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Ultras · US · IL

American Bottoms

113 Mile · 113.6 miles
Registration open
Race dateMarch 20, 2027
Start6:00am
Whenin 147 days

Who's going to American Bottoms?

Free. You can start with nothing.

Free, and always will be. NavRun makes money from race-day planning for runners who want it, never from this. Ultras change constantly, sometimes the morning of. Always confirm with the race director and the official website before you rely on anything here.
Distance The race
113.6 miles
Climb The race
1,591 ft
Descent
not checked yet
High point
not checked yet
Time limit The race
35:00:00
Aid stations
18
Started
not checked yet
Finished
not checked yet
Finish rate
not checked yet
The course

Where it goes out and back · 18 aid stations

Course line from the race's own GPX. Source file. Year of this file not known.

Out and back from Sunset Overlook in Columbia, Illinois to the Kaskaskia aid station and back, on levees and back roads. 51% pavement, 49% gravel.

The course is 100% complete exposure with no protection from sun, heat, rain, lightning, freezing cold or strong wind. Cell coverage can be spotty on the southern part of the course. The gravel is a mix of easily runnable to slightly more challenging, mostly in the southern part.

The race

What this one is

A road ultra along the Mississippi River through the historic American Bottom, starting at Sunset Overlook in Columbia, Illinois, just outside St. Louis. The route runs on levees and back roads, loosely following the American Discovery Trail and the Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail, past Piggott's Fort, Fort de Chartres and Prairie du Rocher. It offers a 113 mile and a 56 mile option.

Getting in

Getting in Entry, lottery and what the race asks of you before race day.

Lottery
not checked yet
Lottery opens
not checked yet
Lottery draw
not checked yet
Field cap
30 ultrasignup.com
Registration
UltraSignup ultrasignup.com
Qualifying
not checked yet
Minimum age
not checked yet
Transfers
not checked yet
Deferrals
No americanbottomsultra.com
Crew access, pacers and drop bags

The rules that shape your day Anything marked "not checked yet" is a gap in what we hold, never a no from the race.

Crew allowed
Yes americanbottomsultra.com
Vehicles per runner
not checked yet
Pacers
Yes, from mile 56.80 americanbottomsultra.com
Muling
Not allowed americanbottomsultra.com
Drop bags
Yes americanbottomsultra.com
Cupless
not checked yet
Course marking
Fully Marked americanbottomsultra.com
Night running
Yes americanbottomsultra.com
Dogs
not checked yet
Headphones
not checked yet
Crew rules
Your crew must park at the crew accessible aid stations, not adjacent to them. They cannot park on top of the levee. Your crew is not allowed to give you aid after you leave the aid station. Your crew is not allowed to meet you at any point on the course except the crew accessible aid stations. Absolutely no vehicles are allowed on the levees. Crew are allowed only at Garleb Rd, Ivy Rd, Fort de Chartres, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia. americanbottomsultra.com
Pacer rules
A pacer can be picked up at Kaskaskia (mile 56.8), Fort de Chartres (mile 75.8), Ivy Rd (mile 83.1) and Garleb Rd (mile 100.9). One pacer at a time. The pacer signs a waiver at packet pick up or at the aid station they join, wears the PACER bib visibly, and wears a Hi-Vis running-style reflective vest at night. A pacer cannot carry your food, water or gear, and cannot pull you along with a short rope. americanbottomsultra.com
Drop bag rules
Drop bags are allowed at Garleb Rd, Ivy Rd, Fort de Chartres, and Kaskaskia. Write name, bib number and aid station name on the bag; unmarked bags are not transported. Roughly 12x16 inches at most, no hard sided containers, and waterproof. Returned to the start line no later than 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. americanbottomsultra.com
Cutoff philosophy
Cut-off times will be strictly enforced. americanbottomsultra.com
Aid stations

Every stop, and what you get there ● yes   ○ no   ? nobody has checked   – does not apply to this race

