The EIFF award-winning film “The Mountain Runners” will be shown at Thinking Tree Spirits, 88 Jackson St., Eugene, OR, Saturday, April 7, 2018. Admission is FREE. Seating begins at 6:00 PM, showtime is at 7:00 PM. Seating is limited. First come, first seated. The film runs ninety minutes with a Q & A on personal care for runners following the screening headlined by Licensed Acupuncturist Zachary Corbett.
Before running was a fashion statement, runners wore cotton t-shirts and canvas tennis shoes in a race to the summit of Mt. Baker. This was a death defying race between two rival cities, Deming and Glacier, both established on the base of Mt. Baker, WA. One town would reach their trailhead using an 1890 steam engine. The other, automobiles.
Some runners would be trapped beneath their automobiles when they crashed, others would fall into crevasses, more were endangered when the train derailed with a full head of steam. Loggers, coal miners, a postman, a wrestler, students, farmers, a milkman, poultry breeders, and a bedspring maker were among those embracing the challenge.
They all ran in conditions that were appalling with a file in their bellies to win. You can watch their history unfold on the screen at Thinking Tree Spirits with food and beverage. This race to the summit of Mt. Baker would only be held in the years 1911, 1912 and 1913. “The Mountain Runners” has been screened in track and field communities around the world to appreciative audiences.
