CALUMET — Early-bird pricing has been extended through the Fourth of July for the Great Deer Chase mountain bike race set for the Calumet area in mid-August.

The event will be held at the Swedetown Recreation Area near Calumet on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 15, with three lengths of competitive races, along with an untimed Adventure Ride and several youth races going all the way down to the 100-Yard Untimed Tots Event.

The event is held in conjunction with Calumet’s Pasty Fest.

Prices range from free for the Tots Event and $15 for Youth Short Race for those 12 years and under, up to $50 for the two longest races, expected to be 20 miles or longer for the Long Race and 12 to 18 miles for the Medium Race.

Each of the timed races will have registration prices increase after Saturday, though what that increase was isn’t indicated.

Proceeds from race registrations go back into improvements for the trails, plus the first 120 paid registrants get a commemorative Great Deer Chase stem top cap and T-shirts designed locally.

Another 80 registrants get the stem top cap but not a T-shirt.

There will also be a special award made to the fastest male and female combined between the Long Race at the Great Deer Chase and the Hard Rock race at the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic in Marquette County, which will be held the previous Saturday, Aug. 8.

For more information about the Great Deer Chase, visit www.greatdeerchase.org, and for the Ore to Shore, visit www.oretoshore.com.

The Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic will have its traditional 48-mile-long Hard Rock race, 28-mile Soft Rock and 10-mile Shore Rock in the morning, plus another trio of shorter, youth-oriented races that afternoon. The Hard Rock and Soft Rock start in Negaunee, with the Hard Rock extending into Ishpeming before both make the downhill trek to Marquette.

With the Shore Rock circling back to its starting line, all three of the adult races end at Lakeview Arena in Marquette.

Story contents based on an email received from Great Deer Chase representative Kris Anderson and an examination of the Great Deer Chase and Ore to Shore websites. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.