Two local teams with a combined 16 runners tackled one of the most grueling relay trail runs the West has to offer in late July, with one of the teams placing in the Top 25.

The Ragnar Tetons Trail race — rated the “No. 1 most beautiful trail race” among Ragnar race organizers — was held July 26-27. Beginning at the Grand Targhee Resort, the run consisted of three single-track trail loops over two days and one night, featuring an elevation of 2,500 feet. Loops are categorized by three colors: Green represented the easiest loop (4 miles, 480 feet of elevation), yellow the intermediate loop (5.3 miles, 1,100 feet of elevation) and red the most difficult loop (6.5 miles, 2100 feet of elevation), for a grand total of 15.80 miles.

With the oddly fitting names of 2 Stupid 2 Stop Team One and Team Two, the squads featured eight runners to a team, ranging in age from 13 to 63.

Captained by Jenn Franks, Team One included Shelly Melton, Earl Melton, Chance Franks, Dusty Spomer, Marcie Hobbs, Mike Hobbs and John Hobbs.

Tracy Gates captained Team Two, featuring Joelyn Nordeen, Kodi Cooley, Tanya Bonner, Heather Christensen, Carl Christensen, Amanda Wilson and Jeff Rode.

Both teams competed in the mixed open category. With a blistering time of 27:09:34, Team One finished 25th out of 127 teams overall and 10th out of 70 teams in the mixed open category. Team Two finished 103rd overall and 52nd out of 70 in mixed open with a time of 33:22:02.

Team One member Mike Hobbs called it “a really neat event,” with beautiful views of the Tetons that almost — but not quite — take your mind off the fact you’re running uphill for over 3 miles.

“The whole reason behind why people do it, I have no clue,” Hobbs said laughing. “Other than it’s really a lot of fun, a lot of camaraderie. Everybody has a blast.”

In the 24-hour race, the first runner starts out on the green loop, and when they’re back they hand off to the second person for the yellow loop, who hands off to the red loop, Hobbs explained. “Then it starts all over again.”

One of the highlights for Hobbs was running in the forest around Grand Targhee at 2 a.m.

“Running through those woods in the middle of the night is surreal. It’s a little bit of everything,” he said. “I guess I equate it to, if you’re a hunter at all, being out at 3 in the morning and not being afraid of the things that are out there. Though for some people I’m sure it freaked them the hell out.”

Team two member Tanya Bonner said the views alone, as well as the company, made it an event to remember.

“It was a great experience, with fun people in a beautiful environment,” she said. “Though the terrain is rough in places, it was well worth it.”

A test of will and physical stamina, the Ragnar Relay Series includes 45 races spread out between the U.S., Europe, Australia, Mexico and Canada. Powell features a strong running community, as evidenced by the various runs in and around Park County each summer, so finding willing participants wasn’t as hard as one might expect.

“I think the women on the teams all sweet-talked their spouses into participating,” Hobbs said. “I had done the last Tetons Ragnar in 2016, so I had a good idea of what to expect.”

As each person crossed the finish line for the final time, Hobbs said crowds would begin to form to welcome in the runners.

“We’d all line up when the last runner came and we’d all run in with them,” he said. “It’s really a lot of fun, and it’s neat.”

With somewhere around 1,500 runners on hand, “it’s almost like a biker rally,” Hobbs said. “Everybody’s encouraging to everybody, everybody cheers everybody on. It’s pretty cool.”

Runners were required to watch a safety video prior to the start of the race that covered such topics as bear safety and trail etiquette. The race is also environmentally safe, with runners required to pack their own water — though there were water stations at the midway point of the longer legs.

“You could listen to music, you could take your water with you, you could dress up,” Hobbs said. “Really the only rules are that you start from one point and complete the entire course without cutting corners.”

With no one out checking for corner-cutters, runners theoretically could have cheated, “but you don’t see any of that,” Hobbs said. “Everyone is just really encouraging and there to have a good time.”