Mile Station Cutoff Crew access Bag Pacer Med To next
6.60 B Rd ? ○ ○ ○ ? 6.10
12.70 Garleb Rd ? ● ● ○ ? 5.10
17.80 Fountain ? ○ ○ ○ ? 6.20
24.00 Mitchie Rd ? ○ ○ ○ ? 6.50
30.50 Ivy Rd 3:30pm ● ● ○ ? 7.30
37.80 Fort de Chartres ? ● ● ○ ? 4.20
42.00 Prairie du Rocher ? ● ○ ○ ? 7.20
49.20 Ste. Genevieve ? ○ ○ ○ ? 7.60
56.80 Kaskaskia 11:30pm ● ● ● ? 7.60
64.40 Ste. Genevieve ? ○ ○ ○ ? 7.20
71.60 Prairie du Rocher ? ● ○ ○ ? 4.20
75.80 Fort de Chartres 5:25am ● ● ● ? 7.30
83.10 Ivy Rd ? ● ● ● ? 6.50
89.60 Mitchie Rd 9:40am ○ ○ ○ ? 6.20
95.80 Fountain ? ○ ○ ○ ? 5.10
100.90 Garleb Rd 1:10pm ● ● ● ? 6.10
107.00 B Rd ? ○ ○ ○ ? 6.60
113.60 Finish 5:00pm ? ? ? ? ?
Same race, other lines

Other distances and other years

Other distances
56 Mile (56.8 miles)
What it looks like out there

Somebody has been out there with a camera the tables say the climb is long. these say what long feels like.

Nobody has been out there with a camera or a microphone yet. A gap means nobody has found it, not that it is not out there. Seen a course preview or a film of this one? Send us the link.

Add to this page

What you know every one of these is read by a person before it changes anything

Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know.

Nobody sees it until we have read it. No account, no sign-in.

Leave blank if it applies to the whole race.

Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Optional. Something like “Cal Street, mile 62 to 78”.

Write it the way you would say it to someone at the start line.

Optional, and it decides nothing. It only tells the next runner where this is coming from.

Optional.

Optional, and never shown on the page. Only so we can ask you a question about this note.

Leave this field blank.

See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit.

This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.

Optional. Filled in for you when you start from a specific line on the page.

Copy it as it appears, so we can find it.

The corrected value.

Required. Where it came from: the race email, the runner manual, what you saw on the day.

Optional.

Optional. A screenshot or a photo of the sign works.

Optional, and it decides nothing.

Optional.

Optional, only so we can come back to you about this correction.

Leave blank if it is about the whole race.

Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Leave this field blank.

Seen a course preview or a film of this one? Send it over.

Somebody watches it before it goes anywhere near this page. What we are after is footage of this course, on the ground. If it would be just as true of any other race, it is not this.

Required. A line is plenty. Where the climbs are, what the footing does, what the last twenty miles look like.

Optional, and it decides nothing.

Optional.

Optional, and never shown on the page. Only so we can ask you a question about this one.

A YouTube link, a race report, a photo gallery, whatever it is.

Optional, and we credit them on the page.

Leave this field blank.

Have the GPX? Send us the link.

We want the address of the file the race publishes, not the file. We download it from there so the page can say where the line came from.

The page or file on the race's own site.

Optional, and only so we can ask you a question about it.

Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.

We read every one of these and we write back. Every fact here carries the source it came from, and the way a wrong one gets fixed is a person checking it against what you tell us.

Required, because this is a conversation and we write back.

Tell us what is wrong, out of date, or missing on this page. We read every one of these and we will get back to you.

Optional.

So we know who we are writing back to.

Optional. Director, assistant, comms, whoever you are.

Leave this field blank.

Where this came from. Every fact on this page records its source and when we last checked it: 133 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.
43% of what we track for a course is filled in. The rest says "not checked yet" rather than guessing.
See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit
Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know
Were you out there? Say which stops a text got out from
Got footage of this course? Send us the link
Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.
Anything else: [email protected]

Ultras change. We will tell you when this one does.

Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.

No account, and nothing to cancel.

What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.

I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.

Ultras change. We will tell you when this one does.

Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.

No account, and nothing to cancel.

What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.

I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.