Designed to challenge even the strongest and hardiest of outdoor-loving souls, the Frozen Snot event is purposely scheduled each year to take place during the coldest stretch of PA winter weather, featuring terrain and climbs on par with the toughest trail races in the country.

The difficulty of the Snot course combined with typical frigid February weather add up to an event that many runners scramble to register for year after year, and few ever forget.

But this year’s subzero forecast posed some entirely new challenges for everyone involved in the race.

Frozen Snot Race Director, Luke Ebeling, along with his race team, dove into problem-solving mode late in the week as the Saturday morning start time rapidly approached.

PHOTO BY EMILY SHAFFER Pictured is Josh Ely, 41, of Jersey Shore, winner of the 8.5-mile course in Saturday’s Frozen Snot trail race with a time of one hour and 44 minutes.

“This is my tenth year doing this and we’ve had some really rough weather years, but this is the first time we made the tough decision to adjust the course and cut-off times. Ten degrees is perfect ‘Snot’ weather, but when you add 25 mile-per-hour winds, that equates to a negative 20 degrees,” Ebeling said.

Safety was of the utmost importance for Ebeling, for both the racers and volunteers who help keep the event running smoothly each year.

“Our main concerns are certainly for the runners, but our volunteers — who are the lifeblood of the Snot — are out there on the course as well, some for eight or nine hours at a time,” he said. “We didn’t want to cancel the race, but we also couldn’t keep the course as planned and make it safe for all.”

Thursday night, after forecasters issued the Cold Weather Warning for the upcoming weekend, Ebeling said Frozen Snot organizers began to “pound out” a plan for modifying both the short and long distance courses.

In order to maximize timely accessibility to any potential on-course issues, and keep runners more centralized on one area of the mountain, both courses were adjusted, and the longer 25K distance was removed (for this year only).

PHOTO BY EMILY SHAFFER Frozen Snot volunteers cook and serve up bacon and other snacks to hungry runners at the on-course Bacon Aid Station — a favorite refueling stop for participants along the way.

“We had to de-flag sections of the course, re-flag new sections, adjust course markers, and, of course, follow up with volunteers on new and revised assignments. It was still a pretty darned difficult course, but the adjustments limited wind exposure and helped people move through the terrain faster,” Ebeling explained.

The modified short course lost a bit of elevation at a total of 2,700 feet of gain, but the overall distance remained the same at 8.5 miles. Cut-off times (areas of the course participants must reach in a specific time-frame in order to be permitted to continue the race) were adjusted to reduce exposure time for both participants and volunteers. Additionally, the start-time for Saturday’s race was pushed back from 7:30 to 9 a.m.

Ebeling reported the adjustments were instrumental in the success of the event during unprecedented conditions.

“Ultimately, we were able to keep the course in the spirit of the Frozen Snot. At around 12 miles, the adjusted long course had 3,200 to 3,500-feet of elevation gain. And with the cold, the wind chill and the snow, it was still an exhausting, brutal course. I was really pleased to find out every participant made it through the first cut-off in time,” he said.

Not just a challenge, the extreme weather conditions also provided a welcome opportunity for fellow local race teams to offer their assistance and resources.

PHOTOS BY JULIE BRENNAN Here are a few images of racers after they crossed the finish line and worked on getting warmed, and icicles melted from their faces!

Those additional resources enabled the Snot race time to add warming stations at several key locations along the course.

Ebeling extended his gratitude, commenting, “I’d like to offer a big thanks to the Eastern States Trail Endurance Alliance, who loaned us their medical tents for our use as warming stations, as well as propane tanks and heaters. Race directors from other events reached out to see how they could help — this is such a great community and their support was truly appreciated.”

First place finisher on the short course, Josh Ely, 41, of Jersey Shore, said this was his first Frozen Snot, although he runs in the Zindel Park area a lot and has competed in the Boulder Beast trail race.

Ely said he had a great time on the course, with the strong winds pushing him up the trail but then holding him back on the downhills.

Austin Hess, 39, of Morgantown, took 2nd place on the short course and reported the event to be great. Hess has run the Frozen Snot long course for the past three years, but this was his first run of the short course.

PHOTOS BY JULIE BRENNAN Here are a few images of racers after they crossed the finish line and worked on getting warmed, and icicles melted from their faces!

Greg Lange, 65, of Cogan Station, (originally from Lock Haven) finished 3rd overall in the short course.

“The home stretch was tough, with the wind in my face. The aid station volunteers deserve a lot of credit for their time and efforts out there!” Lange commented.

First female finisher in the short course was Kelly O’Connor, of Conestoga, Pa. In her third time running the Frozen Snot, she claimed this year’s event as her “birthday present.” O’Connor’s birthday was Saturday — she turned 42.

First-time Snotter, Koltin Hammer, 30, from Erie, won 1st place in the long course and called the event “amazing”, reporting “the flats were the hardest, but the descents and climbs were fun.”

