No snow on the trails and normal summer temperatures are in store for ultrarunners competing in the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs (TRTER) that are starting and finishing at Western Nevada College this weekend.

Dubbed as "A Glimpse of Heaven ... A Taste of Hell," the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs, participants compete in 100-mile, 56-mile and 55-kilometer events, ascending as much as 22,000 feet from Carson City to Marlette Lake before returning to Carson City.

“The snow is completely gone now and the wild flowers are much happier than last year. So, the runners will have prime trail conditions,” said TRTER Race Director George Ruiz. “I’m crossing my fingers that we have normal temperatures this year, low to mid 90s and low 80s in the mountains would be ideal.”

For the fourth straight year, the start and conclusion of the races are at WNC, including the past two editions at John L. Harvey Field.

“The participants were so blown away and impressed with the baseball stadium for a venue,” Ruiz said after last year’s event. “It was so nice to operate there. It's by far the best venue we've operated out of and the runners raved about it.”

More than 550 runners are entered in the three distances, drawing competitors from around the world, including Japan, Saudi Arabia, England, Mexico and Australia. Peter Henricks of Brisbane, Australia, has competed in the 100-mile race four times and decided in the last 4 minutes of registration to enter again. Christian Finkbeiner will represent Carson City in the premier race.

“There is a lot of competition with big-named 100-mile races clustered around TRTER,” Ruiz said. “I feel very fortunate to have a large 100-mile field.”

The 100-mile race commences at 5 a.m. and the 56-mile and 55K events start at 6 a.m. Saturday.

For more information about the 23^rd edition of the event, go to trter.com.