A little bit about our OMR Racing Team. We want happy, well fueled and cared for runners. Since everyone on our team has run plenty of races, we know what we like and work towards filling our stations with those items, and suggestions from runners.

OMR Team Michele, Royal, Sid, Nicki, Lil Royal

We have a team of 3 that our full time job is preparing for races. Nicki, my son, Royal Jr., and myself. Sid helps part time while juggling a full time job. My husband Royal works on race preparation year around, but specifically takes off work from his truck driving job the three weeks before each of our 100 mile races. His truck driving skills are ideal in having what it takes to deliver and set up all our aid stations. Michelle Curcio is our volunteer coordinator and she works hard for the months leading into the race to set up our aid station captains and fill their needs.

We all love what we do and enjoy working together. I personally am so grateful for this extraordinary team. Seeing the runners reach success drives us to do the best that we can.

Menu planning: We carefully plan our aid station menu, wanting to cover a variety of runners needs, as well as having practical food to prepare outside and deliver. We keep spreadsheets of every item that will be delivered to stations. Our spreadsheets have built in formulas with the weight of every food, appliance, tool item that needs to be brought to each aid station. This is important in keeping the truck weight correct. When trucks are overloaded we risk flat tires and mechanical problems.

Properly loading trucks is important to help us quickly deliver. My husband is a truck driver and does a great job on this. His team delivers and cleans up race weekend. We can not deliver too early because we have had plenty of items stolen over they years. Having everything properly boxed in waterproof and animal proof containers is important.

Recycling: We find it important to produce as little trash as possible. Please try and use your own cup at aid stations, or refill a cup we supply if getting a second serving of something. There are recycling and trash containers at each station. Our race clean up crew will even go through the trash and pull out anything that was put in wrong container. After races we organize it and take it to the recycling center. Here is a video of us working on this. LINK

We try and cover various diets. Any vegetable soup that we supply to station will also be vegan and gluten free. Pancake mix we supply will be vegan. We make sure savory food options like bean rollups are at most stations, both vegans and non vegans love these.

This is a good thing to bring on your self supported runs. Easy to make on the trail and taste delicious.

We choose food we like to eat. It was so fun after our Galena Sky trail race (last weekend) that we had requests for the recipe for our vegan burritos. Recipe: Pre-package Spanish rice, refried beans, salsa and flour tortillas. It is a favorite for many. (as made by Royal, each volunteer may make it in a different way, Royal’s burritos are always getting high praises)

Super stars!

Aid station Volunteers are the heart of ultrarunning

Our Aid station captains get our planned menu before race day. Captains can request food they think the runners will enjoy. For example our aid station captains at Hwy ZZ used to love to grill hot dogs up for the runners. This year it will be “Bigger than the Trail” captaining this station. I am excited to see what great ideas they come up with. We offer to either deliver “special food” or we will cover the cost of extra items. Our runners greatly appreciate the extra work the aid station captains put into making their aid station a stand out. We are completely blown away by the extraordinary job the volunteers do at their stations. Many of these stations you will see the same volunteers for 15 hour shifts. They work just as hard for the first and last runner. Be sure to appreciate their efforts. It is a huge commitment they make in hosting an aid station.

In helping our runners prepare for what to expect I wanted to share the menu we sent our captains for the 2022 aid stations. This is what we supplied before the volunteers add their special touch. If I remember what the special treats they brought I have included them.

What does it take to set up aid stations on race weekend:

We have multiple trucks out on the course that are dedicated to one job

Ice Delivery Truck- 2 race day staff on this. Large truck full of coolers of ice. We deliver this before aid station opens. Then we give aid station captains a phone number to text if they start to get low.
Water Delivery Truck- two trucks with 3 race day staff.
Food Delivery Truck- 1 very large truck with 2 race day staff.
Tent delivery Truck- 1 large truck with 6 race day staff setting up, then tearing down.
Same delivery team is the clean up team for aid stations.
Aid station food and supplies is all delivered before the race. Our staff does a basic set up for them, then the volunteers work hard to organize it and make food appealing and ready for the runners.
We super appreciate how hard staff and volunteers work to care for the runners.

What do we mean by certain food descriptions:

Often aid station tables are set up with quick grab and go food in front, and hot food on back table. Look around and ask for what you want. Sometimes aid stations will list a menu to help you quickly find what your body is craving.

Salty food is things like: potatoes, mashed potatoes, chips, pickles, nuts
Sweet food is things like: cookies, candy, easy grab and go items
We do a lot of these foods individually packaged to keep it fresher and cleaner for the runners, as well as being easier for the volunteers.

Aid station Basic menu. This does not include the special extras that our super star volunteers make.

