Breaking down the Quarry Crusher run

Six years ago, Jaime Lomas, event director of Eggplant Events, was invited to meet with the Olympia Education Foundation, which produced the Olympia Festival. Eggplant hoped to partner with Vulcan Materials Quarry to create a race.

The original proposed route was on River Road, which runs behind the Olympia quarry. But after taking a ride into the quarry, Lomas asked what she thought was a silly question: What about running into the quarry? The response: Who would want to do that?

Well, as it turns out, a lot of runners.

RELATED: 29 thoughts runners have while running the Quarry Crusher in Columbia

“Vulcan came around to the idea, restricting the first race to just 200 runners just to see how it would work,” said Lomas. “After a great race, it was a confirmed hit.”

The Columbia race, which drew more than 800 runners in 2016, has since been replicated in Vulcan locations in five other U.S. cities.

Here, some fun facts about the race, which is set for this Saturday, March 25.

WHAT THEY DO AT THE QUARRY: They mine rock everyday, sometimes 24 hours a day. “Vulcan Materials ran for three weeks straight during the flood (in 2015) to help with the repairs to the Columbia Canal,” said Lomas. The race route gets a little longer every year because of the active digging.

VIDEO: The 2016 Quarry Crusher run in one minute

NEW THIS YEAR: Race organizers moved the start line to River Road, at 611 Rosewood Drive. In the past, it started in front of the mill. “From one side of River Road, you can see down into the quarry, and (from) the other side, you can see the skyline of the city and the water,” Lomas said. “It’s beautiful.”

Runners also have the opportunity to donate to Operation Restoration, an organization that provides assistance to homeless veterans, in exchange for a rucksack (backpack filled with sand). The rucksack will make the race even more challenging, and runners can honor their fallen heroes by writing those names on their rucksacks.

FRIDAY NIGHT “PARTY IN THE PARK”: Participants are invited to come pick up their packets and enjoy free music and food to celebrate the race the night before.

“We have the Root Doctors playing, lots of door prizes and free pizza by Village Idiot Pizza,” said Lomas.

NUMBER OF RUNNERS LAST YEAR: 818.

OLDEST COMPETITOR THIS YEAR: 82 years old.

MORE POPULAR – SINGLE OR DOUBLE CRUSHER?: Single (3.7 miles this year; the double is 7.4 miles). “The double is more for your seasoned runners who want more mileage,” said Lomas. “We get a lot of trail racers. We added the double two years ago to satisfy that because some people just really like to run distance. Every year, as soon as registration opens, the first question I get is, ‘When are you going to make it a triple?’ ”

TROPHIES: There are overall awards for first, second and third place for males and females in the quarry crusher and double crusher. Then, there are age group awards in five year age brackets to the top three males and females in each group. Every finisher gets a medal. “And we’re talking about some serious bling,” said Lomas. “It’s a really nice, big, heavy finisher’s metal that’s custom to each race.”

TIPS ON PREPARING FOR THE RACE: “The best thing to compare it to incline-wise is parking garages,” said Lomas. “That’s about the same incline as some of the levels for us. A 10 percent grade is the average along the route. There are some that are more, but it’s a very hard-packed surface. It’s consistent with a road, honestly.”

AVERAGE RACE COMPLETION TIME: Single, 30 minutes; double, one hour.

FASTEST TIME: Set in 2012at 21 minutes, 11 seconds. “Another great story is Jeremy Becraft, the manager of the local Mast General, who finished in 21 minutes, 40 seconds in 2014 at (age) 37!” said Lomas.

This story was originally published March 21, 2017 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Breaking down the Quarry Crusher run."