Loading...
Ultras · US · NY

Virgil Crest Ultras

50 Mile · 50M
Registration open
As of this fill (22 days before race day), the 2026 course had not been published. The organizer states the route will differ substantially from prior years ('a major course shift') and that aid-station cutoffs will post once the course is finalized.
Race dateSeptember 12-13, 2026
Duration2 days
Start6:00am
Whenin 21 days
First held2008
Official website Entry Aid stations
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 50M
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 · 5 aid stations

Virgil Crest's half-length ultra, sharing the same start/finish as the 100 Mile. For 2026 the organizers have said the course will be substantially different from prior years; the specific route was not yet published as of this fill.

2026 course, distance and elevation are not yet published (see edition.status_note). For context only, NOT as this year's figures: the outgoing 2025 course measured 78.75 km (48.9 mi) with 3,371 m (11,060 ft) of gain per a route published by race co-director Vinny Cappadora (plotaroute.com/route/3106884, uploaded ~Sept/Oct 2025). A third-party pacing guide (runsummitline.com) states a 16.5-hour cutoff for this distance, but that guide describes the pre-2026 out-and-back course structure, which the organizers say is being replaced, so that number is NOT recorded as this year's time limit -- see _meta.conflicts.

The race

What this one is

A trail ultra on Finger Lakes ridgelines near Cortland, NY, run out of Hope Lake near Greek Peak Mountain Resort since 2008. Currently directed by Happily Running, which took the race over from its prior director and has said the course changes from year to year.

Getting in

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

Lottery
No
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
not checked yet
Crew, 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 happilyrunning.com
Vehicles per runner
not checked yet
Pacers
No ultrasignup.com
Muling
not checked yet
Drop bags
Yes ultrasignup.com
Cupless
not checked yet
Course marking
not checked yet
Night running
not checked yet
Dogs
not checked yet
Headphones
not checked yet
Crew rules
All crew and pacer actions are the runner's responsibility -- runners must make sure their crew knows the rules. The Start/Finish is confirmed for crew access, and there will be at least one additional crew-accessible station on the course (not yet specified which). happilyrunning.com
Pacer rules
The published pacer rule is scoped explicitly to '100 Mile entrants'; no pacer allowance is stated for the 50 Mile. Poles are permitted for all entrants regardless of distance; any left at an aid station for transport must fit in a drop bag. ultrasignup.com
Drop bag rules
Poles left at an aid station for transport must fit in a drop bag (implies a drop-bag transport system exists at aid stations); no separate drop-bag policy page was found. ultrasignup.com
Cutoff philosophy
not checked yet
Aid stations

Every stop, and what you get there ● yes   · no   ? nobody has checked

Mile Station Cutoff Crew Bag Pacer Med To next
? Start/Finish (Hope Lake) ? ● ? ? ? ?
? Joe's 8 ? ? ? ? ? ?
? The Hurt Locker ? ? ? ? ? ?
? Gravel Pit ? ? ? ? ? ?
? Start/Finish (Hope Lake) ? ● ? ? ? ?
Same race, other lines

Other distances and other years

Other distances
100 Mile (100M)
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.

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: 46 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.
31% 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
Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.
Anything else: [email protected]
Running this one?

NavRun builds your pacing from your own training, then turns it into a plan your crew can follow: when to leave and where to park.

Start free