Be sure to take time at each aid station to refuel. Race day adrenaline can trick you into feeling good and quickly cruising through aid stations and missing an opportunity to get calories in.
We will update menu as we hear from Aid station captains on any “extra special treats”.
LINK TO 100 MILE SPREADSHEET
LINK TO 100K SPREADSHEET
LINK TO 38 MILE FUN RUN SPREADSHEET
LINK TO 50k SPREADSHEET
LINK TO 100 MILE TEAM RELAY SPREADSHEET

We listed by the mileage of the 100 and 100k only. Follow individual race spreadsheet to see what mile it is for the 50k and 38 mile fun run. If you have not volunteered at a race before, you should. It will inspire you.

Grilled Cheese some with Ham
Bean Rollups (Vegan)
Vegatable Soup - Vegan / Gluten Free
Chicken Noodle Soup - we think a hearty canned soup taste better than ramen and that is what we supply. We also send broth for when runners want something less hearty.
PB&J
Potatoes
Fresh Fruit
Sweet n Salty Snacks
Pancakes n sausage

Bluff, mile 7.4, 56.5, 71.3, 93.1

Hosted by Lokeyz Trail Runner with Captain Danielle Wangess

Bean Rollups (Vegan)
Vegetable Soup - Vegan / Gluten Free
Chicken Noodle Soup - we think a hearty canned soup taste better than ramen and that is what we supply. We also send broth for when runners want something less hearty.
PB&J
Fresh Fruit
Sweet n Salty Snacks
Pancakes n sausage

Horseriders, mile 12.3, 51.6

Hosted by Yeti Trail & Ultrarunners of Illinois with Captain Elizabeth Anne

Fresh Fruit
Sweet n Salty Snacks
PB&J
Potatoes
Extra savory food by aid station captain. This year will be Chili and cornbread

Natatile’s Emma Carlin (area), mile 15.5, 48.4

Hosted by Coyote Running Club with Captain Natalie Brunson

Fresh Fruit, this station tends to be a spot people are feeling hot and fresh fruit and fruit cups are the most requested item here.

Sweet n Salty Snacks
PB&J
Fresh fruit

McMiller, mile 19.5, 44.4

Hosted by Ten Junk Miles with Captain Holly Lindroth

Turkey Rollups

Bean Rollups (Vegan)
Grilled Cheese (some with Ham)
Bacon
Potatoes
PB&J
Fresh Fruit
Sweet n Salty Snacks

Wilton Road, Mile 23.8, 40.1

Hosted by Kelli Gorski and Ashley Lammi with a bunch of Rockford, Illinois trail runners

Fresh fruit and fruit cups (another hot section of the race course that fresh fruit and fruit cups is highly requested)
Sweet & Salty snack
Potatoes
Bean rollups
Frozen Popsicles have popped up here by thoughtful volunteers.

Hwy 67, mile 27.1, 36.8

Hosted by Brad Kaney and Tom Olson (first year host!)

Turkey Rollups
Bean Rollups (Vegan)
Potatoes
PB&J
Fresh Fruit
Sweet n Salty Snacks

Hwy Zz, Mile 29.4 and 34.5

Hosted by Bigger Than the Trail with captain Tommy Byrne

Fresh Fruit

Sweet n Salty Snacks
PB&J
Potatoes
Extra savory food by aid station captain. 2022 and 2023 was hot dogs, but there is a new captain working on menu for 2023 race.

Duffin Road, mile 73.2, 90.5

New captain Kristin Napora with Trail Sisters

Pancakes and sausage
Potatoes

PB&J
Fresh Fruit
Sweet n Salty Snacks

Hwy 12, Mile 77.9, 86.5

Hosted by Ornery Mule Racing Trail Team with Captain Megan Veldkamp

Grilled Cheese some with Ham

Bean Rollups (Vegan)
Vegetable Soup - Vegan / Gluten Free
Chicken Noodle Soup
PB&J
Fresh Fruit
Sweet and Salty snacks
Aid station captain brought perogies that were a big hit.

Rice Lake

Hosted by Justin and Bonnie Heller

Cheese Quesadillas
Bean Rollups (Vegan)
Chicken Noodle Soup
Potatoes
Bacon
PB&J
Fresh Fruit
Sweet n Salty Snacks

Drinks and liquids at all stations will be a variety of things like:

Gnarly Fuel20
Soda, Coke, Ginger Ale, Sprite, Root beer, etc…
Pickle Juice
Spring water in gallon plastic jugs. These make it easy for volunteers to pour. Spring water is tasty and our water of choice.
Hot broth at night.

We always wish we had more photos of our amazing volunteers. If you have any you want to share please email them to dirtrunner100@yahoo.com. I also love to hear about ways we can better serve you. We love you, the community and the trails. So excited for our upcoming party in the Kettles!

~Happy trails, Michele Hartwig- RD

Kettle Moraine Aid stations