Event organizers gear up for 19th annual 24 Hours in the Canyon

CANYON, Texas (KVII) — As of May 14, it's less than 17 days out to the start of 24 Hours in the Canyon. The annual fundraiser event is held at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Randall County, where final preparations are already underway for the 19th annual.

“We utilize all but about one trail at Palo Duro Canyon and also the road down in, so 800 folks registered and it’s going to be a full house,” said Ryan Parnell, event director for 24 Hours in the Canyon.

To help accommodate a large crowd of people who are going to be watching or participating in the 24 Hours in the Canyon portions of the park will have to be closed.

“Starting on Friday, May 30th, we're going to limit access to the back end of the canyon,” said Zach McMeans, assistant superintendent at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. “It’s a great event, it brings in excess of $400,000 that goes directly to the Don Harrington Cancer Survivorship Foundation.”

“We encompass pretty much everything from the stables on down into the park, plus we close the roads to participants only just for safety purposes,” said Parnell. “This way we don’t have folks who aren’t a part of the event on the road with our bikers.”

Last week at this time the majority of the trails were closed fast forward one week later and now all but one trail is open.

“It didn’t take long before we had some trail crew members come out on Monday, they reset some bridges, filled some holes and worked hard on getting them open,” said Mysti Pace, trails & resources manager at Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

A combination of graduations and 24 Hours in the Canyon, attendance is going to pick up but that also means were moving closer to the end of May and the start of June when temperatures get hotter in the canyon.

It’s always important to hydrate before you come inside the park to bike, hike or explore around.