Is crew access allowed on the 50 Miler course?

Yes, crew access is allowed on the 50 Miler course. "CREWS & PACERS : Crew access is limited. Pacers are generally discouraged but tolerated for those who have a special need; as determined by the race director. However, if you expect to vie for a place in the top ten (men or women) pacers are NOT allowed; you could jeopardize your top-ten place by having a pacer."

Are drop bags allowed on the 50 Miler course?

Yes, drop bags are allowed on the 50 Miler course. You are allowed to have a drop bag for MMTR, 50 Miler and 100K distances (don't bring a suitcase). The morning of the race, you will take your drop bag to the start line and place it in a trailer/truck. Your bag will be transported to mile 20~, the turn around Aid Station and wait for you at Long Mountain Wayside where you will have two opportunities to utilize it. Then it will be taken to the finish line where you'll pick it up. If you leave it, We keep it (we don't mail items as a general rule).

Are pacers allowed on the 50 Miler course?

Yes, pacers are allowed on the 50 Miler course. "CREWS & PACERS : Crew access is limited. Pacers are generally discouraged but tolerated for those who have a special need; as determined by the race director. However, if you expect to vie for a place in the top ten (men or women) pacers are NOT allowed; you could jeopardize your top-ten place by having a pacer."

What is the cutoff time for the 50 Miler course?

The overall time limit for the 50 Miler course is 13 hours from the start. "Cutoff: 50 Mile/50K races have a 13 hour cutoff." Sub-13-hour finishers receive a finisher's award; the FAQ states finishers after the cutoff do not receive a finisher shirt ("For both the 50 Mile and 50K races the goal is to finish within the allotted time frame").

Ultras · US · VA

Mountain Masochist Trail Run

44th Mountain Masochist Trail Run

50 Miler · 50 Mile

Waitlist only

Registration open via UltraSignup as of research date (Aug 2026); closes Wed, Nov 4, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET.

Race dateNovember 7, 2026

Start5:30am

Whenin 22 days

First held1983

Who's going to Mountain Masochist Trail Run?

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 Results Aid stations 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 50 Mile

Climb 9,000 ft

Descent not checked yet

High point 4,000 ft

Time limit 13:00:00

Aid stations 14

Started not checked yet

Finished not checked yet

Finish rate not checked yet

The course

Where it goes loop · 14 aid stations

Course line from the race's own GPX. Source file.

One of the longest-running 50-mile trail races in the US, on gravel roads, jeep roads and singletrack in the Blue Ridge Mountains, starting and finishing at the Montebello Campground.

Runs the historic MMTR course "backwards" (relative to the pre-2023 direction) with old and new trails, gravel/jeep roads and singletrack (notably the Hotel Trail and the Mount Pleasant Loop, run counterclockwise inbound). Elk Pond Mountain (~4,000 ft) is the course high point. DISTANCE DISCREPANCY: branded as a "50 Miler" but the race's own aid-station chart gives a cumulative finish mileage of 51.2 mi, not 50.0 mi. Third-party sources give elevation gain around 9,200 ft (race.vacations) against the official site's own "over 9000 feet" (a floor, not an exact figure).

The race

What this one is

A trail ultramarathon starting and finishing at the Montebello Campground in Montebello, Virginia, run on gravel and jeep roads and singletrack in the Blue Ridge Mountains (George Washington National Forest). Offered at three distances from the same start/finish: 50 Mile, 50K, and 100K. Part of the Lynchburg Ultra Series alongside Holiday Lake, Terrapin Mountain and Promise Land, and traditionally the series' final race, held the first Saturday in November.

Founded in 1983 by David Horton, who wanted a 50-mile race along the Appalachian Trail from the James River to the Tye River; when the National Park Service would not permit a race on the AT, US Forest Service rangers helped him design a course finishing at the Montebello Country Store instead. The inaugural race had 21 starters and 13 finishers. Horton directed the race for 25 years before handing it to Clark Zealand in 2008. The race was cancelled in 2020 (COVID-19), the only cancellation in its history, though a group of locals ran an informal 50K fatass course to keep the streak alive. Jordan Cooter, Tim Spaulding and Brenton Swyers became co-race-directors in 2022. A 50K option was added in 2021 and a 100K option debuted in 2024.

Getting in

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

Lottery: No ultrasignup.com

Lottery opens: not checked yet

Lottery draw: not checked yet

Field cap: not checked yet

Registration: UltraSignup ultrasignup.com

Qualifying: not checked yet

Minimum age: not checked yet

Transfers: not checked yet

Deferrals: No runmmtr.com

Running, crewing, pacing or still deciding

How NavRun helps with Mountain Masochist Trail Run Thirteen hours, and two stations with a clock on each.

