2026 Zumbro 50 mile 2nd place overall Cooper Mumford greeted warmly at the finish – Photo Credit Pat Lehnherr
A good bit over 20 years ago now Larry Pederson introduced our group of friends to the trails just down the road from his home in Zumbro Falls. Larry was involved with Rochester Track Club as the race director of the In Yan Teopa 10 Mile Trail Race at Frontenac State Park, was just about to take over as RD of the Superior Fall Trail Race, would go on to found UMTR, and was participating in trail ultras himself. Each spring a dozen or so of our friends would gather in Zumbro Bottoms for a minimally marked fun run, burgers and brats cooked over the fire, and the enjoyment of each others company. In 2009 Larry officially made it a race. Eleven 100 milers and nine 100K runners finished that inaugural year, running 20 mile loops starting and ending at the Central Assembly Area, home today of TCRC’s / Kurt Decker’s Aid Station 2. Fast forward to today and we have a little better marked fun run, fresh baked pizzas instead of burgers and brats, and most importantly continue to have the the privilege of each others company. Sure there are a lot more of us, but Zumbro all these years later is no more pretentious than Zumbro of yesteryear. Nothing makes us happier than sharing this special place with all of you, facilitating your Zumbro experiences and memories, just like Larry did for us.
This year we had 637 runners from 2 countries, 16 states, and 179 Minnesota cities registered for Zumbro. Besides some light rain throughout the day on Saturday, this was our third year in a row of near-perfect weather. Even with the 20+ inch snowfall on March 14 & 15 the trails got as dry as they get in the weeks leading into the race – so even with the rain, the trails got slick, but not particularly muddy. Both Friday and Saturday we saw temps in the mid-50’s with overnight lows in the 30’s. While some sunshine on Saturday would have been nice in order to encourage runners to stick around the finish a little longer, its hard to ask for much more, given what Zumbro has been known to dish up.
I have been thinking a lot about ‘third spaces’ lately and Zumbro this year really helped me to solidify some thoughts about trail and ultra races as important ‘third spaces’. If you are not familiar with the term, a ‘third space’ is a social environment separate from the two primary environments of home (‘first space’) and work/school (‘second space’). Coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg, these locations include but are not limited to church, community centers, civic organizations, parks, coffee shops, libraries, or pubs. If we are lucky, we each have our own; for me its AA, the races that we host, the ones that I run in myself, the others I volunteer at, the climbing gym, and maybe one or two others. What these third ‘spaces’ share in common is that they are neutral places that foster community. Experts believe that third spaces are vital for mental health, reducing feelings of isolation, and building local community bonds. They allow for organic networking and serendipitous interactions. Given the definition, I think it is clear that trail and ultra races are certainly ‘third spaces’.
Getting to write these race recaps after each race, I have the opportunity to simply share things that are top of mind for me after the event. Surely you have your own list of things from the weekend that left an impression on you – here’s mine. A couple of friends, an acquaintance, and another runner or two that were new to me hymned-and-hawed about signing up for Zumbro as their first 100. Of course those shorter distances were sitting right there for their choosing. A couple of them made all 6 loops, a couple didn’t. We all know that an April 100 miler in Minnesota is a tall order, it comes up quick on the backside of winter. Regardless of outcome I saw these folks stretch and grow and learn some things about themselves. The W’s and the L’s in ultrarunning are equal blessings my friends, this is something that years as a runner and director have taught me. Most 100 mile races have an element of attrition, but Zumbro 100 seemed to have extra this year for those at the front of the pack. Just about every loop over the first few, the frontrunner would bow out, succumbing to the self imposed pace they had chosen, with the next in line slotting in for their turn in first. In the end previous Zumbro 100 finisher Korey Konietzki took the win. At the finish his friends and family commented on how even his splits had been, so I looked them up, they were; 3:18:08, 3:32:56, 3:40:59, 3:55:51, 3:57:26, 3:42:03 for a finish time of 22:07:23. On Monday I did my normal ‘once over’ of the race course making sure we left no-trace and managed a 3:40 – I can’t comprehend doing 5 more of them at that pace or faster! With Susan not making it this year and Daryl volunteering, Andy Lohn got his 8th 100 mile finish pushing ever closer to those two who have 11 & 10 finishes respectively. Andy has been doing