It started with friendship. It became a movement.

In 2012, two friends — Betsy Scott and Steph Irving — were out on a long trail run, doing what they'd been doing for years: pushing each other to go farther, swapping life stories over miles of singletrack, and finding joy in places they didn't know existed.

They'd discovered something powerful: when women run together, we do things we didn't think we could do. And we have more fun doing it.

But when they looked around at the running world (especially trail and ultra running) women were still an afterthought. Race swag that didn't fit. Gear designed for men and then "shrunk and pinked." Events where women's safety, biology, and community weren't centered.

So they decided to create something different.

Wild Woman Trail Marathon, Relay, and 50k became the first all-women's marathon in the United States, trail or road.

Their backyard mountain, Mt. Adams, a 12,276-foot volcano in the Columbia River Gorge, would be the setting. The weekend would be about more than just racing. It would be a retreat. A celebration. A chance for women of all levels to test themselves, support each other, and prove that they're stronger than they think.

Fifteen years later, Wild Woman is still doing exactly that.

Meet the wild women “running” behind the scenes: Our Co-Directors

A woman with a race bib and sunglasses celebrating with arms raised at the finish line of the UTMB Mont-Blanc race, surrounded by other participants and spectators in a mountain town setting.

Stephanie Irving

CO-FOUNDER

  • Originally an avid endurance horse racer, Steph found a new passion in running as her family demands increased. She discovered solace and deep connections in the running community, particularly with her friend Betsy, as they transitioned from road marathons to trail running. The change was sparked by the realization that road running was taking a toll on her body. Trails proved gentler and opened up new horizons for adventure in breathtaking locations. This led to starting the Wild Woman Trail Runs in 2012 as the first all-women's marathon in the country. Today, Steph has completed over 96 trail races across the globe. Each race is not just a physical challenge but a journey through the wild, reminding her of the endless possibilities that life offers. She is currently the Executive Director at Helping Hands Against Violence in Hood River.

  • My brothers and I used to race back to the car after weekend backpack trip. Big packs--you know the kind with the frames on them--full of gear. And when we got a few miles from the car, if it was down hill, we didn't just run, we raced.

  • Scratch lemon lime. Sour gummies interspersed with a couple of crunchy sour Nerds. Pickle juice. But the best aid station food ever was a bowl of tom kah gai soup 50 miles into my first 100 miler (Rio Del Lago). My husband brought it for himself, but offered me some, thinking I might have a sip, I downed the entire bowl.

  • WSER: year 9, 256 tix. still waiting. And Bigfoot and Cocodona.

A woman with a backpack and hiking gear smiling while standing on a rocky mountain trail overlooking a lake surrounded by mountains.

Susan Elliott

CO-DIRECTOR

  • Susan turned to trail running and ultras after she became a mother. She spent previous decades dedicated to whitewater kayaking, helping people learn to paddle and recreate with purpose, writing and publishing the national guidebook "Paddling America." As a busy mom, trail running just fit into life easier, but she quickly found the challenge of training and completing ultramarathons served as bedrock to living a joyful life. Now, she wants to circumnavigate all the Cascade volcanoes, do more multi-day wilderness runs, and test her mental limits with longer ultras.

  • Splashing through puddles in farm fields with friends served as my motivation to go to Cross Country practice in high school.

  • Tailwind carb drink mix and a pocket full of High Carb gels make getting out for long runs easy. But a stash of sweet potatoes and my kid's leftover sandwiches also frequents my pack!

  • UTMB and just about any multi-day stage race in another country. Sign me up.

A smiling woman in outdoor gear taking a selfie with a snow-capped mountain in the background.

Angie Lake

CO-DIRECTOR

  • Angie's fascinated by the intersection of outdoor adventure and womanhood. She blends her passions into her work as a creative director helping outdoor brands advance women's equity and inclusion. Angie's also a nerd when it comes to menstrual cycles-- she even wrote a book about how they mirror nature! As a multi-passionate athlete, Angie does the typical Columbia Gorge thing of trying to fit 3 sports into a day. When not running trails, she's skiing, gravel biking, mountaineering, or scream-crying in her kayak. She ran her first 100 miler in 2024 and wants more self-supported adventure in 2026.

  • Standing by my family home watching thousands of runners pass Framingham, MA during the Boston Marathon. Nothing made me more excited than little me jogging alongside for 30 seconds.

  • Training runs: boiled potatoes with so much salt and stroopwaffels. Mid-race and afterward? Gimme the Coca Cola! It's the only time I want it and it's magical.

  • Surprisingly not a trail-- but I spent the first 21 years of my life living on the Boston Marathon route and spent most of my teen and college years volunteering at it. Even though I'm a trail girl, Boston has a piece of my heart.

The Impact of Wild Woman

  • First all-women's marathon in the United States (trail or road) — and we're still going strong 15 years later

  • Hundreds of women have run their first trail race, first marathon, or first ultramarathon at Wild Woman

  • Teens under 18 run free — because we want the next generation of trail runners to know they belong here

  • Off the beaten path — Trout Lake is a small, tight-knit community that welcomes our runners with open arms

  • More than racing — we've created a weekend retreat experience with camping, speakers, recovery tools, cold tubs, and community that lasts long after you cross the finish line

  • Filling the gap — we center women's needs, safety, and biology in ways the running industry still isn't

Wooden archway with a metal ornament hanging from it, decorated with pink, purple, and yellow flowers, with white tents in the background.
A rustic sculpture of a person made from wood and metal, holding hanging wooden discs and a metal wine glass, with greenery and parked cars in the background.
A woman running on a forest trail surrounded by dense green trees and foliage, smiling and enjoying her hike.

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This race is held under permit from the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest. The Wild Woman does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities.