And the Arizona Trail Race: 2022 Edition is off and riding! This was the first year that both 300-mile and 800-mile racers took off from the border, and it was quite a scene at the border fence with 46-ish racers starting, including eight women. Skies are clear, wind is non-existent, and as expected, the trail is impressively overgrown.
We’ve got a small pile of photos of the women both at the start and at Parker Canyon Lake, the old 300 start. Ana Jager, racing the 800, led out the field with Katie Scott, who started a handful of minutes behind the field, trailing her closely. Meg Knobel came through next, followed by Alexandera Houchin. Isabelle Fisk was all smiles, and Carrie Hammond rolled through with Shelly Peppe-Nani. Kat Roch rounded out the field, noting that southern Arizona was quite a bit warmer than Alaska.
If you’re enjoying our coverage of the AZTR so far, please consider sending a donation to the Townie via the link at the top of our homepage. The support of this community means everything to us, and we’re doing our very best to showcase all that is wonderful about the women in our sport.
And now, photos from the morning from Eszter.
Thanks for reading! We’ll be bringing you more photos as the race goes on. For now, we’re going to let the racers do their thing for the rest of the day, and we’re going to go riding!
One response to “Arizona Trail Race 2022 Start”
Such a cool and wholesome vibe down at the start, per the usual from the bikepacking community. It was great seeing the friendly faces behind the “Townie” – two of which I met for the first time and it was a pleasure to do so.
So rad to see the women lining up and getting out there with intention and purpose; no doubt that just getting yourself and your gear to the start is no small feat. Following through and riding into the rugged conditions with a mix of positivity and grit on their faces should inspire everyone out there.