A trail race named after the legend of a local beast will return on Halloween
Published at
SWAN VALLEY — A local trail race event is returning for its second year this October with two distance options available.
Fall Creek Beast will take place Oct. 31 in Swan Valley. The event will feature a half-marathon and a 50K, known as an ultramarathon (which is about 31 miles). The race is put on by three local brothers, Dillon, Quinn and Reilly Kunz.
They said the name of the event stems from a legend of a beast in the Swan Valley area.
RELATED: Meet Idaho’s mysterious creatures that aren’t Bigfoot
“There’s this legend, I can only find it on one account, from a guy in the 1800s, that claims he was out fishing or trapping and he saw this giant beast with an elephant trunk and tentacles that shot fire out of its mouth,” Quinn explained. “Conveniently, by the time (the man) tried to come back with people, it was gone.”
The brother’s mentioned because there’s not that many local monster stories and since the race is on Halloween, it’s “fun to play off of” that. They said runners are invited to wear costumes to race in.
“If you’re there to win, come ready in those clothes,” Quinn said. “But if you just want to have a good time, we 100% want people to show up in costume.”
Along with wearing costumes to race in, another unique part to the race is that some of the trail will take runners through part of their family’s property.
“(The property) is something we’ve always appreciated,” Dillon said. “It’s a really pretty place and this is an opportunity for a lot of people to explore something that they may not be able to otherwise.”
The brother’s expressed that while some ultramarathons can be expensive, their goal is to make the Fall Creek Beast an affordable racing option for locals.
“A typical ultra is usually like $200 to $250, but we charge $99 for the ultra and that’s as expensive as it ever gets,” Quinn said. “For the half marathon, it’s $59. That’s about half the price of a typical race.”
The Kunz brothers hope to continue to grow the event and get more people into the trail running community.
There are roughly 140 people already signed up to race in the Fall Creek Beast. They have capacity for up to about 300 racers. To register and for more details on the event, click here. Racers can also sign-up at the event itself.
