I ran the front 50 with my brother. (They offer the front or back 50 of the 100). We are both marathon veterans but this was our first Ultra and first real trail race. The experience was outstanding from start to finish. The course is a point to point and there is no real parking at the starting line at Squire’s Castle. We had our son’s drop us off or they offer shuttle service from the Sheraton.

The expo is held at the Sheraton Hotel near the start. They had plenty of good swag to purchase and the shirts were pretty nice, short sleeeved tech shirts. They also give you a race logo sticker. There is also a pre race dinner that we purchased but opted not to attend because I was staying with my brother and he lives over an hour away. The 6 pm dinner was just too late since we were planning to go to sleep about then. Thus, I can’t speak for the dinner.

My only real critique would be at the starting line at Squire’s Castle. The 100 starts at 4 am and the 50 at 5. (I think the relay started at 6:00). The relay is a 4 person 100 and 8 person 100, male, female, and co-ed). There is virtually no lighting at the starting line and it’s edtremely dark. It would’ve been nice to have some more lights. There also were not enough toilets. Other than that, and all things considered, this race was better managed than the much, much larger Cleveland Marathon which I ran in May.

The course was pretty great, offering some road and easy trail running at the beginning to some pretty technical and steep terrain later, especially after mile 37. It is very well marked and later as the field spread out we had no trouble staying on course. It’s pretty scenic in most sections. Most of the first 12 miles are on the road, a nice and smooth way to get into the grind in the dark and then into daybreak as the course winds through scenic meadows and nice semi rural neighborhoods. The aid stations were simply top notch with enthusiastic volunteers and tons of aid from Tailwind to food as well as fist aid and supplements like electrolyte caps. We were both blown away by how good the aid stations were.

After the first manned aid station just after mile 12 the race continues into some moderate trails with multiple stream crossings. I was glad I’d packed 2 extra pairs of shoes and 4 pairs of socks. (Our wives crewed us at the manned stations at 12, 20, and 37 miles.). Although it didn’t rain during our run it had rained the night before. There was a decent amount of mud in the lower parts.

Occasionally the trail would break out into bridle path which made for easy running on grass. Portions of the course between 30 and 35 miles are on a tow path of crushed gravel. By far the most difficult portion of the course is after about mile 38 til the finish. Muddy bogs, steep trails, single track crisscrossed by roots, stream crossings, even a few sets of 12 inch wooden stairs including a masochistic 88 stairs right after mile 49 were the norm. There were short sections that were runnable here, at least by our middle of the pack standards, but many sections were too technical or steep to safely run. We fast walked most of these miles. As a point of reference we were running 10:30-12 minute miles while running. There were portions after mile 38 where it was all we could do to maintain 23 minute per mile pace. All this said, my Garmin had us at 4,000 feet of elevation gain, not too bad by some standards. It was new territory for us and I’d be willing to bet that a significant portion of that elevation is late in the race.

The finish is well manned and there were plenty of cheering people considering the relatively small field. The finishers medal is really nice and is now the centerpiece of my collection. There is an after party at the ski lodge at Boston Mills but we didn’t attend. We were just ready for ice and a shower.

Overall I would do this again and highly recommend this race. From the beautiful course to the enthusiastic volunteers to the top notch and timely aid stations this race is a gem. Do it. You won’t be sorry.