Le Grizz in the Media

Montana in the fall normally brings to mind elk herds moving across the flats, Tamarack slowly turning gold amongst the evergreens and new snowfall in the peaks of the Continental Divide. This October, this area of Montana broke most known records for monthly precipitation. For the runners of this year’s Le Grizz 50 Mile Ultramarathon, it felt like a good majority of that water fell on race day. This is a race steeped in local culture and tradition. For 33 years, the race was held near…

Most people will never run a marathon, let alone an ultramarathon — Charles Steele, assistant professor of economics, just ran his 63rd. Steele signed up to run his first Le Grizz 50-mile ultramarathon in 1983 because it “seemed like a good idea.” “I had never run a marathon before, so I was running a serious training program. I was in really good shape for a marathon, but they canceled it,” Steele said. “I had read somewhere in a book that anyone well-trained for a marathon…

Last month, Missoula-based runner Evie Tate lowered the women’s record at the 50-mile Le Grizz footrace for the first time in nearly four decades. But even as a new generation of athletes rewrites the record books at one of the oldest ultramarathons in the world, they’re preserving the race’s rich tradition while supporting the nonprofit Glacier Institute. Ever since Evie Tate won her debut Le Grizz 50-mile Ultramarathon in 2021, the Missoula-based physical therapist and endurance athlete has known she would need to summon a…

Drew Coco won his third straight title at the historic 50-mile race in Polebridge; event a success under new ownership. At approximately 10:12 a.m. on Saturday, Whitefish’s Drew Coco finished running a marathon. He paused for a moment on the side of the North Fork Road, pulled off his long sleeve shirt and grabbed a hydration vest laden with gel packets and bottles of electrolyte mix that was hanging on the mirror of a friend’s car. Clad now in a white singlet, black running shorts,…

Polebridge Mercantile donates Montana’s oldest 50-mile footrace to support the nonprofit education partner of Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest. On the second Saturday of October, when legendary race director Pat Caffrey pulls the trigger of his ceremonial single-barrel starting shotgun and dozens of shivering runners trot off the start line at the Polebridge Mercantile, where they’ll later return to inhale heaps of fried chicken and huckleberry bear claws, the Le Grizz 50-mile Ultramarathon will commence its 41st running under a newly minted…

A field of 85 runners completed the 33rd Le Grizz 50 Mile Ultramarathon footrace on Saturday, Oct. 11 along Hungry Horse Reservoir. Of the starters, 27 had never run 50 miles before and 26 of them finished. The overall winner was Benjamin Bucklin, of Spokane, Washington, who finished in 6 hours, 14 minutes, 47 seconds. Paolo Venturini, of Rovolon, Italy, took the Masters Division (Age 40-49) in 7:23:34. In the Seniors Division for runners over 50 years of age, Christopher Goodwin, of Spokane, Washington, was…

Born of a bar argument, the third-oldest 50-mile footrace in the world is set to celebrate 33 years of punishing its dedicated participants. In doing so, the Le Grizz Ultramarathon bids farewell to legendary race director Pat Caffrey. Every autumn on the second Saturday of October, dozens of runners lie half awake on the frozen ground near Spotted Bear Ranger Station, varying degrees of regret registering as fist-sized knots deep inside their intestines, bleary eyes twitching in a dazed state of panic-stricken anticipation, knowing that…