racing at the aid station at the 1 lap mark if you do not make the cut-off time.

A rough gauge for your time on this technical course is to take you road race time for the distance and multiply it by 1.5.

This is the 3rd annual Herring Run right in our very own dooryard. Please keep you doggie friends at home, as we want to encourage kids to be at ease and be able to sit in the grass and eat freely.

The trail is marked very well with yellow chalk, flags, tape and paint and there are a few volunteers on the course as well, to make sure nobody wanders off.

It starts off in our driveway and goes through some old fields out back, before turning to singletrack, twisting through some mossy spruce woods. There are a few wooden bridges on this course that seem to be always slippery, so step lively on those. It climbs gradually for a half mile and then steeply for a short bit before joining an old doubletrack (that will soon be singletrack!) that gradually descends back to some more rugged singletrack. This back section is mossy as well, in mature spruce and mixed hardwood forest and goes by two ponds. Last year, the second pond had a beaver dam that broke during a heavy rain and now it is a verdant meadow that attracts eagles, otters and seldom-seen nesting ducks like Pied billed Grebes, ( allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pie…).

There is a brief and sneaky view at the first pond and a cute little view at the second. The trail continues past the ponds following the shore of the second until it joins another doubletrack that climbs for a good mile, and then descends again gradually to the shore. You'll come out behind Ross and Roxannes' house where there will be a volunteer to cheer you on, and then a right onto the Mascarene Rd. for .13 miles. Then a left onto a dirt driveway for a half mile before taking a hard right onto some more singletrack that follows the shore, before popping out on the beach and rocks.

Follow the yellow flags and markers to the right, along the shore, until you reach the headland where you drop steeply into the cove. The rocks around here are volcanic and very sharp, so use extra care and DO slow down as you enter the cove. The seaweed makes it even more dicey so stay keen! Once across the cove, a run through the sand, a jump over the creek and a steep, rocky scramble up and out of the cove leads you to the finish for the 10k. You finally come out into our fields for a short loop, where you can regain the lead you had..... to the finish. 20kers do it all again!

We are thinking the bunchberry flowers will be out this time of the year. The trail goes through coastal Acadian forest and runs along the rocky Bay of Fundy shore for a kilometer, as well, with wild cranberry, blueberry and crowberry. It's a little too early to enjoy the fruit this year, though.

Our house is the oldest on the loop of road, timber-framed in 1860. There is birch bark for building paper (like tar paper or tyvek) under the shingles. Eugene MacNichol was the old fisherman who lived in our house and had a weir in the cove, and built all the sheds on our property. The cove is named after him and his family: MacNichols Cove.