On Sunday, the 31st annual Mount Greylock Trail Races will be held by the Western Massachusetts Athletic Club.

 

The race started back in 1984 with a group of local road runners who decided to put together a trail race and  has grown and drawn participation from all over New England and New York.

 

WMAC President Ed Saharczewsk started getting involved with the Greylock Trail Race back in 1999 and said he has seen tremendous growth since he started.

 

"It's grown a lot, actually in the last couple of years," Saharczewski said. "We probably used to get maybe 100 people in the long race, then they had construction on Greylock and we couldn't go all the way to the top due to emergency precautions, so that was two years we didn't do it then we changed the route in the opposite direction and it's been getting very, very popular."

 

Last year, the race drew 177 people in the long race; which is a 13-mile run. There is also a short race which is a 3-mile run.

 

The race used to begin going up Old Adams road to the CCM trail and then go to the Mount Greylock summit; from there they would go down the Thunderbolt, but Saharczewski explained it was getting a bit dangerous so they changed the route.

 

The race now goes in the opposite direction with the climb being at the beginning; three miles from the Greylock Glen to the top going along the Bellows Pike trail. After reaching the summit, the route goes along the Overlook trail to the CCM trail to Old Adams road and finishes back at the Greylock Glen.

 

"It's a very hard climb, the first three miles is pretty much a continuous uphill climb," Saharczewski said. "Once at the top there's a pretty technical section that is very rocky and full of roots."

 

Saharczewski explained that it's a challenging race, but has seen participants from the youngest age of 6 years old to the oldest age of mid 80s.

 

Participants are provided with a picnic at the Greylock Glen finishing point with hot dogs, soda, and water. There are also awards given out to overall winners and then age group winners.

 

For this year’s race, there are 75 people pre-registered and Saharzewski said that number will double on the day of the race.

Registration begins at 8 a.m., two hours before the start which is scheduled for 10 a.m. It's $20 to participate in the long run and $15 for the short run.