RUN Wenatchee

The Desmarais twins, along with last year’s runner-up, Barry Hodges (far right), return for this year Red Devil 25K men’s trail race.

CASHMERE — The 2017 version of the Red Devil 25K Trail Run in the Wenatchee National Forest is shaping up to be a doozy Saturday morning.

World-renowned ultra runner Jeff Browning of Bend, Ore., is favored, but he will need to fend off defending co-champions Cyrus Desmarais and Niles Desmarais and several others to take home the title. The Desmaraises, twin brothers who grew up in Chelan and now reside in Colorado, crossed the finish line together at last year’s race.

Jeff Browning

Other notable trail runners entered in the Red Devil 25K, which features more than 3,500 feet of elevation gain, include Cashmere’s Barry Hodges (runner-up last year), Wenatchee’s Chad McBride (first in 2013 and fourth in 2015), Wenatchee’s Caleb Ambrose (winner of the April 29 Horse Lake Half-Marathon in the Wenatchee Foothills), and East Wenatchee’s Ed Henley (second-place men’s finisher at the Horse Lake Half).

In the women’s 25K on Saturday, Tove Pashkowski of Fernie, B.C., who finished third a year ago, returns for another shot at the title. Cashmere’s Sarah Parker, second among women in the Horse Lake Half, also is entered in the field.

The 25K, along with the event’s 10K trail race, are staged from the Sandcreek Trailhead south of Cashmere.

This is the seventh year the Red Devil races have been organized and held by RunWenatchee. Red Devil is the second of the three-part Wenatchee Valley Trail Run Series.

— RunWenatchee.com