White Pine Thaw Marathon Relay

The White Pine Thaw Marathon Relay will be Sunday, March 22nd, starting in Comstock Park, Michigan, on the southern most section of the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail. It's held annually on the second Sunday of March. Competitors form teams of runners and on race day, will each take a leg of the relay, covering 13.1 miles, north to Russel Road, where the course returns back south to Comstock Park. There are easily accessed parking lots and bathrooms, roughly every four miles. The trail is routinely plowed by Friends of The White Pine Trail and covers very few low traffic crossroads. 

Water and bathrooms will be provided at exchange zones, at Rogue River Park in Belmont, the Rockford Shoe Depot in Rockford and Near the Russell Rd parking lot, North of Rockford.

The course is designed as a relay event, with 3 legs running North and 3 legs returning South. That said, if you are a seasoned marathoner and looking to knock off a March Marathon, here in the fine state of Michigan, we welcome you to register and run solo.

If you choose to run the full distance by yourself, please understand that this is an unsupported course and we do not provide transportation for any reason.

Naturally...we'd only offer the best in Grand Rapids. We're happy to have Stellafly with us on race day. Keep an eye out for the roaming photographer and then check out the FREE photos of you and your team. Don't be afraid to have fun and ham it up!

Tru By Hilton Comstock Park Grand Rapids is 1.3 miles from the event. Good choice as it's newly built and has a breakfast.

The event will only be cancelled due to lightening. We're kick butt runners that run in Michigan winters...

Teams will be responsible for their own transportation. Get crazy, decorate the vehicle, have FUN!

The first person to register is the Captain, who names the team and shares that name, for the remainder of the team to register themselves under. Each participant pays the amount shown for the event.

Each additional Team Member registers themselves and joins the team the Captain created.

Each Team is responsible for their logistics and determining which member will run how far.

There is no limit to how many members can be on one team. We know people like running together. You just need to cover ALL 26.2 miles of the designated course.

All 26.2 miles of the course must be covered. You can't all run together for a short stretch and back.

The course is on the White Pine Trail and crosses public roads. Most are very low traffic and some are higher. The course IS NOT CLOSED. You are responsible for your safety and to determine when it's safe to cross.

Segment 1 and 6, spanning from Comstock park and the Rogue River Park Trailhead, in Belmont: https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/5917322350/

Segment 2 and 5, spanning between the Rogue River Park Trail Head, in Belmont and the Rockford Shoe Depot: https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/5917326925/

Segment 3 and 4, spanning between the Rockford Shoe Depot and the Russell Rd Trail Head (Russel Rd / Summit): https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/5917340122/

The overall MapMyRun link near the bottom of this webpage.

For Drivers

Vitale's Restaurant - Comstock Park: 3868 West River Dr,, Comstock Park MI 49321

Rogue River Park - Belmont - 6240 Belmont Ave, Belmont MI 49306

Rockford Shoe Depot - Rockford - 235 N Main St, Rockford MI 49341

Russell Road Staging Area - Cedar Springs: 4155 Russell St NE, Cedar Springs MI 49319

Vitale's will open doors at 8:30am, where Team Captains will have a quick meeting. We'll then proceed to the starting area, where the run will start at 9:00am.

While there is a lot of parking around Vitale's, we do ask that you make a STONG effort to carpool, even if from the West River/131 Park and Ride. The Vitale's parking lot will be CLOSED for race participants, as they will still be open for normal business and pizza takeout. 

Packet Pickup will be held Saturday, March 21st, at Third Nature Brewing, from 1-4pm. Packet Pickup will be available on March 22nd, but we REALLY want you to pickup on Saturday if able. If needed, a representative on your team can grab your packet.

Third Nature Brewing is a great supporter of the running community. We highly suggest your team meeting up for lunch and a beer, and grabbing your packets. Give them some love, for being a sponsor.

Let's be honest...we do this for the swag! All participants will receive the following:

• Race Discounts to the Groundhog Day Marathon, Millennium Meadows Marathon and the Grand Rapids Marathon...any distances
• 1 Meal ticket and 1 Drink Ticket, redeemable immediately following the event, inside Vitale's
• Finisher Shirt
• Custom Finisher medal
• Entry to the raffle
• Free photos by StellaFly

We will add in more, as we continue to renew sponsors for 2025

Wait, there's swag AND raffles? YES! Thanks to awesome sponsors, there will be a ton of raffle items to give away to participants. The raffle will be done off site, before the event, and winners will be announced in the final email, leading up to March 22nd. People will be able to claim their winnings at Packet Pickup on March 21st at Third Nature, or following the event, inside of Vitale's. Items must be picked up in person, before we wrap up at Vitale's. Any remaining prizes will be used for upcoming events.

There will be bathrooms located at the Rogue River Park in Belmont, as well as the Rockford Shoe Depot, in Rockford. The last one will be near the turn around, by Russell Road. All three are suggested exchange zones.

If working together in a TEAM is a fun challenge and your team works well together, you DEFINITELY need to consider one of the distance options that we offer, when we put on The FRED Running Relays, in July.

The FRED, in it's longest distance, is a 200 Mile Relay, with a course that spans from Comstock Park, up and around Lake Cadillac and back. Runners get 36 hours to complete as a team. Next is the 100 Mile Relay, which starts that Friday night in Cadillac and follows the return path of the 200, back south. For those preferring a little less miles, we can surely still accommodate you, as we offer the 50 Mile Relay, which starts early Saturday morning in Big Rapids and your teams follows the same course, returning south. 

Follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/fredrunningrelays

Website: https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/Belmont/2018FredRunningrelays