The 50K starts at 6 a.m. from the same line and uses the first and last part of the 50 Mile course: up Avalon Canyon, out along Airport Road past the airport and through Rancho Escondido to Little Harbor Overlook. At the Overlook you turn left and run back to town by Ben Weston and Middle Ranch. There is no early start.
The surface is the same fire roads the 50 Mile uses. The course map gives 4,400 feet or more of climbing. Haypress is passed twice, at 5.4 miles on the way out and 29.3 on the way back.
The Avalon Benefit 50 Mile/50K Run is the Avalon Lions Club's fundraiser and the oldest ultra trail run in California. Both distances start together on Crescent Avenue in Avalon, in front of the Wrigley Stage, and run out into Catalina Island's interior on fire roads that are closed the rest of the year. The 50 Mile goes the length of the island to Two Harbors and turns for home; the 50K turns earlier, at Little Harbor Overlook, and comes back through Middle Ranch. Getting there is part of it. The 50 Mile starts at 5 a.m., so runners cross on the Friday boat from Long Beach, San Pedro or Dana Point and stay the night in Avalon.
A dozen Islanders organised the first benefit run in 1982, and the Avalon Lions Club has put it on ever since. It is a fundraiser first: the aid stations along the route are staffed by island student and civic groups, each of which is given a donation for the day, and what the Lions raise goes back into Catalina. A 50K was added in 2017. The 2021 edition was cancelled for Covid.
| Mile | Station | Cutoff | Crew access | Bag | Pacer | Med | To next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | Avalon Start/Finish | ? | ● | ? | ? | ? | 5.40 |
| 5.40 |
Haypress
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 7.00 |
| 12.40 |
Airport
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 5.40 |
| 17.80 |
Little Harbor Overlook
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 4.30 |
| 22.10 |
Eagles Nest Blue Grass Station
None · basic first aid
|
2:15pm | · | · | ? | ● | 5.20 |
| 27.30 |
Pumphouse Hill
None · basic first aid
|
3:30pm | · | · | ? | ● | 2.00 |
| 29.30 |
Haypress
None · basic first aid
|
? | · | · | ? | ● | 4.00 |
| 33.30 | Finish Line | 5:00pm | ● | · | ? | ? | ? |
18 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.
+ 10 more.
These are other people's work and we link straight to them. Watching costs nothing and needs no account. More of them: every race we hold, on film.
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This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.
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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.
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