Mon 3/9 @ 6:30PM
2015 is the inaugural year for The Trail Running Film Festival to hit Cleveland. The March 9th debut will be an evening of the latest and greatest full-length and short films showcasing the challenges, beauty and community from the world of trail running.
The festival is part of an eighteen city Spring Tour, including other Ohio cities like Columbus. From world class filmmakers to the best works made by weekend warriors, The Trail Running Film Festival’s goal is to take the audience on a virtual run through forests, up mountains, beyond emotional obstacles and across the finish line. Who couldn’t use that visual scenery escape to other geographies during these long dog days of winter?
“We try to find cities that are already excited about trail running,” says Head Honcho at Rainshadown Running (the Washington-based organization behind the film fest). “From our research and just from what we know about the Cleveland trail running community, it was a no-brainer to come there.
“Cleveland seems to have a really strong trail running community, both from options that runners have in regard to race choices, plus the initial response to hosting the festival in Cleveland was really positive — the community seemed really excited to have us there. It’s our first time coming to town and we’re excited to meet the folks there,” Varner continues. “Unique to the Cleveland show is that one of our local sponsors, Vertical Runner, is organizing a 5-6 mile group trail run where folks can come and run with us and ask us questions.”
The Trail Running Film Festival is a side project of Rainshadow Running, a company that directs over a dozen scenic and challenging trail races in Oregon and Washington. The film festival officially got its start in 2013, in conjunction with their Gorge Waterfalls 100k/50k races. The race host hotel had a 125-movie theater attached to one of its restaurants. The event quickly sold out and requests from all over North America to bring the film fest to their towns and cities started pouring in. So in 2014, Rainshadow Running answered those requests and did 43 shows all over the country. From there, the interest just continues to grow and in 2015 the organization has plans to tour at least 70 cities.
“We feel like these films and the stories they tell would interest a wide variety of folks, not just trail runners,” says Varner. “Our audiences tend to be mostly runners but we’ve had folks who don’t run come and they’ve enjoyed themselves, too. The films are well made and beautifully shot with incredible scenery from the Colorado Rockies to the Baja Peninsula, Pacific Northwest, Patagonia, Appalachians, Alaska, Mongolia and beyond,” says James.
He adds, “The films are inspirational, fun, and give insight into the lives and adventures of elite runners as well as average runners too.”
The show will run three hours long and include a twenty-minute intermission, during which there will be prize giveaways from sponsors Rainshadow Running, Ultimate Directions, Territory Running Co., Vertical Runner, OhioOutside.com and Western Reserve Racing. Doors open at 6:30PM and the show begins at 7PM. However, people are encouraged to arrive at 6:30PM, buy snacks, drinks (including beer) and socialize beforehand. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance here or at the door.
“From my 14 years of being a part of the trail and ultra running community, I’d like to share that one of the best things about the community is how friendly and welcoming most folks are,” James shares. “I’d like to encourage anyone out there who might be on the fence about coming out to the show because they aren’t a trail runner, or not even a runner, to take a leap of faith and try something new. You’ll likely have a great time and probably even make some new friends in the process.”
[Photo: Glenn Tachiyama]
Cleveland, OH 44102