this each year of late after finishing the Arrowhead 135 in late Jan / early Feb. While I have seen it at our races before, I am always impressed when one of our competitors breastfeeds their baby throughout the entire race – most of us have a hard enough time taking care of ourselves during a 100 miler! Kudos to them! The start of the midnight 50 was special as the aforementioned ‘Larry’s’ nephew Scott, our friend, oft volunteer, and most finishing 50 miler with 9, joined to see off the start but unable to start himself this year, bound and determined to return and finish his 10th next year. We recognized Sarah Garceau’s turning 50 at the stroke of midnight just before turning the 50’s loose. Sarah experienced the Zumbro 2019 cancellation (sending the kindest note after), went on to run her first trail race over 10 miles with us at the 17 in 2023, graduated to the 34 in 2025, and this year toed the line for the 50 on her 50th birthday. We sure hope that she choses to run her first 100 with us next year, or in the years to come. At the start of the 34 mile race this year about five of the race favorites were lined up by each other, shoulder to shoulder. What jumped out at me was that each of these folks not only regularly race with us, but also volunteer with us. Jake Rossman (1st place) volunteered at Aid Station 2 Central in 2025 on Friday and this year helped track runners with our timers all day Friday. Andrew Warg (2nd place) routinely helps us cook pizzas at races, loads trucks before races, and helps clean up at our house after races. Andy Komp (4th place) along with his wife Audrey (who ran the 17) spent all day Friday working Aid Station 2 before running on Saturday. Scrolling down the results of the 34 mile, or any of the race distances, I see dozens upon dozens of people who do the same – wow, what a community. The 17 mile race, as ever, was where a lot of special magic took place. The field once again filled both with the runners with some of the best leg speed, along with runners who just recently cut their teeth on the trails with us at our much shorter Endless Summer Trail Run Series races, stepping up to take on a huge challenge. There was a small contingent of special folks that joined sans deep or longstanding ties to trail and ultra racing, but instead with family ties to the area, simply wanting to take on the challenge on land that once belonged to their relatives. Notable, our pal Steve finished the 17 for his 10th time this year, joining Rose and Jon in the ‘over 10 club’. I’ll leave it to you to scour all the results and to see who got the wins in each distance / division – there were some really great performances all around. Once again, Zumbro brought together an extraordinary and diverse group of people to do some extraordinary things.
As always, there are way too many stories to tell, so please share the many I missed among yourselves and celebrate together, at the next race, in our online community, or wherever and with whomever you congregate to run. Congratulations to those that ran fast, got the win or a CR, ran slow or hiked, ran all your loops or did a couple less than planned – Zumbro provides blessings for all.
Finally, again this year I will leave you with this song, written by Willie Dixon and recorded in 1962 by one of my all time favorite artists, Howlin Wolf. We look forward to seeing you next time ‘Down In the Bottom’.
Well now, baby meet me in the bottom, bring me my running shoes
Well now, baby meet me in the bottom, bring me my running shoes
Well, I’ll come out the window, I won’t have time to lose.
When you see me streaking by, please don’t be late
When you see me streaking by, please don’t be late
Well, when you see me moving, though my life is at stake
Well, I hope you’ll see me, when I come streaking by
Well, I hope you’ll see me, when I come streaking by
She got a bad old man, you know I’m too young to die
I got to leave here. Get caught in there
100 Miler Johnny Moua ‘down in the bottom’ – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
17 milers Lily Yaun and Kailey Immel on Railroad Bed Trail nearing the finish line – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
Volunteers:
This year 135+ volunteers covered about 250 volunteer shifts / positions in order to make Zumbro possible. On Friday there was nearly a 1:1 ratio of volunteers to runners. On a loop course, each aid station is open for a long long time – a lot of folks get little sleep in order to support the runners and the race. I strongly encourage you to take the time to read the volunteer recap / thank you HERE https://www.zumbroendurancerun.com/2026-volunteer-thank-you/ – if you want to see what it takes to staff Zumbro and all the time that your fellow runners/volunteers give (its impressive) see THIS https://www.zumbroendurancerun.com/volunteer-assignments/ A large percentage of the trail running community routinely volunteers. If you have not yet, give yourself the gift of doing as much… with RSR or at another race, either would be great.
