Trail running races are no more dangerous from a bear attack perspective than countless other outdoor activities in the state. This race (and many others like it--it is part of a whole series of mountain/trail races) has been run for 30 years without incident.  Not only that, but this trail, and many similar trails, are used for trail running/hiking constantly throughout the summer.  If anything, a bear is less likely, not more likely, to remain near the trail on days when there is more traffic and larger numbers of people making noise.  The people that run, and organize, this race spend far greater amounts of time on trails like this than most people, and are as far from "green horns" as you can get.  These incidents unfortunately sometimes happen despite normal precautions (see article today about the miner killed by a black bear yesterday).