Down East Sunrise Trail Relay
RACE OVERVIEW
Maine's First & Only All Night Relay!
2024 • Tenth Edition
The Down East Sunrise Trail Relay starts in Ellsworth, known as the Crossroads of Down East Maine, and finishes in Eastport, the Eastern Most City in the USA.
Teams of four to eight competitors will run thru the night and into the next day in individual relay legs ranging from just under 4-miles to just over 10-miles. The extremely scenic route is 102.7-miles total in length, with the first 85-miles taking place along the multi-use, rails-to-trails corridor connecting Washington Junction to Ayers Junction. The relay route continues on MAP206, a classic Maine off-road, back-woods ATV trail. The final miles follow the paved Sipayik Trail along the Pleasant Point, Passamquoddy waterfront, before joining scenic Route 190, and finishing along the seawall in historic Eastport!
Race Details
RACE DATE: July 19th & 20th, 2024
START LOCATION: Washington Junction, Maine
SIGN UP: Click HERE to sign up to run!
2023 Registration Deferrals— If you selected to defer your 2023 entry, you will be sent an email from ZippyReg after registration opens [date tba] with instructions to claim your 2024 entry using a special registration code. Once you have claimed your entry you will receive a confirmation email and your name will appear on the list of confirmed entrants.
Important! You must claim you deferred entry by May 1st. If no action is taken before the advertised deadline your deferral will be canceled and your entry fee will be donated.
ENTRANTS LIST: Click HERE to view the list of confirmed entrants.
IMPORTANT INFO: Please see our FAQ Page and Race Handbook <<printed copies MUST be presented at race check-in to pick up team bib numbers
ENTRY FEES: Register early and save!
$50 per runner (reg open - February 29)
$60 per runner (March 1 - May 31)
$65 per runner (June 1 - June 30)
$70 per runner (July 1 - reg close)
2023 RACE RESULTS: Click HERE.
QUESTIONS: Please view our extensive FAQ page.
STAY IN TOUCH:
• DEST Relay Facebook Page
• DEST Relay Facebook Event
• Crow Athletics Facebook page
• Crow Athletics Twitter
• Crow Athletics Instagram
2023 News!
Wyman’s partners with Down east Sunrise Trail Relay for 2023 Event
The Down East Sunrise Trail Relay (DEST Relay), Maine’s first and only 24-hour team relay, is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with Wyman’s.
“This relationship is truly a natural fit, as much of the terrain that our runners cover in this event goes through traditional wild blueberry lands during the active harvest season,” says race director Gary Allen. “This amazing partnership will help us grow and further give back to the communities where we run.”
First held in 2014, the Down East Sunrise Trail Relay racecourse follows a 102.7-mile route starting at Washington Junction near Ellsworth, and makes its way downeast along the picturesque Sunrise Trail before finishing on the waterfront in historic Eastport, the eastern-most city in the continental U.S. The scenic route delivers breathtaking views of coastal mountains, forests, open wetlands, and barrens of wild blueberries, Maine’s first fruit. This unique event, which typically draws about 500 runners, is like none other held in Maine and boasts an enthusiastic and loyal following by both participants and community groups along the trail.
“We’re so proud to support this unique and iconic event and Crow Athletics,” says Colleen Craig, Senior Communications Manager at Wyman’s “This unique event showcases Maine’s spectacular landscape, including the wild blueberry barrens in Maine which is the only place in the nation where wild blueberries are commercially grown. We’re so excited to share the land we love and the community we care about with the athletes, support crews, and organizers of the Down East Sunrise Trail Relay. Crow Athletics’ work to encourage and support healthy lifestyles is right in line with Wyman’s mission to help the world eat more fruit, and share this uniquely-nutritious berry we steward with the world.”
ABOUT WYMAN’S
Based in the Washington County town of Milbridge, Maine, Wyman’s was founded in 1874 by Jasper Wyman and is in 5th generation of Wyman family-ownership. Wyman’s has grown into one of the world’s leading growers, processors and marketers of wild blueberries, and the country’s No. 1 brand of frozen fruit in retail. The company owns 55,000 acres of land throughout Maine and the Canadian Maritimes and works with partner farmers around the world to source their full portfolio of delicious fruit. The company provides more than 200 year-round jobs in addition to hundreds of seasonal jobs during the harvest season.
ABOUT WILD BLUEBERRIES
Wild blueberries, vaccinuim angustifolium, are Maine’s most iconic crop. The low-bush berries took root in Maine 10,000 years ago, after the glaciers receded, and Maine is the only state in the U.S. where wild blueberries are commercially grown. These berries are “wild” because they grow in their natural ecosystem — there‘s no artificial breeding or genetic modification, and the soil is never tilled.
Decades of research have shown that wild blueberries have twice the antioxidant power of ordinary high-bush blueberries. Wild blueberries are rich in Anthocyanins, the plant compounds that give wild blueberries their deep purplish-blue hue, which have been proven to boost brain, heart, and vision health, and deliver a host of other health benefits.
Learn more at wymans.com.
#DESTRELAY • July 19 & 20, 2024
Crow Athletics is proud to host the Down East Sunrise Trail Relay, the award-winning Mount Desert Island Marathon, and the FREE Millinocket Marathon & Half.
