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Ultras · US · MO

Flat Branch Ultra

50K
Registration open
Registration is open.
Race dateFebruary 20, 2027
Start8:00am
Whenin 119 days
First held2022

Who's going to Flat Branch Ultra?

I'm running itPlan your weeks and your aid station times I'm crewingWhen to leave, where to park, at every stop I'm pacing or cheeringAsk your runner for their Out Here link

Free. You can start with nothing.

Official website Entry Aid stations Crew access Notify me if this race changes
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 From the name
50K The race calls this course “50K” and hasn't published a measured distance. Trail courses often run long.
Climb
not checked yet
Descent
not checked yet
High point
not checked yet
Time limit
not checked yet
Aid stations
5
Started
not checked yet
Finished
not checked yet
Finish rate
not checked yet
The course

Where it goes out and back · 5 aid stations · rust marks a stop your crew can reach

The 50K begins on the MKT Trail and continues onto the Katy Trail toward Rocheport, along the Missouri River and beneath bluffs. The Halfway Home aid station is just east of Rocheport, beyond the Interstate 70 bridge, and runners turn around there. The course is USATF-certified.

Flat, fast rails-to-trails. Runners pass the nearly 400-year-old Burr Oak, the inspiration for the race logo, about 8.5 miles in. Dogs are allowed if their runners start at the back of the pack; runners with dogs are not eligible for state records or overall awards.

The race

What this one is

The Flat Branch Ultra is a USATF-certified 50K and a USATF-certified 25K on flat rails-to-trails in Columbia, Missouri. Both start and finish at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park. The 50K follows the MKT Trail onto the Katy Trail toward Rocheport along the Missouri River. Only 125 total spots are available.

The Flat Branch Ultra debuted in 2022 as a November event, starting and finishing at Flat Branch City Park in Columbia. It moved to February in 2024, and the start and finish moved to Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park in 2025. The 50K became USATF-certified in 2026, and a certified 25K was added in 2027.

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
125 ultrasignup.com
Registration
UltraSignup ultrasignup.com
Qualifying
not checked yet
Minimum age
not checked yet
Transfers
not checked yet
Deferrals
not checked yet
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 haharacingevents.com
Vehicles per runner
not checked yet
Pacers
No haharacingevents.com
Muling
not checked yet
Drop bags
Yes ultrasignup.com
Cupless
Yes haharacingevents.com
Course marking
Unmarked haharacingevents.com
Night running
not checked yet
Dogs
Allowed ultrasignup.com
Headphones
not checked yet
Crew rules
Crew members may assist their runner only at designated aid stations. Assisting runners anywhere else on the course is not permitted. haharacingevents.com
Pacer rules
No pacing is allowed on the course. haharacingevents.com
Drop bag rules
Drop bags are taken to the Halfway Home aid station and brought back to the start/finish line after all runners complete the turnaround. Use a soft bag such as a duffel or dry bag, not a tote or bin. haharacingevents.com
Cutoff philosophy
Runners reach Halfway Home by noon and are off the course before dark. Every runner checks in at the Halfway Home turnaround by calling out their bib number and last name. ultrasignup.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
0.00 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park
NoneSignal wrong?
 ? ? ? ? ? 3.25
3.25 Scott Blvd
NoneSignal wrong?
 ? ● ? ? ? 5.25
8.50 Bur Oak
NoneSignal wrong?
 ? ● ? ? ? 7.00
15.50 Halfway Home
NoneSignal wrong?
 12:00pm ● ● ? ? 15.50
31.00 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park
NoneSignal wrong?
 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Driving your crew

Getting your people there 3 stops with directions the race published.

Scott Blvd mile 3.25

Parking. Parking is available in a nearby lot.

Bur Oak mile 8.50

Parking. Park on the shoulder of the gravel road near the aid station. The access road is obvious on approach.

Halfway Home mile 15.50 cutoff 12:00pm

Parking. Park at the Rocheport Katy Trail Trailhead, then walk 0.4 miles east on the trail to the aid station.

Same race, other lines

Other distances and other years

Other distances
25K
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.

4 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.

Social account

haharacingevents

Social account
Official channel

Ha Ha Racing Events

Official channel
Social account

Ha Ha Racing Events

Social account
Social account

Flat Branch Ultra

Social account
All (4) Official channel (1) Social account (3)

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.

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: 59 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.
25% 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.