WHAT IS A ROADS LESS TRAVELED RELAY RACE?

Roads Less Traveled Relays is a collection of unique, scenic relays, that celebrates running by running through beautiful areas. Whether you are a serious or a casual runner, a relay race is an enjoyable, unique adventure to do with both old and new friends. We have relays in Colorado, Vermont, California, and Oregon, with new relay races being planned.

"I need to tell you as a first time race participant in the Green Mountain Relay, this race was INCREDABLE!!! From the team I was on, the beautiful course, the detailed course descriptions on the web, the patient volunteers, the organizers, the behind the scenes people, all of it was truly amazing!!!!" AR Plainfield, VT

We organize both overnight "long distance" relays (about 200 miles), and one-day "sprint" relays (about 50-miles). Each course is divided up in to legs that vary in distance and difficulty, and there are a variety of team sizes to choose from to challenge yourself.

Our philosophy is a relay race should be an enjoyable running experience with your friends in a beautiful part of the country on picturesque roads with limited traffic. Seems pretty basic, doesn't it? We focus on providing the best experience possible for race participants, so we keep our team count low so we can provide runners with a friendly, intimate - and scenic - race weekend.

"I have done hundreds of races, and I have to say the race organization over the past weekend is by far the most impressive, and what is amazing about that is that it was for a race that was over 24 hrs long." LS Denver, CO

Our long distance relays consist of 12 (maximum) or 6-person (Ultra) teams that rotate through 36 legs as they cover the 200-mile route. This means each team member runs 3 legs (6 for Ultra teams) of varying distances, averaging a total of 17 miles (33 for Ultra teams). One person is running at a time, while the rest of the team is cheering or resting. At the end of each leg, the next runner on the team takes off when your current runner arrives - thus a "relay." The adventure is that your team will run all day, through the night, and then finish the next day.

Sprint relays consist of teams of 5, are about 50 miles long, and are divided up into 25 legs of about 2 miles each. Thus, there is a fast turn-over of runners.

The building of camaraderie between your team and those you are running against, as well as sleep deprivation, van decorations, costumes, and silly inside jokes adds to the fun and uniqueness of a relay race.

Some relay organizers focus on crowding hundreds, or even a thousand, teams into a race. That limits options when planning routes. We plan our races on routes which you would want to run on your own! In our events, you'll run on quiet back roads, through forests, over covered bridges, and through small villages - not along the shoulder of a four-lane highway with lots of traffic and frequent stoplights.

If you were to run all 400-miles of our long distance relays, you would come to only one stoplight!

"We were extremely impressed by the Wild West Relay. You could not have picked and designed a more beautiful course! Your course challenged us and provided us with memories that will last a lifetime." CD Littleton, CO

Another of our goals is to give back to the communities our races pass through. We involve local non-profit organizations as race marshals as a way for these organizations to raise money.

Since 2005, we've focused on bringing quality to relay racing by:

• Designing courses that give each participant a great running experience
• Working with the communities along the course, so you'll feel welcomed
• Actively soliciting participant feedback so we can keep improving
• Improving relay racing for all with our industry-leading innovations
• Raising funds to involve and support local non-profit organizations
• Reducing our environmental impact through noise control and "green" practices, plus we donate one percent of our total revenue to environmental organizations through our membership with 1% For the Planet (since 2006).

We invite you to take a look at our races and to celebrate running with us.