The Summit Stinger

At Copper Mountain

The World's Highest and Toughest Grass XC Course

We welcome you the World's Highest, Toughest and most beautiful High School XC Course -

the Summit Stinger at Copper Mountain.

We changed the name from the Copper Mountain Cup because:

Copper has a pro ski race called the Copper Mountain Cup and they wanted to avoid confusion.
To highlight that the race is hosted by Summit High School
To accentuate the challenge of the race, featuring the 22% grade climb of "The Stinger"!

We are moving to a Friday afternoon this year. Amongst the reasons:

Afternoon weather in early October usually is wonderful. Mornings (although we had great weather so far) can be a bit dicier - a chance of frost/snow.
With State being on 2 December, the 4 October date of the Stinger is ideal for a pre-State hard race/mini-altitude camp. We encourage teams to stay the night in Summit County and go for a long run at altitude Saturday, enjoying the fall colors - or possibly hike a 14er - as a team building experience.

A couple courses are a bit higher, but are flatter. Some courses might have more total vert, but are at lower altitude. Some might have rougher surfaces. (Actually, we view the soft golf course grass as one of the top features of our race.) We don't think any high school course rivals ours for the combination of high altitude, total vert and steepness (22%) of the climbs. So until someone wants to argue otherwise, we are claiming to be the WORLD'S TOUGHEST high school XC race!

Check the times run by some top ranked runners that are 3 to 5 minutes slower than their PRs. Nothing makes it clearer how hard the WORLD'S TOUGHEST is than that.

The WORLD'S TOUGHEST is the perfect race to develop toughness in your runners before their crucial Regional and State competitions. If they conquer this course with a positive growth mindset and don't fret about not setting PRs, they will be set up to race strong when it really counts.

Or maybe we should call it the WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL!! The photos below were taken a couple days before the 2022 race.

Please read below and the embedded document for race information and updates.

Although not anticipated, all information is subject to change.

Meet Director: Michael Hagen, Summit Cross Country coach, 719-360-1693, tiger.crosscountry@summitk12.org

Date: Friday, 4 October, 2024

Schedule (subject to change):

3:30 pm: Middle School Coach's Meeting at Start Line

3:45 pm: High School Coach's Meeting at Start Line

4:00 pm: Middle School Boys (race unlimited, score 4)

4:03 pm: Middle School Girls (race unlimited, score 4)

4:40 pm: Middle School Awards

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5:00 pm: High School Boys (race unlimited, score 5)

5:30 pm: High School Girls (race unlimited, score 5)

6:15 Awards: High School Awards

Meet Entries and Scoring:

High School - Run unlimited, Score 5. In the case of a tie, sixth place finishers will be used.

Middle School - Unlimited entries, Score 4. In the case of a tie, fifth place finishers will be used.

Team Registration: via MileSplit.

Entry Fee/Payment:

$200 entry fee for co-ed high school teams ($100 for girls only or $100 for boys only).

$100 Middle school entry fee.

$10 per individual for small schools/partial teams.

Payment must be received no later than Thursday, 3 October, 2024. If needed, invoices are on page four of the document below. Pop it out and print. Please make checks payable to Summit High School Cross Country, note Summit Stinger in memo line, and mail to:

Summit High School

Attn: Bob Bodar

P.O. Box 7

Frisco, CO 80443

Timing: All races and all runners will be professionally chip timed. Results will be uploaded to Milesplit. Live results can be seen here: tbd or scan the QR code below.

Awards: Middle School awards will be presented to the top seven individuals. High School awards presented to the top ten finishers in each varsity race.

Course Records:

Boys - Ryan Olree, Denver South, 2022, 18:37

Girls - Isabel Allori, Liberty Common, 2022, 20:19

Parking: Ample parking in the Copper Mountain Alpine Lot. The course start and restrooms (in the Transportation Center) are a short walk from parking.

Waiver: Copper Mountain is providing outstanding support, including a free pass to the summer adventure park for all racers! They do require a waiver for all racers - and coaches. Since nearly all racers will be under 18, they will need to be completed by a parent/guardian. Please send the below info to all your parents/guardians. It takes about two minutes to complete. Please confirm, whatever method works best for you, that a parent/guardian of all runners completes the waiver. Parents will receive an email thanking them for completing the waiver. You could ask that all parents forward that email to you to check completion.

https://waivers.edgeauditor.com/auto-setup/copper/3g1abc

1. Click the link, then click the image for “Copper Stinger Waiver 2024”.

2. Click the Get Started button.

3. Select “Individual” – even if multiple kids from one family are running.

4. On the “What is your date of birth?” section enter the date of birth of the ATHLETE - not the guardian filling out the paperwork.

5. Almost all racers are under 18, so there will be a “Guardian Required – A guardian is required to sign for any participants under 18” pop-up. Click “OKAY”.

6. Complete all “Guardian Information” and “Participant Information”.

7. Read through the waiver, initial at the bottom and click “Continue”.

8. Electronically sign for the participant and parent and click Finish.

I think the online version is easier, but if you prefer, you can print the waiver and have parents sign it: