"THE MOUNTAIN RUNNERS" -- THE STORY OF THE MOUNT BAKER MARATHON

Photo courtesy Whatcom Museum Photo Archives

The year was 1911 and Bellingham, Washington, was a sleepy little town in the shadow of Mount Baker, on the northern shores of Puget Sound. Logging and fishing were the economic mainstays but, as the leaders of the Mount Baker Club, a local business organization, saw it, the town needed something more.  Thus begins "The Toughest Race You've Ever Heard Of," a recent article in Trail Runner Magazine that tells the unlikely story of the Mount Baker Marathon: "America's first mountain adventure race."

The Mount Baker Marathon took place from 1911 to 1913, and constituted the city of Bellingham's most audacious public relations stunt in its competition for tourist dollars against the just-created Mount Rainier National Park.  It is the subject of a recent documentary, The Mountain Runners that is currently taking the film world by storm.

The Mountain Runners will be showing on January 24 at the Northwest Film Center in downtown Portland.  You can purchase tickets at their website.