Mines of Spain Trail Races

08/10/2026

We truly cannot believe that this past weekend was YEAR 14 of the Mines of Spain Trail Races!!! On a frigid winter trail run so many years ago, this idea was hatched and we never could have envisioned this bright, warm future surrounded by all of you amazing human beings!

Fourteen years of smiles, laughs, pain, blood, jokes, fist bumps, stings, hugs and tears. Whether this was your first or fourteenth time with us, thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. Once a year, we get to celebrate this annual tradition that means so much to us and we are so humbled and happy to hear what it means to so many of you. We hope that the Mines of Spain Trail Races has stayed the course and remained true to our original vision of bringing a simple but rich and authentic race experience to these beautiful Iowa trails each August.

Summer was on it's best behavior Saturday morning and while it certainly didn't make it easy for the runners, the heat and rain thankfully stayed in check with only some humidity to remind us who's the boss. Thank you to our entire volunteer team for taking such good care of everyone and to all of our runners for believing in us year after year. From our two remaining 14 year MoSTReakers to those tackling the trails at the Mines for the very first time...THANK YOU!

Results are available at: https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=132609
Big thanks to Nonstop Race Management for the excellent work timing the event along with all of the additional support they provided going above and beyond!
Please contact us directly via FB or email and let us know of any missing or incorrect times and we’ll fix it immediately.

Photos this year were taken once again by the incredible Mile 90 Photography! The full set of albums can be found here: https://www.mile90.com/Race-Photos/2026-Race-Events/Mines-of-Spain-Trail-Races-2026
Needless to say, they CRUSHED it as always and were a joy to have at the event capturing the beauty and magic of this year's race! Photos are paid for by the race and free for runners' personal use! PLEASE don't forget to give photo credit where photo credit is due - so if you post the photos, please tag Mile 90 Photography!

From first to last, congratulations to EVERY SINGLE runner who challenged themselves, got to that start line and gave it their all! We had 302 runners participate on Saturday with our oldest runner being 71 years young and our youngest just 10 years old! Women out-represented the men as OVER 50% of our runners and we lost count of how many first time MoSTR and first time trail runners we spoke to!

It would take forever to go through all of the incredible races we witnessed Saturday but we wanted to give some special recognition to some of the top performances of the day!

-Our women's half marathon winner Gabby Skopec absolutely demolished the course, finishing 6th overall and running the 2nd fastest time ever just 68 seconds off the course record set by Brittani Meis in 2022!
-Our men's half marathon winner Dan Froeschle claimed his 2nd win at the race in commanding fashion and 7th time on the podium in as many years!
-SIX OUT OF SIX YEARS that Melissa Taylor has landed on the podium (3 of those wins) including her impressive 3rd place finish on Saturday!
-3rd place in the half marathon, MoSTR veteran Ross Salinas logged his TWELFTH finish and his 2nd fastest time ever! Pretty impressive longevity while racing against a steady pack of young pups from year to year!
-In the 7 miler, Zach Hird gunned it from the start and ran a spectacular winning race and the 2nd fastest time ever, just SIX seconds off the course record set by Mike Gille in 2023!
-MoSTR regular Brooke Ferguson did what she does best and flew through the trails for the win and 3rd fastest time ever, just a couple minutes back from the course record that she tied in 2022 that was originally set by Jordan Fullan in 2021!
-As the 4mi winner, Kyle Orlando was our first individual across the finish line on Saturday and it was a FAST finish! He ran the 2nd fastest time ever and just 46 seconds behind the course record set by Jaden Merrick in 2020!

