For most of its existence, the Whitefish Trail Blazer has been a race without a home of its own. The event that serves as the public face of Whitefish Legacy Partners' conservation work has spent years borrowing other people's property to stage its Sunday races — first at Stillwater Lodge, later at the Whitefish Bike Retreat, both times under commercial arrangements that put the finish line on land the nonprofit didn't own. This year, when runners cross the line on Oct. 4, they'll be standing on ground the organization bought outright.
The 2026 edition, set for Oct. 3-4, marks the first time the Trail Blazer's Sunday races will be staged at the new Whitefish Legacy Center, the 35-acre property at Beaver Lakes that Whitefish Legacy Partners (WLP) purchased in December. The acquisition, which WLP leadership described at the time as a "strategic purchase," staved off plans for a high-density development of more than 90 units on a parcel that sits directly adjacent to the trail system.
"We've been telling the public about how great the Legacy Center is, and telling families and kids about it, but we have yet to have an event with 400 people in it," said Jedd Sankar-Gorton, program director at WLP and an organizer of the race. "We really want people to come out here and understand what this space is."
The shift is more than symbolic. For years, registration money flowed to a host venue. Now it flows directly into developing the property and the public trail system. "Your money goes straight back into this thing," Sankar-Gorton said. The acquisition has also given organizers room to rethink the shape of race day itself. The finish area is designed as a kind of campus: runners cross the line, grab food, watch other finishers come in, tour the property and linger with friends. Organizers added seating and expanded the spectator zone, and the finish celebration runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Staff will lead tours of the new headquarters, which includes offices, a hangout space, a pump track and skills track, picnic tables and Wi-Fi, all connected directly to the Whitefish Trail at Beaver Lakes.
The story of how WLP came to own that land stretches back more than two decades. In 2003, as development accelerated across the Flathead Valley, the state's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation began fielding real estate proposals for more than 13,000 acres of school trust lands in the Whitefish area. Residents uneasy about losing those lands to development spoke up, and the State Land Board chartered the Whitefish Area Trust Land Advisory Committee to draft a neighborhood plan for the area. Out of that process came the vision for a trail — originally called "A Trail Runs Through It" — that would eventually loop around Whitefish Lake.
WLP itself was created in 2003 to ensure the lands around Whitefish remained available for future generations. The first phase of the Whitefish Trail opened on July 17, 2010, when 12 miles of new non-motorized trail near Lion Mountain, Skyles Lake and Lupfer Road were unveiled at the Lion Mountain trailhead off U.S. Highway 93. Gov. Brian Schweitzer was on hand for the ribbon-cutting. "This is a great day for the Whitefish community," he said at the time. "By working together for a common goal this cooperative effort is a successful example for communities around Montana."
That same year, the race was born. When the Legacy Run was first conceived in 2010, it offered a single 10-kilometer course, meant to showcase the years of work WLP had put into bringing sustainable recreation to the community. The community embraced it, and the event grew into five course options across two days, ranging from a two-mile family fun run to a 31-mile ultramarathon. By 2025, its 16th edition, organizers were on track to draw the largest field in race history — roughly 650 to 700 runners, more than half of them first-timers. "This year does feel like a breakthrough, and it's not just luck," Sankar-Gorton said at the time. "That all these factors have come together and are moving in the right direction is proof to me that the whole conservation and recreation community recognizes the importance of the Whitefish Trail and its meaning to the future of this place."
The trail system those runners support now spans 47 miles and connects 15 trailheads, with a long-term vision of a 55-plus-mile loop around Whitefish Lake built across a patchwork of state, federal and private lands. In 2014, WLP conserved and protected 1,520 acres of Montana School Trust Lands in the Beaver Lakes area, unlocking a forested corridor west of Whitefish Lake and providing key linkages for recreation and wildlife. The Legacy Center property sits surrounded by that conserved parcel.
The land WLP bought in December had its own history. The former Whitefish Bike Retreat opened in 2013, changed hands in 2021 and was listed for sale in April 2024. Appraised at more than $2.2 million and listed at $2.5 million, it was under contract to a modern camping company planning a high-density site of 90-plus units when the deal fell through. WLP stepped in. "The Whitefish Legacy Center is so much more than a place—it's an investment in the character, culture, and future of our valley and the Whitefish Trail," executive director Heidi Van Everen said at the time. The property's main residence, lodge, campsites and amenities are being repurposed to improve public access and expand outdoor programming, with the center scheduled to open in summer 2026.
