Race to Robie starts on a computer

As is the case every year in the last decade at least, the Race to Robie Creek started two months before the actual event.  Today at high noon, thousands of hopeful racers frantically logged onto their computers in the attempt to register for the grueling race. 

The event reached this year’s quota of 2,436 racers in just 13-and-a-half minutes. 

Those that weren’t able to get into the race still have a chance though.  A second chance registration will begin at 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning.  I spoke with a race organizer today, and he told me that between 200 and 300 people will be entered in the second chance registration. 

The intimidating race, self-titled the “Toughest in the Northwest,” has become a right of passage for runners in Boise, and beyond.  The 13.1 mile half marathon course climbs over 21 hundred feet in the first eight miles, before dropping 18 hundred feet to the finish line. 

The race itself starts at high noon on Saturday, April 20. 

Having run the race twice, I can speak from experience that it is a very challenging course.  Running the race will challenge competitors both physically and mentally.  But perhaps the bigger challenge is just getting in it.  I will be entering my name in the second chance drawing this year. 

—Ryan Larrondo