All the registrations are in, and 851 people will be participating in the final Emperor’s Challenge on Mount Babcock, happening August 9.
This year marks the XXV time the race has been held, and is expected to be the last time that runners will be doing the Babcock Mountain Route.
Last year, Conuma Resources purchased the Quintette Mine, which covers much of Babcock Mountain, though so far they’ve only been mining in one pit on a limited mining permit. But that is expected to change in the next few months, and by next year, the mine will be in full swing, meaning that this is almost certainly the last year the Emperor’s Challenge will be heading up Babcock.
This isn’t the first time the route has changed. Indeed, the current route up is the fourth route. Originally, the route went up and over Mount Roman (thus the Emperor appellation).
In 2005, the first major change took place when the route was run clockwise for the first time. When Peace River Coal began mining the next year, the route changed to avoid the mining area, but after three years there, it moved to Babcock Mountain. The route stayed mostly the same until 2023, when the route changed to try and eliminate the bottleneck past the Boulder Gardens by going up the road a few more kilometres, followed by a blistering climb up to the next level.
And, after years of “will they, won’t they?” regarding the mine, the answer is “they will.” And the Emperor’s Challenge race committee has already released a statement saying this is the last year the race will run…in its current form.
“We’ve been getting lots of questions about whether or not Emperor’s Challenge is going to happen next year,” says Race Director Manda Maggs. “No final decisions have been made on this yet, but a major re-route is going to have to be done. We’re pretty much losing half the course. It might get shifted to another mountain. Conuma has offered to assist with like the logistics. But when it was moved from Roman to Babcock, lots of different options were considered and there really isn’t a great third option. Even though Conuma has generously offered to help create some of those things, like access roads, we are really struggling with that because we’re not really in the business of creating parking lots that only get really used once a year.”
One of the current options is to move the route into town and hold the race along the TR Trail. “That’s a really good option for a lot of reasons, one of which is that I think we get a lot more community interest in it because you can see the runners going by at various points and we could have a little bit more of a celebration. Logistics would also be a lot easier in terms of water stations and things access to first aid. There’s definitely some perks, but I think it’s really important for people to know that whatever the Emperor’s Challenge ends up being next year, it’s not going to be the Emperor’s Challenge that they know now. I think the things that make the Emperor’s Challenge special right now are the mountain views. And it’s beautiful route, and it’s quite difficult as well. Whatever option we choose, it’s probably not going to be all of those things.”
But those are concerns for next year. This year, the committee is focused on making this a blowout celebration. To those ends, this year will feature the Emperor’s Village.
Rather than haul people up to the Core Lodge, which has functioned as the start and finish for the race since the race began, the Emperor’s Village will be at the Tumbler Ridge Fairgrounds.
The village will open at 1 am on Saturday and will run until at least 11 pm, with a DJ, live music in the evening, food, a beer garden, a memory wall of race history and photos, a photo station, kids activities, and more.
Above photo: How it (almost) began: a photo from the 1999 Emperor’s Challenge, the second Emperor’s Challenge ever.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
