"Do not wait to strike till the Iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
William Butler Yeats
Deck Shuffling
Alright, a few updates in this past week. Thanks to all who have gotten out of the gates early to register for Breakneck Point , Cayuga Trails , and Lucifer's Crossing . With as many great events that are the race calendar, I'm grateful to have you for a few. Thanks also to over 200 of you who took a moment to respond to the 50k in May question in the last email. You're enough to make this work so I've spun to make it happen and hopefully you can join us in May.

What's changed in a week? Prior to the last email it was my understanding that CatsTail , an awesome trail marathon in the Catskills put on by friends Charlie Gadol and Mike Siudy, would run this year in October. Turns out they were planning also for September 28th, same day that I'd planned Water Gap. So, I'm sliding things around to try to accommodate.

I have word in to the Delaware Water Gap to check on whether we can slide Water Gap to either September 7 or the 21st. The Park Manager is hoping to follow up shortly and I hope to pin that down by mid-December. Based on the logistical hurdles inherent in getting the Minnewaska Sky Lakes event off the ground, and given Minnewaska / area already have a few great events from informal " Fat-Asses ", to the self-supported SRT , to RTR , I'm opting to instead slide the Inaugural Iron Mines into the May 11th slot. Details below on that.

We've also heard back from Whiteface Mountain and been in contact with the coordinator of the US Sky Running Series on a potential date shift as well. On that, we've decided to move the Whiteface Sky Races back a bit to the weekend of July 20 / 21. The Sky Series will make announcements this coming week and we'll also work to bring updates on the new mountain race in the mix and memorial to Nick Marshak. We'll get a follow-up email out hopefully in the next week or two with those updates including the link to registration.
Iron Mines 50k
May 11, 2019
Ringwood, NJ
I'll tell you what, the profile above isn't quite representative of the New Jersey I knew in growing up visiting family. A Jersey where I had to search out bridges to get a little elevation in the run, and there sure aren't any sandy oceanside beaches in those valleys. I've also yet to run into either Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen on the trails. What is represented in that profile is nearly 8,000 feet of elevation gain over the 50k, steep ascents, amazing exposed vistas, rock and dirt jungles, and steeper descents. This is a finish which you'll have to earn, and a challenge which you've come to expect from Red Newt Racing. Whether as a stand-alone endurance challenge or a bridge between Breakneck and Cayuga, MOTG, or Manitou's, Iron Mines will be stoked to have you. Stay tuned as we finalize permissions for and to unveil our intended course, and, with a limited inaugural field size, to jump on registration when it goes live on Saturday, December 15th.
To wrap up this evening's updates, and just in case you've been missing a little outpost in your life lately, I'll leave you with the link to the Easter Basket Hill Climb Challenge. We'll circle back shortly with Iron Mines, Whiteface, and Water Gap updates.