DELAWARE, Ohio - Ryan Moran swung a hoe at a clump of frozen mud at Alum Creek State Park yesterday, sending snow and dirt flying. For a half-mile along the trail, other volunteers were doing the same. They chipped away at footprints and ruts left behind by runners taking part in a post-rain trail race on Jan. 12. More than 400 people ran along one of the park's mountain-bike trails, which had become soggy and squishy after a hard rain.

DELAWARE, Ohio � Ryan Moran swung a hoe at a clump of frozen mud at Alum Creek State Park yesterday, sending snow and dirt flying. For a half-mile along the trail, other volunteers were doing the same.

They chipped away at footprints and ruts left behind by runners taking part in a post-rain trail race on Jan. 12. More than 400 people ran along one of the park�s mountain-bike trails, which had become soggy and squishy after a hard rain.

The race encouraged trail runners who are working on a dedicated running path in another part of the park.

However, it also destroyed the trail for mountain bikers.

�You get 400 people running through the mud, and the trail went from being 18 inches wide to being 4 to 5 feet wide,� said Gregg Soster, president of the Central Ohio Mountain Bike Organization, or COMBO. �It looks like cows came through there, like a cow path.�

That�s bad for the trail, and bad for the environment, Soster said. What had once been relatively smooth dirt was left rutted by footprints. The trail also had been sloped so that water flowed off it. Now, the water is trapped in the middle of the trail.

�I had no idea the devastation we were causing to the trail,� said Sunshine Sung, a Columbus runner who helped make repairs yesterday. �We love the trail. We want to do anything we can to make this right.�

Alum Creek�s Phase One mountain-bike trail has been around for about 20 years. It started after an Eagle Scout posted a sign near a deer path at the park designating it a mountain-bike trail as part of a community-service project.

Over the years, COMBO volunteers have moved the trail and fixed it up, banking turns and sloping the path to help water flow off it. The trail is about 6 miles long. Mountain bikers took almost 10,000 rides on the trail last year.

COMBO is a nonprofit organization that maintains that trail and two more at Alum Creek, plus a trail at Chestnut Ridge Metro Park.

Jeff Henderson, general manager of Fleet Feet Columbus, which organized the runners� Roots and Rocks Trail Race, said he and other trail runners have been working with the mountain-bike organization to learn about how running and biking affect trails.

The trail is more likely to be harmed when it is muddy. Henderson said the runners didn�t realize how bad the effects of their race would be.

Fleet Feet organized yesterday�s volunteer day to try to repair the damage, he said. About 40 people participated.They all feel bad that the race damaged the trail, Henderson said, and they�re trying to make it right.

But there could be a silver lining, several runners and bikers said: The damage could help all of them learn more about how to keep the trail intact.

That�s what Moran hopes will happen. As he chipped away at frozen footprints, he said he hopes more people who play outside will learn about the damage they can do if they run or ride on a trail when conditions aren�t right.

�It�s something we should all be more passionate about,� he said.

larenschield@dispatch.com

@larenschield