Baker Trail UltraChallenge Godfrey, PA   Aug 29, 2026

The Baker Trail UltraChallenge is a 50-mile ultramarathon on the Baker Trail. Individuals as well as relay teams of up to 5 members may register. In 2025 we covered the Southern section. This year, we’ll run the Northern section. Each year, a piece of a unique three-piece medal will be awarded to all individuals who finish within the fourteen hour cutoff. When you complete all three sections, you’ll receive a handsome commemorative holder to display all three medals. You can run the series in any order — once you’ve run all three, you’ll receive the medal holder.

The Baker Trail
The 134-mile Baker Trail is marked as a typical hiking trail. Yellow blazes on trees, telephone poles, fence posts, guard rails, and so on indicate the path. Unlike many hiking trails, the Baker Trail is not always a footpath through the woods. In many areas, it follows dirt or paved country roads, some with narrow shoulders. As with road running everywhere, you must always be alert and cautious.

Because of the varying terrain, the UltraChallenge is more mentally demanding than similar ultras. You must always be watching for the blazes in order to stay on the course. In places, the Trail will be following a road only to abruptly turn off the road into the woods. Therefore, if you haven’t seen a blaze in a few minutes, you may be off course and should backtrack to the last blaze and determine where you went wrong. Plenty of runners will go off-course at least once during the day. If you expect — and accept — that you will, too, it won’t be quite as frustrating. The key to a successful race is to realize it quickly. Attending any or all of the three training runs (see section below) is a great strategy for learning the course prior to the race.

The Venue
The Brookville Evangelical Methodist Church (located at 30 White Street, Brookville, PA, 15825) will serve as basecamp for the event.