The 2024 Traverse City Trails Festival presented by Stone Hound Brewing was one for the record books! We are so thankful to the nearly 400 riders who made their way from across the state to our neck of the woods for TCTF. It’s impossible to distill all the stories and results of the day into a recap - but we’re going to try.
The Set-up
Scheduling events for late September in Northern Michigan is a coin toss. This time of year, it could be 40 degrees and raining or 70 degrees and sunny, and we lucked out yet again. Start time conditions were ideal, with a comfortable 50 degrees and a mid-morning sun gradually warming up racers as the day wore on.
The course, too, was in ideal shape. Thanks to our board and dozens of volunteers, we raked several sections of the singletrack and put up a ton of trail markers to make sure no one ended up in South Boardman or Kalkaska.
With Iceman in mind, and thanks to rave reviews of a similar course last year, we had our biggest TCTF turnout yet at 375 riders! That’s not just important for the event as a fundraiser; it’s crucial to reflect the quality of the event and the trail experience in Vasaland.
The Hitters
This year’s race was stacked from the Elite race on down. Rider for rider, the Men’s Elite race was the deepest it’s ever been, and the same could be said for the Men’s Expert and Sport fields, too.
But there’s no doubt that the Women’s Elite/Expert race was the most exciting. We’ve really wanted to see the women’s field grow, which often starts at the top. In 2024, women accounted for 24% of total participants, a slight increase from last year. The Elite field was also one of the best we’ve seen, featuring a mix of Michigan legends like Kaitlyn Vanias and Heather Compton and the next generation of riders like Janelle Cole and Emma Schwab.
The Start
Speaking with riders after the race, almost all of them noted just how fast the start was this year. Across categories, the opening 15 minutes were wide open, barrelling down Yetterstraat and linking up with the Vasa Singletrack. One of the few issues last year was a lack of room to really thin things out, and we think this year’s setup solved that problem.
The Results
On the women’s side, two names were always going to end up near the top of the list. Riding on home turf, Emma Schwab grabbed the Singletrack Queen crown and anointed herself sovereign, but she didn’t have it all her own way. She was bar-to-bar with one of the smartest, smoothest riders on the scene, Kaitlyn Vanias. The pair finished at the same time, thrilling the gathering crowd at Timber Ridge just a few minutes clear of Janelle Cole in third. Past winner, Heather Compton was fourth, with Gwen Urbain battling/giggling with her dad the last four miles and sliding home with a top five. Kudos to Abby Sigal, supermom Chelsey Scott, and the Librarian, Michele Howard, for toeing the line!
Things weren't quite so close on the men’s side this year. Jordan Wakeley had a clutch of riders on his wheel several miles into the race, but he used the two-track hill to drop the hammer and turn out the lights. After the front group broke, it was every man for himself across Williamsburg and back to Timber, with Ron Caitlin riding brilliantly to keep the gap to Wakely around a minute all the way to the line.
Alex Primeau put in a stellar ride for third. After getting stuck near the back, Alex went down hard crossing the sandy two-track, entering the tighter sections behind at least 15 riders with the front of the race going away. He picked off rider after rider, eventually finding himself on the podium in one of the strongest fields we’ve seen. Ed Rogers and Nate DeGraaf rounded out the top five, and both snuck in under the 2-hour mark - that’s darn impressive.
To recount all the waves and results would take up the rest of the Internet, but you can check out the full list here.
The Thank Yous
We are so thankful to have the support of bike-minded local businesses and organizations, and we hope you take the time to check them out. Thank them when you can. Stone Hound Brewing has been a huge part of this event’s success and has contributed in countless ways to the mountain bike community. They’re not alone; many of our sponsors support other non-profits, including our balance bike partners, Norte, TART, and the Cherry Capital Cycling Club.
We’re planning on doing this shin-dig again, folks. (Tentatively) circle September 27, 2024, for next year’s Traverse City Trails Festival!