Kind Words:
After each race we receive dozens of kind emails, I make sure to pass some of these on to our volunteers who are integral to the success of each race.
I just wanted to give my absolute gratitude to those that discovered this magical place and then decided to share it with all of us, as well as those who continue to do so year after year. I cannot say enough thanks to all of the volunteers, who not only make it possible for all of us to finish these distances, but make it enjoyable and special. They are absolutely amazing people (I saw 2025 Gnarly Bandit Jim every single time I went through aid station 2 / Central!). Thanks again for allowing me to get my ‘spoonful to satisfy my soul’ – Peter
Taylor Wilde up at the Phone Booth – Photo Credit Jamison Swift
Photos:
All of our volunteer photographers have submitted their photos from the race. For those of you that are unfamiliar with how much work it is to post-process photos (especially the number that they shoot) that is an incredible turnaround. Please keep in mind that some of our photographers sell their photos, some make low res images available for free and sell the high res versions, some will accept tips and some give away the high res images for free. Please look for notes and prompts from each photographer. All of them put a ton of time into it (both during and after the race) and have a pile of expensive gear that makes this possible. As always it is good form to credit (by name) and thank photographers for the photos you are sharing on your social media or elsewhere. If you want to use photos for commercial purposes please contact the photographers directly or contact me if you are unable to find their contact information. If you are a photographer or aspiring photographer and you would like to come shoot some time, please contact us, we would love to have you. https://www.zumbroendurancerun.com/photos/
2026 Zumbro 100 Mile winner Anna Twinem – Photo Credit Scott Rokis
Results and Stats:
Race results and loop times/splits are available via THIS link https://www.athlinks.com/azp/ctlive/event/91419 Once we are confident that everyone has had a chance to review the race results and no revisions are needed, we will upload results to our proprietary results pages on the Zumbro website, to UltraSignup, and to UTMB so qualifying points can be awarded. If your result is missing, or you see anything off with the results, please let us know right away – we will have more information about your time/result in one of the backup timing systems that we run.
| 2026 | Registered | Started | Start % | DNS | DNS % | DNFd | DNF % | Finished | Finsh % |
| 100M | 75 | 72 | 96% | 3 | 4% | 30 | 42% | 42 | 58% |
| 50M | 111 | 89 | 80% | 22 | 20% | 22 | 25% | 67 | 75% |
| 34M | 109 | 93 | 85% | 16 | 15% | 10 | 11% | 83 | 89% |
| 17M | 349 | 307 | 88% | 42 | 12% | 0 | 0% | 307 | 100% |
| Total | 644 | 561 | 87% | 83 | 13% | 62 | 11% | 499 | 89% |
Sweatshirts, T-Shirts, Hats and More for Sale:
Zumbro is tough in that there is no cell / internet at the start / finish area so we cannot take credit and debit cards for merchandise. Many of you inquire where you can purchase something after the race, you can do that on our online store HERE https://www.rocksteadyrunning.com/shop/ – you can use the “filters” on the side of the page to sort and search for specific items.
Zumbro / RSR goodies – Photo Credit Scott Rokis
Zumbro Hoodies:
We sold out of the Zumbro Skeleton Hoodies much more quickly than we expected at the race. Quite a few people expressed interest in getting one if we were to make more. If you are interested in one, add your name to the list HERE https://forms.gle/txeJrwLeMj3f37fj9 and once we get them made (it will probably take three to four weeks) we will shoot you an email and provide you with a link to purchase yours and we will get it mailed out!
