Race Around Birds

The Birds of Vermont Museum is hosting a month-long “virtual” trail race on our trail system here at the Museum on Sherman Hollow Road in Huntington. Run on your own schedule! The race begins October 5 and ends November 1, 2020.

How It Works

You may run or walk the course. This is a “virtual” race where you will keep track of your own start and finish times. You may run (or walk) the course multiple times on different days, in order to improve your times, and you may enter both the short and long race. You may run in groups of up to three or four if you distance yourselves (as runners normally do).

Runners and walkers may come to the Museum at any time from daylight to dusk. No dogs and no nights.

Registration forms will be in a marked box to the left of the Museum’s front door. Fill out a form for each time you race. Then, when you’re ready, mark your starting time, leave your form, take a map and GO!

There is no charge for this, but donations are much appreciated! There are boxes for this on kiosks near trailheads or click on “Donate” here:

Course Description

This is a trail race with some steep uphill climbs. Some segments are more like single-track mountain trails. This is a HARD course.

There are two options, short and long, using the same course (trails): a one-lap 3.6-mile race, and a two-lap 7.2-mile race. (Distances are approximate.)

The course is well-marked and you will return to the Museum in the middle of each lap. There are no supplies and no first aid stations on the course. Bathrooms and water are available only if the Museum is open (Wednesdays through Sundays, 10am – 4pm).

The course is essentially a loop on each side of the road. Think of it as a figure 8 (although the loop on the north side of the creek is more convoluted than a simple loop).

If you are doing the short race, you will run the course once (labelled in green on the map). For the longer race, you cover the course twice, but on the second pass you run the opposite direction (labelled in purple on the map).

At the end, record your time and leave your form in the box for finishers.

Results will be announced the week of November 2.

If you share photos or comments online, we encourage you to use these hashtags:
#RaceAroundBirds #RaceAroundBirds2020 #birdsofvermontmuseum #runningisforthebirds #trailrace #virtualrace #huntingtonvt #trailrunning #trailrunner

Send questions to trailrunning@birdsofvermont.org!

Download the Trails Map PDF: https://birdsofvermont.org/docs/trail-map-for-race-web.pdf

Or the whole packet (trail map, course notes, entry form, waiver): http://birdsofvermont.org/docs/Race%20Around%20Birds-course-info-entry-form.pdf

This page may get updated with more images, forms, maps, and more — check back!