The Nipmuck Trail Marathon is a classic old-school trail race held in the quiet countryside of eastern CT and is run as a double out & back along the blue-blazed Nipmuck Trail.
WHAT IT’S NOT: These days you have an overwhelming array of choices for outdoor adventures. This race seeks to preserve many of the qualities from the early days of the New England trail racing scene.
NipMuck Trail Marathon: The original NipMuck event. This 26.4 mile race on Connecticut’s Nipmuck Trail offers it all: rocks, roots, mud, wood bridges and everything in between. A challenging trail race, and one that can’t be missed!
NipMuck Relay: We are excited to offer a relay option to runners who want to tackle the NipMuck experience as a team. Relay teams consist of two runners, one of whom will complete the first half of the NipMuck course and the second runner who will complete the second half of the course. This event is perfect for runners who want to participate in the NipMuck experience but aren’t ready for the full marathon distance, parents who want to bring the kids but both want to run in the race, or maybe pairs of speedy folks who would like to see an insanely fast time on the notoriously tricky course.
The NipMuck Trail Marathon race course follows a 13 mile segment in the middle of the 36 mile Nipmuck Trail starting on Perry Hill Road in Ashford. The marathon runs south for 6.2 miles down to Rt 44, then back to the start, then north for 7 miles to Boston Hollow Road, then turns around and back to the finish at Perry Hill Road.
60% of your time will be spent in the second half of the race due to hills and a bit more distance. We’ll have people out there if you choose to do a marathon in up to 8 hours, the time limit for this race. We will be enforcing a 3:15 cutoff at the mid-point and 5:20 at the 2nd half turnaround. Please respect our volunteers who are putting in a long day in the woods on your behalf and do not continue if you don’t make the cutoff.
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Very Muddy Year
truly a trail run. I've finished it 7 times now. I have never DNF'd here before. Even when I got off course my first time. Be patient. the time cutoffs … MORE
truly a trail run. I’ve finished it 7 times now. I have never DNF’d here before.
Even when I got off course my first time. Be patient. the time cutoffs are generous! If you want to finish, just keep going. You can finish it, if I can, cuz I’m back of the back of the pack runner. can’t whine, can’t be too confident, unless you’ve run this race before. Know that it will be rocky. Train on rockiest of single track trails, and you should be good to go. Very easy trail markers already there, and a few extra markings where one could get confused. Friendliest of volunteers, and great offerings of food.