Rocksteady Community:
The Rocksteady Running Community is an online forum designed for community members to have civil conversations about all things pertaining to Rocksteady Running events (Zumbro, Superior Spring, Afton, Superior Fall, ESTRS), trail / ultrarunning in general, and more. This online forum has been built on our own platform and is not tied to any social media platform. It is free from advertising, invasive algorithms, tracking, etc. We intend for this to be a safe place to connect. Feel free to discuss registering, training for and racing our events. Discussion about the race courses, terrain, training, gear, challenges, triumphs and more are welcomed and encouraged. If you would like to create an account and participate you can do so HERE https://community.rocksteadyrunning.com/login For safety and transparency we ask that you provide both your first and last name when creating an account.
Sponsors & Partners:
Please be sure to check out our awesome sponsors and partners. Most of our sponsors had folks volunteering or running on race weekend.
Twin Cities Running Company
ACG
Vanicream
Steve Smillie Edina Realty
Best Day Brewing
Northwoods Running
State Farm Insurance Geri Martin
Trail Transformation
Performance Running Gym
Consilience Coaching
Climb Above Endurance Coaching
Mile in My Shoes
St. Croix Law
Critical Connections Ecological Services
Next Year:
The Zumbro Endurance Run is always held the weekend before the commencement of Spring Turkey Hunting. By Minnesota Rule “The spring turkey season opens the Wednesday nearest April 15”. The 2027 event (should be) held on Friday April 9 and Saturday April 10 (DNR will give us final confirmation this Fall). Registration will open on January 1 2027. Please keep in mind that Zumbro will Zumbro, and if history is a guide it could certainly get cancelled again some day. I have covered in depth many times in the past why early April is the only time it works to hold the race, if you want to learn more check THIS out https://www.zumbroendurancerun.com/zumbro-why-early-april/
In Closing:
I have said a lot here, so simply, thank you. Thank you for being awesome individuals and an awesome community. Thank you for putting your trust in Cheri and I, our core team of friends and family, and our volunteers. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve. As always, if you need anything, please reach out. John Storkamp – Race Director.
100 Mile runner at the start mentally preparing for whats to come – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
100 Mile runner Michael Miller coming down Ant Hill – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
100 Mile winner Anna Hottinger on Scenic Overlook Trail on Friday – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
Spring Beauties and other spring ephemerals starting to poke out – Photo Credit Scott Rokis
Five time 100 miler John Hagen finisher getting a little encouragement from his pal Alex Bartley – Photo Credit Scott Doughty
Three time Zumbro 100 mile finisher Jeremy Eckert knocking out another lap – Photo Credit Jason Linn
Oft volunteer, four time Zumbro 100 finisher, and 2026 50 Mile runner Eric Nelson keeping warm before the start of the 50 – Photo Credit Jamison Swift
The Zumbro Midnight 50 mile race start – Photo Credit Jamison Swift
Volunteers Scott, Robbie and Captain America helping with parking on Saturday morning – Photo Credit Scott Rokis
Zumbro 34 mile race start – Photo Credit Scott Rokis
Race Director John Storkamp starting the 17 Mile race – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
Makeshift trekking poles helping helping Dan Hershberger get the job done – Photo Credit Anna Woletz
On and off rain showers on Saturday provided a little extra challenge for runners – Photo Credit Brandon A. Güell
50 Mile runner Abdi Warsame keeping warm on a cool rainy Saturday – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
17 Miler Ann Wills crossing the Zumbro River on the Red Iron Bridge – Photo Credit Jamison Swift
Celebrating all the finishes all day long on Saturday – Photo Credit Cary Johnson
2026 Zumbro 34 Mile first place Jake Rossman (right) and second place Andrew Warg (left) at the finish – Photo Credit Pat Lehnherr
Pride and satisfaction at the finish of the Zumbro 100 – Photo Credit Pat Lehnherr
Proud of mom at the finish of the Zumbro Endurance Run – Photo Credit Pat Lehnherr