Welcome to Missoula’s most spectator friendly race!  We have handpicked 12 of Montana’s best runners (6 Men & 6 Women) to duke it out treadmill style in front of a live audience for the title of King and Queen of the Treadmill!

We’ll have a prediction contest, Big Sky Brewing beer, music and live announcing – all for a great cause – with 100% of the proceeds going to Missoula Youth Homes.

Charity:

• All donations from the event will go to Youth Homes, a Missoula-based organization which provides services and shelters for children facing abuse, neglect, emotional trauma and substance abuse problems in Western Montana.  For more information, click here.

Beer:

• Big Sky Brewing has generously donated beer for the event.

How does this race work?

• The Treadmill Challenge will test who can run the farthest distance in 10 minutes on a treadmill set to a 12% grade.
• There will be 6 men, 6 women, and 3 treadmills, with two prelims and one final for each gender.
• Each heat will have three competitors.  Whoever goes the farthest in 10 minutes will win the prelim.  The winner of each prelim plus the holder of the next farthest distance will advance to the final.
• The three athletes lucky (or unlucky) enough to make the final get to do it all over again.  Winners will be crowned King & Queen of the Mill!

Schedule of Events:

• 7:00pm – Men’s Prelim Heat #1
• 7:15pm – Men’s Prelim Heat #2
• 7:30pm – Women’s Prelim Heat #1
• 7:45pm – Women’s Prelim Heat #2
• 8:15pm – Men’s Final Heat
• 8:30pm – Women’s Final Heat
• 8:45pm – Crowning of the King and Queen of the Treadmill and announcement of the prediction contest winner

Prediction Contest:

We will have a bracket-style prediction contest the night of the event for spectators to join in on the fun. The brackets must be filled out before 7:00pm when the races start! Brackets are $5 each.

Caroline Hardin

Caroline Hardin: Two time winner and course record holder at the City to Sky 50k, Caroline's proudest accomplishment remains her since-beaten Three Forks Middle School mile record, a time which was unratifiable due to the track's erratic shape and lack of precise measurement.  She loves cats.

Amy Katz

Amy Katz: Originally from Durango, Colorado, Amy Katz comes to the sport of uphill running after what, according to her, would have been an illustrious and probably Olympic-glory filled career in Nordic skiing that was cruelly derailed by injuries that were definitely not her fault. Like many nordic skiers, she's often unable to distinguish between "friendly competition" and "unbridled street violence," so watch for her to be the one who takes this thing too seriously.

Leah Handelman

Leah Handelman: One of two athletes coming in from Whitefish, Leah is a versatile runner with elite results spanning from VKs to road races to mountain 100 mile courses. She's a regular fixture on the podium of our local races, but this is her first time running the Treadmill Challenge. With a self-proclaimed "terrible sense of direction," let's hope she's able to follow the course on this one.

Evie Tate

Evie Tate: Hailing from Spartanburg, South Carolina, a town known for a variety of things they wish they weren't known for, Evie Tate is a frequent competitor and perennial favorite here at the Treadmill Challenge. She won in 2021 and record keeping doesn't go as far back as 2019, but we have reason to believe she was here then, too.

Courtney Olsen

Courtney Olsen: 50 mile world record, 100k American record, 50k US Champion, 2 x Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier, 2 x Comrades Marathon medalist, 5 x US World Championship team, never heard of her. 

Kallie Smith

Kallie Smith: Fresh off of competing in the 24 hour event at RUFA just 4 days before the Treadmill Challenge, Kallie will likely be our most fatigued participant. Of course, this is nothing new to her, having completed multiple 100-milers and finishing third at the absurd Mammoth 214 miler last fall. 

Cody Moore

This is Cody Moore's second running of the Treadmill Challenge, after a 2024 event where he "advanced" to the finals via a rock-paper-scissors tiebreaking sham that represented the most bush league procedural farce in the history of the race.

Alejandro "Peanut" Rosales

Alejandro "Peanut" Rosales: The man, the myth, the nut! Back after a multi-year absence, the people's champ returns, insisting -- as always -- that he'll either win (no chance) or fall off the treadmill trying.

Jeff Mogavero:

Jeff Mogavero: Recently snubbed in the North American Ultrarunner of the Year voting after an amazing 2025 season including a fourth place finish at the Western States 100 and a win at Ultra Trail Cape Town, Jeff's prolific Missoula racing career has nonetheless resulted in only one local victory: the 2023 Turkey Day 8k.

Miles Miller

Miles Miller: Our annual representative from Hellgate High School, Miles is fresh off completing a "milk mile" in 8:40 -- proof that his training is going well and he's taking the sport very seriously. It's also unclear to the organizers whether he is still in high school because they can't figure out how to Google that without getting put on some sort of list.

Matthew "Man Dime" Kellenberger

Matthew "Man Dime" Kellenberger: Winner of the Golden Ticket entry into the Treadmill Challenge for least relevant possible accomplishment, Man Dime was the overall winner of the recent Burrito League competition, running an incredible 1200+ laps across the Higgins bridge during the month of January. The prize for this feat was one free burrito (or three tacos).

Grady Anderson

Grady Anderson: Grady is back again for his second consecutive Treadmill Challenge, having finished in the highly advisable fourth spot last year, the first position not to make the second round. Will Grady make the finals this year? He certainly hopes not.