Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim Run

By Koach Solomon & Lani Woods of Black With Endurance

Over 6 million people from all over the world visit the Grand Canyon every year; however, less than 1% of them run from one rim of the canyon to the other and back to the start. This run, also known as Rim to Rim to Rim, is approximately 48 miles long and over 11,000 feet of elevation gain. On October 23rd, 2021, a team of all Black trail runners set out to tackle this grand challenge, which started as a thought. Fast forward a few weeks later teammates Marquette Shumate and Koach Solomon proposed this challenge with the goal of completing in the Fall of 2021.

After consideration, Koach and Marquette started planning. Contacting some of the best elite trail runners and OCR athletes to join this challenge, to make history, to be the first all-black expedition team to complete the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim in one day. The team made up by Marquette Shumate, an ultra-endurance athlete from Washington D.C.; Koach William Solomon from Sacramento, endurance athlete and co-founder of Black With Endurance, and owner of Psyko Fit, Karisa Dyce, military veteran and endurance runner from Rockville Maryland; Quan (Que) Perry a former track and field athlete and competitive OCR athlete from Houston Texas; Brian White, competitive OCR athlete and runner from Cincinnati Ohio; Obadiah Williams, competitive OCR athlete from Newark, New Jersey; Herman Harris, competitive runner & OCR athlete from Upper Marlboro Maryland and cousin Bobby Gaines multisport endurance athlete from Upper Marlboro Maryland.