Meet the 2026 Grand-to-Grand local Scholarship recipients

Per their yearly tradi­tion, the organizers of the Grand-to-Grand Ultrama­rathon have selected two local Kane County area runners to champion local causes and represent in the race. This year’s selected candidates, Ron Thomas and Neak Loucks are tak­ing the opportunity and running with it.

Left to right, photos by Ty Gant:

• “I don’t claim to be a good content creator, but I have a lot of fun,” said Loucks of their instagram, arid_steppe_rat. “Like desert rat, but we’re not really a desert are we? Too high, too wet - we’re an arid steppe!”

• “This year’s my 50 year high school reunion,” says Ron Thomas, “and instead of attending, I’ll be running the race. Two big milestones, one just measuring time and the other an important personal achievement.”

“As part of the application process, we’ve both commit­ted to raising $2000 for the Kane County Youth Coali­tion (KCYC),” says Thomas. “I’m running to promote the good practice of running on local trails - there’s so many trails you can walk to from Kanab, and not just run but hike. In a place like Kanab we - and especially the youth - can always use more awareness of local trails, their beauty, how we protect and preserve them and I’m really looking for­ward to introducing more people to trail hiking in the area.”

Loucks follows, “The race organizers pick each year what organization the applicants are raising money for; one of the rea­sons I was quick to apply this year was seeing the KCYC was the organiza­tion selected. I’m already involved with the KCYC as a subset of the Kane Com­munity Coalition, through my work with the Healthy Kane County Foundation. Both of those entities focus on the community, prevent­ing substance abuse and promoting positive mental and physical health. Those goals are important to me, and promoting youth devel­opment is really important to me. It’s more than just achieving those goals, it’s about teaching the youth leadership skills to pave the way to achieving them themselves.”

When asked why the Grand-to-Grand, both run­ners answered similar­ly, citing the meditative peace inspired by running through a beautiful place. Said Thomas, “I enjoy the solitude, I’ve always been a solo runner … though I do have a very enthusiastic age group around my age that shows interest in run­ning, and I can demonstrate this as an opportunity to continue with fitness!” Said Loucks, “The simplicity of having the goal each day being just to keep moving forward, it’s a peaceful sen­sation. There’s something magical about that cycle: Wake up, prepare, move my body, rest. Repeat through the race. There’s something special about it, especially in a beautiful place like this.”

Both runners had advice for aspiring G2G runners.

Per Thomas, “Maybe it’s a boring answer, but it’s super simple: submit the application with a little bit about yourself, your involve­ment in the community and your history with running. Then, do the work. Set aside the time, and prepare for a hot, long and ex­hausting run - train in a way that works for you.” Loucks shared their more academic approach, “I wouldn’t say there’s any one right way to do it. My education is in An­thropology, so I took the anthropologist’s approach: I spoke to ev­eryone could who ran it, gathered the data and tried everything out to see what works for me. Your body is one giant experiment, so try things and see what works: what pack is right for me? What carbs are right? What pace is right? Take it as an experiment and learn from it!”

Loucks and Thomas are both documenting their Grand-to-Grand journeys on dedicated social media accounts, and more information on the fundraiser is available at bit.ly/grandKCYC. Further info on the race is avail­able at the Grand-to- Grand website, g2gul­tra.com