Upcoming run events are posted here to give you a chance to compete in a beautiful setting and to make new friends. This site is hosted by Astoria Hotel. Please visit our our partners with the links provided on the side bar..

Thanks to the volunteers
and sponsors for all their help!

Volunteers: Masayo Nogawa, Yuki Nagata, Shizuko Izumi, Yoshiro Ishagaki, Doug Scatcherd, Magda Mahler, Bonnie Ireland, Milt Gilmour, Rob Squires, and Rico Damota.

                      Jasper Physiotherapy and Massage, Jasper EMS, and The Jasper Warden Service.

                      Our generous sponsors: Totem Ski Shop, Jasper Source for Sports, Freewheel Cycle, The Tonquin Inn, and the Tonquin Prime Rib Village

Your participation is most appreciated by the organizers and participants of the RootRomp …… Thank you

Annual RootRomp 10k Trail Run

The Root Romp has been described as one of North America’s most difficult ten-kilometer runs. It starts in the mountain village of Jasper at an elevation of about three thousand five hundred feet above sea level and winds up the hills behind the community. The net elevation change over the course is almost two thousand vertical feet. The route is a forest path and there are plenty of steep hills, boggy areas, and thick knarly roots. Every year there is at least one runner who gets lost and a few others with twisted ankles and skinned knees. The best time posted is over forty minutes as the course punishment adds at least five minutes to any good runners 10k time. The run is as beautiful as it is tough with evergreen and birch forests, moss beds, crystal blue lakes, and alpine marshes. The 2007 race will take place on Saturday, October 13th and it will be the eighteenth annual.

Last year the route changed to incorporate a full ten kilometers and follow some of the most challenging parts of the new Jasper Discovery Trail! In the past a bike odometer was used to measure the length of the run but this proved to be a fairly inaccurate method as revealed by a true GPS calculation. The old RootRomp was shortened by trail alterations and improvements and was actually only 9.4km. Too much of a variance to be considered a real 10k.

The race will follow the traditional path for the first 6.5 km but then diverts towards trail #3 and on to the new town trail. This route will also add some steep inclines to the last 1.5 km of the race and should have a marked difference on race strategy for the top competitors. A map of the new route will be posted to the website in the near future.

It is recommended to walk, bike, or run the course prior to the race to get familiar with the route and the terrain so participants will know where they are going and be prepared for some of the challenges of this very demanding course.

Being a new course in 2006 the record established for the run is as follows;

          Fastest male          Reiner Thoni                      time:        44 min 51 sec
          Fastest female       Jean Ann McKurdy             time:        54min

Book online at www.astoriahotel.com or phone toll free 1-800-661-7343

These rates are exclusive to the ASTORIA HOTEL.

The 2006 Papa George’s RootRomp 10k trail run was held on Saturday, October 14th with a field of 54 competitors which is the largest entry in the 17 years of the race. We would like to thank the volunteers who came out and helped make it a success; Joanne Andrew, Paul Butler, Dwain Wacko, Cheryl Nelson, Sim Pitts, Tomoko Hata, Maya Nagatomo, Meg White, Stepha Andrew, Theran Sawchuk, Suzanne Villeneuve, Loni Klettle, Magda Mahler, and EMS members Rob Prinz, Mel Doiron, Mike Mahoney, and Melissa Kennedy, and Physios Cyril and Many Hayes as well as the staff of Papa George’s and the Astoria Hotel.

Thanks also to support from Totem Ski Shop, Jasper Sport Shop, Freewheel Cycle, Gravity Gear, Wild Mountain Willy’s, Mountain Air, Jasper Camera & Gift, The De’d Dog pub, Parks Canada, and the Municipality of Jasper.