Spring Fever 2023

With Covid in the review mirror we are  honored to have brought back this longtime staple race  of ITC.  As times change and new challenges present themselves, we at ITC had to evolve also to make Spring Fever happen.

It is no secret that non profit groups struggle to get volunteers in todays environment.  ITC falls into this category.   With limited resources a small group pulled together in  November 2022 and set forth on bringing the Spring Fever race back to life.

The challenges:

For over 20 years the Spring Fever race resided in Altoona, WI. For those who live in the area know that there have been many changes to this community.   This posed a few challenges but also new opportunities,  With all  these changes Altoona developed a wonderful trail system.  After spending some time running the new trails we decide on a route that started at Hobbs and took advantage of the beautiful trail that ran along the Eau Claire river.  

The next challenge was all the paperwork  that was needed  for permitting the event. We worked with the city of Altoona  to make this happen.  They were very helpful and instrumental to make our event happen safely.  We thank you for our support of the event!  

The last challenge, volunteers for the race.  We were able to secure volunteers for the race from the Mondovi tack and cross-country team and some longtime ITC members.  All the pieces came together for race day.   

The race :

The weather was cool and cloudy for the race and better than the forecast that predicted rain.   People started showing up for registration and packet pick up. The race was close to starting and we could feel the stress as we had a new course and a lot of unknowns as it was a new course.

We called the runners to the starting line at 8:57.  Once the runners massed together we gave a some last-minute instructions  about the route and let the runners know the first half was all down hill for the first 3 miles, down to the river and the second half there were some hills, so run accordingly. Then at exactly 9:00 we gave  the start!

The lead biker was off and the runners hooked onto his tire and the conga line was off and running. As each second ticked off we were wondering what was going in the runners space.   Would they like the course , is the course marked well enough, is anybody going to get lost, were our efforts worth while.  

As we stood there with these thoughts racing through our mind we saw the lead biker and our first runner approaching .   We were now anticipating the first feed back of the race.  We stood by the clock at the finish line and then he was in.  It was Austin John a young man that never ran any of the Altoona trails before.  We walked directly to him to get his feedback.  He liked the route and said he had no issues and would not change anything.  It was a little bit of relief but he had the lead biker to follow so we still had some concerns.  As the runners continued roll in we felt more and more relief as there were very few issued on the course.

After the race we presented awards to the runners and chatted with the finishers for feed back for the 2024 race which was appreciated.

In conclusion ITC was pleased to bring this race to you and thanks you for running/walking.  We strive to put on events to help people get out the door and train for something  that helps your health!

Thank you for supporting ITC.  Your support helps  us keep putting on these events.

Here's to good running and good heath!