HALF MARATHON
1st- Dan Froeschle - 1:24:30
1st- Gabby Skopec - 1:41:22
2nd - Brett Rosauer - 1:25:42
2nd - Sasha Gallagher - 1:46:26
3rd - Ross Salinas - 1:28:14
3rd - Melissa Taylor - 1:49:38

7 MILE
1st - Zach Hird - 45:28
1st - Brooke Ferguson - 58:56
2nd - Natediz Hird - 54:25
2nd - Anna Hertz - 59:20
3rd - Michael Schroer - 56:35
3rd - Anna Kastelic - 1:05:10

4 MILE
1st - Kyle Orlando - 28:26
1st - Bella Skay - 35:25
2nd - Ben Roussell - 33:23
2nd - Ella Rohner - 36:23
3rd - Mitch Dowell - 35:02
3rd - Mya Rohner - 37:21

Special thanks: Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Friends of the Mines of Spain, Dubuque County Conservation, 7 Hills Brewing Company, No Coast Trail Series, Atlantic Bottling Company, Mile 90 Photography, Nonstop Race Management, Driftless Pizza Co., Trolleys of Dubuque (and everyone who rode this year!), Hefel Portable Services and most importantly, our amazing volunteers, friends and families for their selfless love and commitment year after year after year. Thank you!!!

The 15th annual Mines of Spain Trail Races is scheduled to take place on August 14th 2027! General registration will open Friday March 5th with early registration opening earlier that week for all 2026 deferrals, MoSTReakers and 2026 top 5 M/F (half) and top 3 M/F (4mi/7mi)!

And if you like what we do and are interested in checking out some of our other events throughout the year, find Sun Trail Running here: https://suntrailrunning.com/ and on IG: https://www.instagram.com/suntrailrunning/

08/08/2026

Good morning, trail race family! Today’s forecast: CHALLENGING FUN…. With a “slight” chance of humidity.

08/07/2026

Well folks, looks like Mother Nature is going to win this time and unfortunately, we are going to have to cancel the Mini Mines Kids race tonight 😭 We were optimistic that the last minute forecast of rain would pass us by but it's pouring right now and doesn't look like the rain or chance of storms will abate in time.

We have moved packet pickup into EB Lyons and folks are still rolling through until 7pm so if you're able to brave the rain and swing down tonight still, we'd love to see you otherwise we'll see all of your beautiful faces in the morning!

08/07/2026

Attention all running clubs, groups, crews, families and squads!!!

The vein of community that runs through the heart and soul of our event is humbling to say the least and we always want to be sure to document this as much as possible! We hear so many stories of friends telling friends telling friends telling friends about our little race and over the years, groups both small and massive come together every year in Dubuque to celebrate the bonds of friendship forged on the trails! Mile 90 Photography will be set up by the big blue park sign near the finish line/picnic area (seen in these pictures) at 7AM sharp and will be taking pre-race group photos until about 7:20AM. So knock out your pre-race p**p, assemble the troops and swing over for a group picture!

08/06/2026

🚨🚨🚨MERCH ALERT!!!🚨🚨🚨

We'll have some great stuff for sale at the race this weekend beginning at packet pickup Friday evening and all day Saturday at the race!

Sun Trail Running gender specific performance running tops (tanks, short sleeve & long sleeve)!

Limited quantities of party shirts & shorts aka the STR Party Suit!

Plus RUN THE MINES/MoSTR/STR shirts, STR hoodies and a variety of MoSTR/STR hats, stocking caps, cups (steel & silicone), buffs & more! Sizes and quantities for many of the items are limited so first come, first serve!

We appreciate the continued love and support year after year! Thank you!!!

08/06/2026

The only thing more fun than the trail races on Saturday morning is the MAIN EVENT Friday night at packet pickup...the Mini-Mines Kids' Race!!!

The kids' race has been a tradition since Y1 back in 2013 and it's truly been a blessing and an honor to host these young and mighty trail runners and to watch many of them grow alongside the event year after year!

Kiddos 12 and under are invited to participate in the Mini-Mines race and parents are welcome to accompany the really little ones on a fun ~1/2mi loop that starts and finishes at the EB Lyons Center where we'll have post-race treats for the runners!

There's no cost and no pre-registration is required. Please just arrive by 6:15PM at the latest to sign your Mini-Mines runners in so we can start promptly at 6:30PM.

