Despite the looming haze from the Waldo Canyon fire, the Summer Roundup Trail Run will continue as planned Sunday.

The 12K starts and finishes at Bear Creek Regional Park, which was closed until Monday because of the potential of fire danger.

“We didn’t expect to cancel, but we were prepared to use an alternate course to avoid the fire danger of the park,” race director Ron Ilgen said.

Photos from 2011 Summer Roundup

The course is an out-and-back route that starts inside of the park before winding up High Drive, and following the road back down to the finish. While the course does not have many technical sections, the 995-foot gain in elevation presents a challenge.

“It’s not really as rigorous as the Ascent, but it’s a 12K so it’s a good measure of where you are with 40 days to the actual race,” Ilgen said.

The Summer Roundup, which begins at 7 a.m. Sunday, is the second leg in the Triple Crown of Running. It’s followed by the Pikes Peak Ascent on Aug. 18 or the ascent portion of the Pikes Peak Marathon on Aug. 19. Runners electing to race the Ascent and Marathon can use their best time from either race.

While there are concerns with the dry weather affecting the races on Pikes Peak, Ilgen plans for the series to go on.

“We’re going full speed ahead, but it depends on whether we get the monsoon rains,” he said. “This whole situation is similar to the Hayman fire in 2002, but we got the rain then. All we can do is hope for the best and move forward.”

Photo by THE GAZETTE FILE