Runners tackle the Tillamook Forest in three-day Tillamook Burn Trail Run

Runners from around the country are competing in the 10th Annual Tillamook Burn Trail Run, a three-day trail race series from Daybreak Racing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Friday's race, a 20-miler starting and ending at Reehers Camp in Timber was wrapping up as this story was being written.

In first place was 32-year-old Andrew Knapik, a runner from Holladay, Utah, according to results published by Daybreak Racing.

Over 20.8 miles and featuring a 3800 foot elevation change up and down for runners, the course takes runners from Reehers Camp to the Gales Creek Campground and back on the Gales Creek trail.

The race is named for the Tillamook Burn, the series of wildfires that devastated the region mostly in the first half of the 20th century. What has become the Tillamook State Forest is still often called the Tillamook Burn by residents in Tillamook County and western Washington County.

Saturday, May 10 will see an even more grueling race: A 50 mile trek starting at the Smith Homestead in the heart of the Tillamook Forest.

From there, with a 6 a.m. start time, runners have up to 14 hours to finish the race at Reehers Camp.

The course takes runners along the Wilson River Trail, on gravel roads cutting through the Idiot Creek area, where runners may be reminded of the areas association with wildfires as they pass through an area burned by the Game Hog Creek Fire in 2021.

Runners will join the Gales Creek Trail and finish the 50 mile race at Reehers Camp, having summited the Oregon Coast Range, passed by University Falls, and climbed 9,500' and descended 8,900' in elevation.

The final race on Sunday is a slightly more forgiving 50k.

Like Friday's 20-miler, the 50k begins and ends at Reehers Camp in Timber, with the halfway point at University Falls.

Runners will climb and descend 6,700 feet over 31.8 miles and have up to nine hours to complete the course.