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National Ability Center’s Summit Challenge returns to Park City this weekend

Cade Richmond gives a thumbs up after crossing the finish line of a previous Summit Challenge at the National Ability Center. This year’s challenge features 16-, 50-, 80-, and 100-mile courses, in addition to lunch, vendor booths, a DJ and more.
Tanzi Propst

The National Ability Center is scheduled to host its 11th annual Summit Challenge bike ride on Saturday, when the organization expects about 800 cyclists to ride along four different courses of varying length, all of which start and end at the nonprofit’s headquarters in Quinn’s Junction.

“It’s not a race per se,” said Tanya Boland, a spokesperson for the NAC. “It’s not like Tour of Utah where you are being clocked. This is really to go out, and everyone has a different goal in their own mind.”

Boland said, for some people, that’s to complete the route that they are on, whether that’s the 16-mile, 50-mile, 80-mile, or 100-mile loop. Others might be shooting for a time goal, though participants are not timed by the race itself except for those participating in the King of the Mountain sections — at Wolf Creek and Brown’s Canyon.



The event, one of the organization’s main fundraisers, starts and ends at the NAC’s Bronfman Family Ranch in Quinn’s Junction, where there will be an event village with vendor booths, a DJ and a full lunch for participants.

Start times will be staggered, with 100-mile riders starting at 7 a.m., 80-milers leaving at 8 a.m., 50-milers at 9 a.m. and 16-milers at 10 a.m.



“In the 100 and 80 you have people that are quasi-professional, and you will have adaptive riders on hand cycles as well,” Boland said. “And then you have families doing the 50-mile and the 16-mile courses together, and I think that’s pretty unique to Summit Challenge.”

The 16-mile course runs clockwise, exiting the NAC and going south to Kearns Boulevard, then east to S.R. 224, and north to Old Ranch Road, where it will pass Trailside Park and join the bike path along S.R. 189 back to the NAC.

The 50-mile course will start with the same loop as the 16-mile course before heading east into a separate counter-clockwise circuit that runs through Tuhaye, Francis, Kamas, Marion, Peoa and Brown’s Canyon before rejoining S.R. 248 and returning to the NAC.

The 80-mile loop is similar to the 50-mile loop, but adds an extension up the Weber Canyon and back.

The 100-mile course is similar to the 50-mile course, but adds a second loop that runs clockwise through Wolf Creek, down to Heber, across to Midway and northeast via S.R. 32 along the southern side of the Jordanelle Reservoir, before rejoining the 50-mile loop near Woodland.

Registration is free for adaptive riders, otherwise participation costs $145 for the 100-mile ride, $100 for the 80-mile ride, $85 for the 50-mile ride and $50 for the 16-mile ride. For detailed routes and elevation profiles, visit the event’s website at http://summitchallenge100.org/route-registration/.


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