You are running it

You reach Loop OUT, mile 39.3, before its 3:45pm cutoff, and you already knew that this morning.

An arrival time for all 12 stations, worked out from your own training.

Start free →

You are deciding

You find out Mountain Masochist Trail Run is months of work away, not years, and you enter.

Put in a race you have already run. NavRun shows you where this one sits from where you are.

No account needed →

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 runmmtr.com

Vehicles per runner: not checked yet

Pacers: Yes runmmtr.com

Muling: not checked yet

Drop bags: Yes runmmtr.com

Cupless: not checked yet

Course marking: not checked yet

Night running: Yes runmmtr.com

Dogs: not checked yet

Headphones: not checked yet

Crew rules: "CREWS & PACERS : Crew access is limited. Pacers are generally discouraged but tolerated for those who have a special need; as determined by the race director. However, if you expect to vie for a place in the top ten (men or women) pacers are NOT allowed; you could jeopardize your top-ten place by having a pacer." runmmtr.com

Pacer rules: "CREWS & PACERS : Crew access is limited. Pacers are generally discouraged but tolerated for those who have a special need; as determined by the race director. However, if you expect to vie for a place in the top ten (men or women) pacers are NOT allowed; you could jeopardize your top-ten place by having a pacer." runmmtr.com

Drop bag rules: You are allowed to have a drop bag for MMTR, 50 Miler and 100K distances (don't bring a suitcase). The morning of the race, you will take your drop bag to the start line and place it in a trailer/truck. Your bag will be transported to mile 20~, the turn around Aid Station and wait for you at Long Mountain Wayside where you will have two opportunities to utilize it. Then it will be taken to the finish line where you'll pick it up. If you leave it, We keep it (we don't mail items as a general rule). runmmtr.com

Cutoff philosophy: "Cutoff: 50 Mile/50K races have a 13 hour cutoff." Sub-13-hour finishers receive a finisher's award; the FAQ states finishers after the cutoff do not receive a finisher shirt ("For both the 50 Mile and 50K races the goal is to finish within the allotted time frame"). runmmtr.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	Starting Line	?	●	?	?	?	2.30
2.30	Forest Gate (FLUID DROP ONLY)	?	○	?	?	?	7.00
9.30	Salt Log Gap	?	●	?	?	?	2.60
11.90	Loop	?	●	?	?	?	4.00
15.90	Cabin	?	●	?	?	?	4.90
20.80	Long Mountain (DROP BAGS)	?	●	●	?	?	3.40
24.20	Reservoir	?	○	?	?	?	3.40
27.60	Long Mountain (DROP BAGS)	?	●	●	?	?	4.90
32.50	Cabin	?	●	?	?	?	1.80
34.30	Loop IN	?	●	?	?	?	5.00
39.30	Loop OUT	3:45pm	●	?	?	?	2.60
41.90	Salt Log Gap	4:20pm	●	?	?	?	7.00
48.90	Forest Gate (FLUID DROP ONLY)	?	○	?	?	?	2.30
51.20	Finish Line	?	●	●	?	?	?

Same race, other lines

Other distances and other years

Other distances: 100K
50K

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.

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

Mountain Masochist Train Run - 50k, 50 Mile, 100k

Promo

Social account

runmmtr

Social account

All (2) Social account (1) Promo (1)

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.

Which distance? Leave blank if it applies to the whole race.

Which stop? Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Give it a short title: Optional. Something like “Cal Street, mile 62 to 78”.

What do you wish someone had told you? Write it the way you would say it to someone at the start line.

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

What year? Optional.

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

Website: 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.

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

What does the page say now? Copy it as it appears, so we can find it.

What should it say? The corrected value.

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

A link that shows it: Optional.

Or a photo of it: Optional. A screenshot or a photo of the sign works.

Were you there? Optional, and it decides nothing.

What year? Optional.

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

Which distance? Leave blank if it is about the whole race.

Which stop? Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Website: 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.

What does it show that the page cannot? Required. A line is plenty. Where the climbs are, what the footing does, what the last twenty miles look like.

Were you there? Optional, and it decides nothing.

What year? Optional.

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

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

What kind of thing is it?

Who made it? Optional, and we credit them on the page.

Website: 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.

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.

Where this came from. Every fact on this page records its source and when we last checked it: 167 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.

44% 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
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.