written by Hayden Seder
It’s hard to imagine in a town as active as Ketchum that there’s never been a run club before, but indeed, before this summer, this was the case. Enter Ketchum Run Club, the Wood River Valley’s newest way to socialize, meet new people, and, of course, run.
How It Started
Ketchum Run Club (KRC) is the brainchild of two area natives, Meggie Rose and Madison Hendrix. Rose is a personal trainer and group fitness coach at The Mill SV in Ketchum and also offers a variety of online training programs through the Solin app. Despite her obvious love of fitness, running is a relatively new hobby for Rose. Though she did cross-country running in high school and ran on and off in her twenties, it wasn’t until signing up for a half-marathon in Jackson Hole in spring 2024 and getting into the training of the sport that she really fell in love with it, both for the mental clarity and the freedom it provides.
Although Madison Hendrix also grew up in the area and thus is plenty active outdoors, it wasn’t until signing up for the Standhope Ultra Challenge 30k two years ago (a lengthy trail race in the Pioneer Mountains) and enduring the intense training for such an event that she, too, fell in love with the sport. After moving to LA, the production manager at Mint Locations (a boutique location scouting agency) joined the Venice run club as a way to meet new people while being active. Unfortunately, after the LA wildfires, she relocated back to Ketchum. Intent on maintaining the benefits she’d reaped from her California run club, Hendrix reached out to Rose last winter and floated the idea of starting a run club.
The girls didn’t plan much, essentially announcing their first run just a few weeks prior and starting an Instagram page for the club. The first run took place May 7 and had about thirty people joining the run from town along the bike path on Sun Valley Road, to the Sun Valley Club House and back.
The Run Club
Run Club takes place weekly on Tuesdays at 5:30pm and Saturdays at 9am, with Tuesday runs being up to four miles and Saturday runs being longer, between five and eight miles. The time and length of the Tuesday runs are meant to be accessible to all, whether it’s your first time running or you’re a pro, if you’re running solo or with the kids. “It’s long enough for people more experienced to get a pretty good workout, and it’s not as overwhelming for someone who’s never run before,” says Rose. The runs also rotate between trails and bike path/paved roads so that those with strollers can join. The runs are planned about two weeks in advance and rotate often to ensure freshness. Those who want to see the upcoming runs and sign up can find KRC on Strava. As KRC likes to say, “All paces and all faces are always welcome!”
Partnerships
A fun aspect of the KRC has been the various partnerships with businesses in town, whether that’s through donated prizes and discounts or simply providing a post-run place for a snack or a bevvie. So far, there have been post-run hangs getting smoothies at Sipology, ice cream at Leroy’s, watermelon juice with Gingersweet, and coffee at the Konditorei. Fitness- and running-themed prizes and discounts have included 25% off Luluelmon shorts, a three-class pack to The Mill, a Raide Research running belt, a running shoe demo, and for Global Running Day (which had their biggest turnout yet, at about 80 people), a full recovery session at Zenergy complete with acupuncture, raffle prizes, NormaTech compression boots, and more.
The Future of KRC
The KRC seems to have hit its stride, with about twenty to thirty people turning out for each run, new collabs, and a fun, collaborative spirit of community felt each week, which was always the intent. For now, the plan is to run until the weather turns, at which point the town’s runners will have to move indoors until next spring. But for now, it seems that the Wood River Valley is loving its newest outdoor-based club.
