Ragnar kicks off 11th year of running through Utah’s back country

It is the 11th year and biggest year for the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay. More than 11,000 runners will leave from Cache County Friday to run relay-style across the mountains of Utah to Park City, in what has become the largest overnight relay series in the nation.

Ragnar co-founder Tanner Bell says the race is for people who seek adventure, love fitness and the outdoors. He says many of the runners aren’t afraid to wear crazy clothes and cheer others along.

On KVNU’s Crosstalk program Wednesday, Bell said to make this year special one of the sponsors, CLIF Energy Bars is bringing a team of celebrity elite athletes from several disciplines.

“Scott Jurek is a world-renowned ultra runner,” Bell explained. “He runs 100 mile and 200 mile races. He will be running with the CLIF Bar team as well as the world class climber <span id=”RDS_Global”><span id=”MNGiSection”>Alex Honnold</span></span> and Timmy O’Neal, another climber.

“(Also) a local professional skier <span id=”RDS_Global”><span id=”MNGiSection”>Caroline Gleich</span></span>. It’s a really great line up of incredible athletes that are going to be running it.”

Bell says Ragnar is known for its involvement in charities and teams are free to raise money for what is important to them.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!