We know how amazing Pikes Peak Marathon's course is and how incredible our runners are that take on America's greatest challenge -- and so does the WORLD!  In 2021, the Pikes Peak Marathon will again host some of the best runners from around the world as they compete for HUGE prize money and rankings to earn a position in the Golden Trail World Series Grand Final in November, 2021, in the K42 Adventure Marathon in Patagonia, Argentina.  Be prepared to see dozens of the top runners from around the world as they battle it out right here on Pikes Peak's Barr Trail along with you!

It feels like a decade ago that the Pikes Peak Marathon staff were meeting in person at small coffee shops downtown to plan the 2020 event, sitting within six feet of eachother, and even once sharing a sip of whatever fancy latte somebody had bought (gasp!!)  My how things have changed since March...

By early April we saw many other May / June events cancel, or 'go virtual.'  We knew virtual wasn't an option for us... Pikes Peak is Pikes Peak, and running any course other than Barr Trail, to anywhere other than the 14,115 ft. summit, would NOT be the Pikes Peak Marathon.  Virtual wasn't an option.

We also knew that we had special circumstances that *might* make it possible for us to pull off our event.  The marathon is 'only' 800 people.  The Governor had come out saying that we were safest either at home or 'in the vast, great outdoors'... and you can't get more vast or great than Barr Trail.  Ron Ilgen, the Race Director, asked me to take on the role of COVID Lead and work with the county and state health departments to see if we could come up with a plan.  By late May, we knew that while the Ascent had to be cancelled (largely due to the challenges of having to socially distance in a van on the way down from the Summit, but also the massive construction zone and lack of protection from the elements at the top), we were going to try and make the Marathon a go.