This year's 50K, meanwhile, gets a course upgrade that reflects a different kind of partnership. Saturday's race starts at 7:30 a.m. and begins and ends at the Village at Whitefish Mountain Resort, where runners pass through the start-finish area in front of the Hellroaring Saloon four times between roughly 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The course again summits Big Mountain, runs down the Whitefish Trail to the Reservoir Trailhead and climbs back up. The biggest change is on the descent. The route still climbs the Chair 3 liftline, but instead of returning to the Village by the same path, runners now hang a left at the top and drop onto newly built Whitefish Trail on the way to the Base Lodge. From there they cross the Willow lot and enter a new section connecting to the Reservoir Trail. In all, the course incorporates nearly three miles of new trail, replacing stretches of two-track.
The new trail, which connects the Big Mountain Trailhead to Hellroaring Basin, is a product of collaboration with the resort, which wanted more connectivity inside its own property, where getting around in summer is difficult. WLP, for its part, is working to extend the Whitefish Trail from Haskill Basin to Hellroaring. A grand opening is planned for October. "The race is going to be better because we're cutting out some sections of two-track and adding trail instead," Sankar-Gorton said, "but it wouldn't have been possible without a strong working relationship with Whitefish Mountain Resort built over years." Organizers had worried that logging work would force a reroute, but the map is intact, largely because the resort prioritized the trails and roads the race uses.
The 50K remains the part of the event most likely to evolve. Sankar-Gorton said WLP wants the course to feel more like a wild mountain ultra, and is considering pushing the event into September, when the resort is open and lifts are running, and eventually routing it up Hellroaring.
Race weekend comes with several new touches. Flathead Running Company returns as presenting sponsor, joined by OrthoRehab as physical therapy sponsor. Open Fuel, the U.S. arm of a South Africa-based startup, joins as the race's first official fueling and nutrition sponsor; its sponsored athlete, local running phenom Makena Morley, is affiliated with the brand. Sankar-Gorton said the partnership fits WLP's interest in working with growing companies eager to get creative with outreach rather than large, established events. Packet pickup moves to 38 Central in downtown Whitefish, with a bar, music, food and door prizes, intended as a hangout before race day. Responding to persistent public demand for food, organizers will provide meals to all participants both days and sell food or accept donations from spectators. Everyone gets a shirt, all 50K finishers get a medal, and Sunday's winners will be recognized with medals as well. Live music by Todd Cowart and barbecue from Ed McGrew BBQ will be on hand in the Village on Saturday.
The race also arrives as WLP works through several trail-access questions with public agencies. This week, the group updated and sought direction from the Whitefish City Council on three easements, none of which will affect the 2026 edition. The first involves the Legacy Center itself: WLP has proposed granting the city a trail and trailhead easement covering a 0.3-mile section of trail and a new 27-car parking area, kiosk, vault toilet and pet-waste station, giving the public perpetual access at no charge. The second is a related 50-foot right-of-way across state trust land in Stillwater State Forest, needed because the trail sits about 50 feet from the state boundary; the DNRC is no longer issuing new trail licenses and is moving projects forward only through easements requiring a full survey, appraisal and a state Land Board hearing. WLP will bear the cost, and the city would hold the easement — the first time the group has pursued an exclusively trail easement with the state.
The third is more consequential. Early last year, WLP learned that an appraisal for an 800-acre area easement covering Smith Lake and Swift Creek had come back so high it was a nonstarter. The group pivoted to a 15-foot trail easement on 3.5 miles of existing trail and 6.5 miles of proposed trail, currently held under a land-use license DNRC does not intend to renew. Securing permanent easements on all 10 miles requires a new survey and appraisal, and costs are expected to rise. WLP would fundraise to cover them, and the city would again hold the easement. "We're all a little disappointed it's not an area easement," Sankar-Gorton said, "but this still captures a lot of the value out there and community interest." Councilor Steve Qunell backed the effort. "The amount of trail we have now compared to 20 years ago is considerable, and it's quite an amenity for the city and county," he said, urging WLP to move forward.
Registration for the Whitefish Trail Blazer is open at whitefishlegacy.org/whitefish-trail-blazer, with admission at $160.50. All proceeds support Whitefish Legacy Partners and the Whitefish Trail. For Sankar-Gorton, the weekend is a chance to make good on a promise the organization has been making to the public for years. "We purchased this for the community to engage with and take shape so it serves the community," he said, likening the property to the broader Whitefish Trail project on a 35-acre scale. "We want people to buy in and realize that they are welcome and invited to be here a lot."