Posted: May 26, 2026 4:07 pm
The following message was sent to all registrants for the 2026 Path of the Flood Historic Races by Mark Voelker, race director. The races, which are co-produced by the Cambria County Conservation & Recreation Authority and Heritage Johnstown, took place on Saturday, May 23.
To all who braved the cold, damp morning on Saturday and those who were not able to, I wanted to close the loop on a couple items now that I’ve had the opportunity to process Saturday’s experience. Race results can be found here on RunSignUp:
We had 818 total participants signed up this year, making this our second largest field yet! Twenty-four percent of our runners this year were under the age of 18. A huge thanks to Johnstown’s 1889 Foundation for sponsoring our young runners from a one year old who walked the 5K with his dad, splashing in puddles the whole way to our 10 year old female finisher of the 14 Miler!
642 of you took on the Marine Corps mantra “If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training” to make your way from start to finish. Regardless of distance, you are all inspirational, particularly Garry Hinton who took advantage of every minute on the course and got the biggest bang for his buck doing the 14 Miler – a super human! For those who were either turned away by the weather or other circumstances, we hope to see you in 2027.
Update on our photographers. Our Staple Bend Tunnel and finish line photographers found themselves unwell on Saturday and were not able to be present. Fortunately, we had our two photographers along the Trolley Line section of trail – you know, that muddy climb up and along the hillside with the crazy switchback! – and we will have their images posted on Facebook as soon as they get them to us. If you are not on social media, we will find an alternate means for you to view and download them.
Every year we work super hard to provide each of you the best experience we can on race day. I trust we were able to do that again this year. There are always things to sharpen up, so please don’t hesitate to provide any constructive feedback. I was overwhelmed by the consideration, patience and understanding regarding the pint glasses (due to a broken-down truck and other logistical problems, the glasses did not arrive in time despite our best efforts to find a solution — instead, we distributed previous years’ inventory of glasses). My mind is already rolling on what we can add next year to make up for that.
I say this every year, that an event like this would be nothing if dedicated people like you did not sign up, plan, support, volunteer and put in the effort. As I shared with Garry in an email, I am so grateful to be able to offer the opportunity for all of us to run/walk the Path and share some of our short time here on earth together.
Deeply grateful for all of you,
Mark
