The Athens-Big Fork Trail Marathon and Blaylock Creek 17 Mile Fun Run take place on the Athens-Big Fork Trail. This is actually >100 year old horse postal trail. After running this, you will wish you had a horse! The race starts at the Big Fork Community Center located on Hwy …
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The Athens-Big Fork Trail Marathon and Blaylock Creek 17 Mile Fun Run take place on the Athens-Big Fork Trail. This is actually >100 year old horse postal trail. After running this, you will wish you had a horse!
The race starts at the Big Fork Community Center located on Hwy 8 on the eastern side of the town of Big Fork. The course is an out and back course. You first run 2-1/2 miles on roads – paved and gravel up to the start of the trail. Then you enter the Athens-Big Fork Trail – White Blazes. Follow the trail over 8 mountains. The 8 mountain crossings on the trail are:
Missouri
Hurricane Knob
McKinley
Brier Creek
Leader
Brushheap
Brushy
Big Tom
You pop out of the trail and need to go about a half mile down the gravel road to get your full 13.1. Then you turn around and go back. It’s that easy!
The 17 Mile Blaylock Creek Fun Run only gets to run half of the hills. You will turn around at the Aid Station just across Blaylock Creek.
What this means to you the runner. Here are some statistics for you to consider – this is the “out” of the out and back:
Max Elevation: 1850
Min Elevation: 1050
Climbing Elevation Gain: 4600 feet
Climbing Distance: 7.10 miles
Average Grade: 12%
NOTE: This event is NOT for trail-newbies. If you are not an experienced trail – or ultra-runner (or adventure racer), we happily invite you to one of the other UTS runs, BUT NOT THIS ONE. This is a difficult event on a difficult trail that presents many opportunities for one to get lost, injured, exhausted, or incapacitated–with sparse access for rescue.
MORE Notes:
Please do not be enticed into trying this run because of the difficulty warning–it is merely an honest attempt at preventing the run organizers from having to find and rescue someone ill-equipped for the event.
A cut-off time of 10:30am (2.5 hours) will be enforced at the turn-around (halfway) point for the 17-mile run. Runners reaching that point after 10:30 must turn around (i.e. NOT proceed on the marathon course).
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