08/06/2026

Hey everyone. Rob here with your trail condition update.

But first a reminder: trail running is an inherently dangerous sport. There are rocks, roots, ticks, bears, mosquitoes, thorns, snakes, mud, BEES, sunburns, gnomes, hypothermia and other hazards you could potentially encounter. Please have fun, challenge yourself AND be prepared.

OK… the trails are once again in great shape. There has been some rain and the forecast the rest of the week keeps changing, so there is some mud and greasy spots throughout the course. I want to say that shoes with some lugs would be helpful… but if the boards on the bridges are any sort of wet, you might get some extra excitement as you skate across the deck. The prairies are beautiful – and likely will be a little humid come Saturday morning.

I can’t end this post without giving a huge shoutout and THANK YOU to the DNR staff. They work really hard and deserve your words of appreciation and even a high-five or two if you see them out and about.

See you soon.

Send a message to learn more

08/05/2026

Fourteen years? Our little event can now legally get a school permit (which is right around the corner!)…

While those of us who are educators, or know educators, don’t want to think about that, we DO want to think about trails, hot weather, hotter pizza, local beverages and a day in the Mines of Spain with friends!

Preparations are underway to give you more of what you love… and we cannot wait to see all your smiling faces this weekend!

08/04/2026

Cheers to a cold beer after a hard run on the trails! 🍻🌳💚🌳🍻

We're super excited to be partnering again this year with the amazing 7 Hills Brewing Company for our post-race libations! We're forever thankful for their unwavering support over the years and we're looking forward to having a number of their delicious offerings available for your consumption along with assorted sodas, sparkle waters and non-beer alcoholic beverages. 7 Hills has FIVE brewery/restaurant locations in the area spread out between downtown Dubuque, central Dubuque, Dyersville (West), Platteville (North) and Clinton (South) so if you're anywhere in the area this weekend and looking for some delicious pre or post-race food and beverages, check them out!

Don't forget! We're completely cup-free and this includes the post-race beer so please bring your favorite drinking vessel to sip from. And just in case you you leave your favorite goblet at home, we'll have a delightfully reusable cup option for sale at the race!

📸: Mile 90 Photography

08/03/2026

An important pre-race email went out this morning so please let us know if you did not receive it! Additionally, we wanted to post an extra reminder on a very important component of race day...PARKING! While there is parking available at EB Lyons, it will likely fill up quick so please carpool as much as possible. A reminder that parking is NOT allowed along Bellevue Heights Road (we want to maintain our good relationship with the neighbors).

A great alternative to parking at EBL is our very own TROLLEY shuttle!!!

Trolleys of Dubuque will once again be providing shuttle service before and after the race to help alleviate parking congestion and to further reduce our environmental impact. The pickup/dropoff spot is the large parking lot at 2090 S Park Ct which is right off of Highway 61 and up past the Subway/Hardees. It's only a short 5min jaunt from the race start! Please park in the north end of the parking lot at the trolley pickup. The trolley will start running at 6am with the last ride to the start rolling out at 7:15am and will shuttle returns from 10am to noon. We encourage not just runners to take the trolley so any volunteers or friends/family are more than welcome to take advantage of the trolley as well!

We mean it when we say that we want as many of you fine folks to take the trolley so we'll be holding a little raffle/giveaway for anyone who rides! Get a ticket when you board in the morning from our race volunteer, fill it out and drop it off next to the packet pickup at the start and we'll draw names immediately following the half marathon awards! We'll be giving away TWO $50 Sun Trail Running race credits (good for any 2027 event) as well as a bunch of other MoSTR and STR merch! We'll draw the race credits first and you do not need to be present to win either one of those but all other prizes will be drawn and picked in the order drawn so we will keep drawing names until all prizes have been claimed. Additionally, we'll have reserved space immediately adjacent to the finish line where anyone who rides the trolley is welcome to leave any personal belongings they need for after the race!