Levi Rupp, 38, from Philadelphia, took 2nd place on the long course. Another first-timer, Rupp said the race was “a blast… with phenomenal volunteers and great enthusiasm.”

PHOTOS BY JULIE BRENNAN Here are a few images of racers after they crossed the finish line and worked on getting warmed, and icicles melted from their faces!

Alandra Greenlee, 37, of Hohokus, N.J., was yet another top finisher competing in the event for the first time. After her finish, Greenlee reported, “I loved it! I loved being out in the cold. I really want to do the actual long course. Next time!”

She was 7th overall and the first female to finish the long distance.

Erica LuBera, 35, from Bangor, Pa., was 10th overall and second female to finish the long course.

She said, “I’ve registered for the Frozen Snot since 2018, but didn’t race twice due to injuries, so this is my seventh time to compete, and it was the most difficult. It was cold, but still really nice to get into the iconic climbs. A high point for me was getting to the Bacon Station (one of the race aide stations infamous for serving up bacon to bolster the participants for the remainder of the race) and being heckled by (volunteer) Mike Haffley!”

While the last-minute course adjustments were a challenge for the Snot team, participants were thrilled with the efforts made that allowed the race to go on.

Paul Noll, Trail Coordinator on the Frozen Snot race team reflected, “In over 12 years in the trail community, I’ve never experienced so much gratitude from participants. Runners were so thankful for what we turned around in a short period of time. People were pleased with what we did at the end of the day, and were so happy to be out there competing at all.”

On a day where many people hunkered down indoors, the Frozen Snot persisted in giving trail runners the chance to test their mettle in truly hardcore conditions.

“The ‘real feel’ temp was minus 14 degrees when the race started, with minus 22 projected and wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour, so it would have been easy to cancel,” said Ebeling. “But we had a lot of good feedback — people were thankful we kept it going and they appreciated that we wanted to make the race as safe as possible for everyone.”

Official race results are available at falconracetiming.com. For more info on The Frozen Snot, visit thefrozensnot.com.

— — — —

Tania Jacobsen and Julie Brennan contributed to this report.

PHOTOS BY JULIE BRENNAN Here are a few images of racers after they crossed the finish line and worked on getting warmed, and icicles melted from their faces!

PHOTOS BY JULIE BRENNAN Here are a few images of racers after they crossed the finish line and worked on getting warmed, and icicles melted from their faces!

PHOTO JULIE BRENNAN Frozen Snot Race Director Luke Ebeling, kneeling center, and several of the top runners are all smiles after completing what’s normally a grueling trail race in even more extraordinary weather conditions Saturday. From left are Koltin Hammer, long course first-place finisher; Josh Ely, first place in the short course; Kelly O’Connor, first female finisher and eighth overall in the short course; Dan Kossack, short course eleventh-place finisher; Jim Akeley, third-place finisher in the long course; and Levi Rupp, long course second-place finisher.

PHOTO BY EMILY SHAFFER Frozen Snot volunteer Leslie Schwartz welcomed runners to the Bacon Aid Station in full costume on Saturday. Runners credited the volunteers for all of their time and effort given in the cold and snow.

PHOTO BY EMILY SHAFFER Frozen Snot participant, John Shaffer, of Jersey Shore, ran the event on Saturday and also volunteered his time in clearing and flagging the race course in the weeks leading up to the event.

PHOTO BY EMILY SHAFFER Zachary Zimmerman, of Lock Haven, takes on the Snot terrain Saturday. Zimmerman also volunteered in clearing and prepping the trails leading up to the event.

PHOTO BY JULIE BRENNAN Kelly O’Conner, left, of Conestoga celebrated her forty-second birthday as the top female finisher in the 8.5-mile Frozen Snot course. She was eighth overall with a time of two hours, 12 minutes. She’s congratulated by race organizer Jane Kone.

PHOTO BY JULIE BRENNAN Josh Ely, 41, of Jersey Shore, center, won the 8.5-mile course in Saturday’s Frozen Snot trail race, turning in a time of one hour and 44 minutes. Second place went to 39-year-old Austin Hess of Morgantown, with a time of 1:48, followed by 65-year-old Greg Lange of Cogan Station, whose time was one hour, 56 minutes.

PHOTO BY JULIE BRENNAN Alandra Greenlee, left, of Hohokus, New Jersey, was the top female finisher - and seventh place overall - in the long course Saturday at the Frozen Snot trail race. The second female finisher was Erica Lubera of Bangor, Pa., who was tenth overall.

PHOTO BY JULIE BRENNAN Frozen Snot Race Director Luke Ebeling, right, congratulates Koltin Hammer of Erie, Pa., who finished first in the 13.5-mile long course at Saturday’s Frozen Snot trail race. Male and female top finishers in both the long and short courses received a commemorative stone mug and a specially-labeled bottle of wine from Oregon Hill Winery.