"Hello, my name is Glenn Wargolet and I am the new Race Director for the 24th edition of the Ice Age Trail 50. I invite you to join me in thanking John Zinzow and Holly Neault for the all their efforts the past 6 years as Race Directors. Through their efforts, the Ice Age has evolved into the quality event that it is and has become one the best ultra marathons in the nation. I would also like to thank all the volunteers who have supported John and Holly with their dedicated efforts over the years. As all good Race Directors know, they are only as good as their volunteers and fortunately our main core of volunteers will be returning to help continue to make this the quality event that you have come to expect."
"While I may be the new Ice Age Race Director, I am definitely not new to this event. As a 27 year member of the Badgerland Striders, I was VP of Road Racing back in 1982 when fellow club member and ultra-marathoner Tom Ulik (Ice Age Trail 50 founder and Race Director for the first 5 years), first came to me after one of our club’s monthly meetings to discuss his idea of the club staging an ultra-marathon. Agreeing that it was an interesting concept and worth exploring further, we left our discussion agreeing to explore locating a suitable staging location. After the club’s next monthly meeting, we discussed what options each one had uncovered. My idea was a 1 mile loop on a asphalt trail in a local Park, Tom’s was a 50 mile loop on dirt and rocky trail in the Kettle Moraine State Forest (kind of like the difference between a Democrat and a Republican). At that time, trail running was barely in its infant stages and was not heard of around here, so you can imagine my surprise upon hearing this. So after some arm twisting, I agreed to go out to the trails with him for a test run. Well as those of you that have had the fortune to run the Ice Age trails, you know the reason why I fell in love with this beautiful terrain and quickly agreed to help Tom with his quest to get approval from the club to host the inaugural event. And as they say in Hollywood, the rest is history."
 "And what a beautiful history it has been. I worked as a race captain in various areas for the first 15 years and loved every minute of it. From the rain and cold, to the heat and ice packs, to the dump and the trail marking, every year has had it’s memorable stories and all have been embelished over the year’s. As like a good wine, they get better with age and never seem to grow old, even though we do. That all being said, I invite you to come out and join me this year at the 24th running of the Ice Age Trail 50 and help create a new story that will only get better with age and become part of the Ice Age folklore."
- Glenn Wargolet
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