After three successful years and nearly 50,000 miles covered, the FLRC Challenge is back for 2024 with new courses! Sign up today to join hundreds of other area runners in this huge community game. Will you claim your finisher medal by completing all ten courses between April 20 and September 1? Don’t miss this year’s swag, which will turn us all into purple path pounders. (And yes, if you have an FLRC Challenge lawn sign, it’s time to put it out.)
If you’re new to the FLRC Challenge, here’s how it works. Everyone who runs or walks all ten courses at least once in the next four months will win a new FLRC Challenge medal. This is a true accomplishment—only 57% of last year’s participants claimed their medals. Don’t be intimidated, though. The Challenge is mostly about personal grit, and there is no shame in hiking a course that’s longer or hillier than you want to tackle at a run. Anything that gets you running more, making friends, and exploring the area is a win.
The Challenge is for everyone. First, if you’re shy, you can hide your times on the leaderboard. (But no one judges, really!) Second, the FLRC Personal Challenge lets those for whom running all ten courses is infeasible work with us to define a custom version of the Challenge. It’s ideal for kids (a 7-year-old completed 7 courses last year), those whose mobility limitations preclude trails, or someone just starting to run who shouldn’t attempt a half marathon.
This year’s courses range from 1 mile to a half marathon on track, road, and trail. They’re spread out around our lovely area, from the fan-favorite Hammond Hill State Forest and the scenic rural roads of Brooktondale to the twisty trails of the Finger Lakes Trail at Lick Brook (and a lot in between!). You can keep notching Challenge efforts even while you’re traveling, either by finding a track to record a Sweet 1600 effort or by running a 5K race or parkrun and logging it as a Lakefront Loops 5K effort.
The FLRC Challenge leaderboard records your runs and lets you see what all your friends have done, with our traditional categories of fastest time, best average time, most miles, and age-group teams. We’ll see if the Fantastic 40s can claim a threepeat team title against the hard-charging Fabulous 50s and the 2021 champion Thundering 30s! And heaven help us if our local high school and college runners manage to organize a strong Terrific 20s & Teens team.
We discuss courses and runs in the FLRC Challenge forum, where you’ll also find regular recaps that highlight everyone’s achievements. “Community stars” are back this year, too. Run with others or post a report or picture from your run, and you’ll earn community stars, with prizes for the top ten socialistas.
Overall prize winners will receive gift certificates to the Finger Lakes Running Company, the amounts of which are proportional to the number of Challenge participants—44 people shared over $1,500 last year. Notch the most efforts on any one course, and you’ll also take that course’s sign home at the end!
For you ultramarathoners, don’t miss the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge. Run all ten courses in 24 hours, and you’ll win a customized FLRC Challenge course sign to commemorate your impressive achievement. Last year, only four people were able to complete this ultimate challenge—will you be one of them this year?
Opening day is next Saturday, so register soon to be ready on April 20 for the kickoff group run at 8:30 AM on one of our new courses to be announced later this week. We’ll be hosting group runs on FLRC Challenge courses throughout the spring and summer, and the award ceremony will take place at the FLRC annual picnic on September 19 (so pencil it onto your calendar now).
Challenge yourself to run with us!
