The Snow Joke Half Marathon will take place on Feb. 24, starting at the Seeley Lake Elementary School. This photo was taken during last year's race, when Run Wild Missoula was helping the Missoulian put it on.
On the first day of February, the 2022 UltraRunner of the year was walking along Highway 83 in Seeley Lake.
Adam Peterman, who won the 100-miler Western States Endurance Run in California and the World Trail Championship in Thailand in 2022 and who is a member of Run Wild Missoula, had just finished test running the new course for the Snow Joke Half Marathon - a 13.1 mile race held on Feb. 24 in Seeley Lake.
Trisha Drobeck, executive director of Run Wild Missoula - a nonprofit devoted to supporting runners and walkers of all ages and abilities - doesn't think the Snow Joke route has ever changed since its inception. The only variance was when it was simply canceled in 2021 because of Covid-19 precautions.
The normal race circumnavigates Seeley Lake, starting off with five or six miles along the highway before getting to the lake, then ending at the elementary school.
But with Boy Scout Bridge out of commission due to structural damage, Run Wild Missoula had to make some changes. Now, much of the race traverses Double Arrow Ranch property, with a short out and back on Boy Scout Road by the lake, starting and ending at the elementary school.
"We're really lucky that the Double Arrow is allowing us, and even welcoming us, to their roads and sharing their beautiful view," Drobeck said.
Robert Shaffer, president of the Double Arrow Ranch Landowners Association, said he took the suggestion to the board and got a unanimous agreement to share with the nonprofit. There will be no cost to the association and all roads will remain open during the race, though caution for runners is encouraged.
Both Shaffer and Drobeck are hoping the race will bring a few more dollars into Seeley Lake during a less-than-snowy winter. Shaffer said the town's really hurting for lack of snowmobilers.
"Hopefully we can bring a little economic boost and some excitement to the area even if it's just a little blip in February," Drobeck said.
Another Snow Joke first is that this year is the first time Run Wild Missoula has full autonomy over the race, Drobeck said.
Last fall, the Missoulian - former operator of the Snow Joke - asked Drobeck if Run Wild Missoula wanted to take over the event. Before the Missoulian, the half marathon was owned by the Missoula Independent until the alt-weekly publication was purchased by Lee Enterprises, owner of the Missoulian. Before that, it was owned by an event company Drobeck couldn't quite remember the name of. And, before that, it was started by a local running group in Seeley Lake, the Cheetah Herders.
Pat Caffrey started the Snow Joke in 1980 - a year after the Cheetah Herders were organized. Caffrey said the course never changed while the Cheetah Herders were in charge. The origin of the half marathon, Caffrey said, began where any good ideas do - in a bar.
The first five founding members of the Cheetah Herders met playing volleyball at the Seeley Lake Elementary School and decided they should run during the day to stay in shape.
"We used to do it as a training run," Caffrey said. "We were doing foot races and relays and stuff like that and so we'd go and run around on the weekend."
One of those relays included a race across the state of Washington. Caffrey ran a race in South Africa as a Cheetah Herder representative.
The weekend training plan followed as such - the Cheetah Herders parked at the Filling Station, ran around Seeley Lake, came back, drank Foster's beer and watched football. Many of the Cheetah Herders have since scattered.
"We were in it for the frivolity, but we were in good shape," Caffrey said.
Drobeck said Run Wild Missoula was afraid the race might fizzle out if it wasn't taken over by a group passionate about running. "It took a lot of effort to keep it alive this year," she said, noting in particular, the closure of Boy Scout Bridge.
Drobeck said she hopes Run Wild Missoula can keep Snow Joke's legacy and herald some of the "old school" aspects - like the two dollars Caffrey said runners brought on the day of the race to register for the Cheetah Herder's Snow Joke.
"We'd love to bring some old school sentiments like that back to the race," Drobeck said.
This story was modified on Feb. 22 to correct the name of the race. It is the Snow Joke Half Marathon, not the Snow Bowl Half Marathon.
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