Volunteers Prepare Barr Trail For Annual Marathon

ascent and marathon is two weekends away… and it’s already sold out .. with 26-hundred people registered. that means more wear and tear on the popular barr trail… which is part of the race route. but a group of volunteers with “friends of the peak” is working to repair some of the damage on a mile-and-a-half stretch above barr camp. krdo newschannel 13’s scott harrison is live at the incline.. to show us what’s being done. peter maksimow of manitou springs is traing for the upcoming pikes peak ascent and marathon. he’s seeing trail damage he hasn’t seen before. “lots of boulders on the trail–which is scary because some of them are very large and can be unstable. so it is a concern. especially with people running under them, and next to them.” other damage includes switchbacks … smaller trails made by people who go off the main track. ruts on the path … and erosion on the sides. that’s where volunteers with “friends of the peak” come in. “we could work endlessly on this trail and never consider it done. but we at least try to get most of the ruts filled in, the scrub oak trimmed back, and the roots that are showing above the ground, cut off. you’d think that with all the rain we’ve had, barr trail would be in pretty bad shape–at least as bad as some of the other trails we’ve seen. but race organizers and volunteers say that’s not quite the case–that despite all the rain, the trail is holding up pretty well.” the weeds aren’t too thi and numerous. so volunteers can concentrate on the worst damage now… and runners won’t need to worry about it later. to minimize impacts to barr trail, organizers have asked authorities to close the incline during race time on both days. live at the manitou incline–scott harrison, krdo newschannel 13. and runners won’t need to worry about it late to minimize impacts to barr trail, organizers have asked authorities to close the incline during race time on both days. live at the manitou incline–scott harrison,