Big Sky, Montana, to Host The Rut 50K Race

Big Sky Resort, located in Big Sky, Montana, has been chosen as the Skyrunner World Series Ultra® marathon final event for 2014 with the announcement of the second annual The Rut 50 and 12 kilometer races to be held September 13, 2014 and The Lone Peak Vertical Kilometer® race added for September 12, 2014. Registration opens online on January 5, 2014 at 8:00 am.

Debuting in the summer 2013, The Rut sold out in both the 50K and 12K races. The Rut 50K, a 10,000 foot gain in elevation, tests runners with off-trail exposed ridgelines, forested single-track trails, rugged jeep roads and the lofty summit of an iconic Lone Peak. The Rut 12K will gain 2,100 vertical feet and new this year, The Lone Peak Vertical Kilometer®, a 2.4 miles race with a vertical gain of 3,280 feet up Lone Peak.

“[The Rut] race is exciting because we [found] a venue which could really accommodate the event and Big Sky Resort is set up to handle thousands of people.” Wolfe explained, “The race starts and finishes right at Big Sky Resort base area, so the logistics work well for the runners.”

The 2014 Skyrunner World Series® consists of fifteen quality races in three disciplines. Five Sky, five Ultra and five Vertical races are distributed across six nations in three continents. Big Sky Resort is the first to host a World Series’ Vertical Kilometer® in the United States and be the World Series’ Ultra final race in the Ultra race category.

The Rut, a world class style race, is the brainchild of race directors and world-class trail runners, Mike Foote and Mike Wolfe, both of Missoula, MT and athletes for The North Face ultra-running team who have partnered up with Sky Runner World Series®.

Race registration will be open January 5, 2014 at 8am (MST) at www.runtherut.com. Participants fly into Bozeman/Yellowstone International Airport in Bozeman, Montana, 50 minutes north of Big Sky Resort.

Visit www.bigskyresort.com for more information.

About Big Sky Resort: Big Sky Resort is owned by Boyne Resorts, a Michigan-based corporation and the largest family-run four-season resort company in North America. Boyne Resorts owns and/or operates award-winning mountain and golf resorts and attractions throughout the United States and Canada including Cypress Mountain near Vancouver, British Columbia, official freestyle skiing and snowboard venue of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Big Sky Resort in Montana, Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands, The Inn at Bay Harbor - A Renaissance Golf Resort and Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark in Michigan, Brighton in Utah, Crystal Mountain and The Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington, Loon Mountain in New Hampshire, Sugarloaf and Sunday River Resort in Maine and Gatlinburg Sky Lift in Tennessee.