Experience the largest campus in the world – Berry College’s 27,000 acre wonderland, packed with miles and miles of historic buildings, pristine forest, and diverse wildlife. Run among some of Berry’s 1,200+ deer and enjoy the hospitality of our school/college volunteers! Whether you are a seasoned runner or looking to …
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Experience the largest campus in the world – Berry College’s 27,000 acre wonderland, packed with miles and miles of historic buildings, pristine forest, and diverse wildlife. Run among some of Berry’s 1,200+ deer and enjoy the hospitality of our school/college volunteers! Whether you are a seasoned runner or looking to run your first race, this race offers distances for the whole family.
There are no public roads! The race follows the “stretch road” to the mountain campus, past Frost Chapel, Berry College Elementary & Middle School, and the Old Mill, through the WinShape dairy barns, down Possum Trot Rd., and back to main campus on the Viking Trail to the finish line at the Ford Buildings. This is a relatively flat course with a few moderate hills (download elevation chart / course map below). The bulk of the course is run on paved surface with a short distance on hard-packed dirt road (mile 6-7 to the Old Mill) and another short distance on gravel (mile 8-9 on Possum Trot Rd).
Race highlights:
– Scenic Course
– Amazing half marathon finisher medal
– Participant T-Shirt
– Race Packet
– Finisher Refreshments
– Age Group Awards
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Berry Good
I needed to fly to Buenos Aires the evening of this race for the Marathon Tours Antarctica Trip. There were not any direct flights from Boston to Buenos Aires so … MORE
I needed to fly to Buenos Aires the evening of this race for the Marathon Tours Antarctica Trip. There were not any direct flights from Boston to Buenos Aires so I did the only logical options for any half fanatic which is figure out what city that has direct flights to Buenos Aires I could fly to Friday and run a half on Saturday. Well Atlanta has direct flights to Buenos Aires so decided to fly to Atlanta Friday and run this race Saturday. This race is located at the Berry College campus which is an about an hour and 15 minutes outside Atlanta. I stayed in Cartersville which is between Atlanta and Mount Berry Friday. The race has race day packet pickup. Parking and packet pick up was really easy. Packet included a nice short sleeved tech shirt and a coupon to chik-fil-a which I gave to a friend as I don’t eat there. The only minor issue is the start is about 1/2 mile from the packet pick up. Not a huge deal. They had good signs of where to go for packet pick up but I wish there were also signs to direct how to get to the start. There seemed to be some assumption participants were similar with the school which I am not. It was easy enough to follow the crowd. Start was fairly organized but was just a mass start. The race initially said there was a 3:30 time limit but with the final race information they said 4:00 hour time limit. The last thing I wanted to do was injure myself or make my back worse before Antarctica so I stood near the back as decided to take this race very easy with the long time limit. I really enjoyed the first 10 miles of the race. They were beautiful through a wonderful wooded street and around the “mountain campus.” Some scenery include an adventure course, school buildings, a retreat center, a nice lake and the equine center which meant horses. Even though it’s on the mountain campus the elevation profile is not too bad. It’s moderately hilly but nothing terrible and much, much flatter than the Publix Atlanta Half which is the other half I did in Georgia. However I hated the last 3 miles which were on an ugly, unshaded trail and it got really hot. I agree with the other reviewer this would be better sooner in the course. However I believe it is at the end to keep roads closed. That’s probably the best part of the race that roads are 100% closed which is amazing in a smaller, cheaper race. I believe it is held on the college’s spring break to be able to do this but it does mean crowd support is rather sparse. Production is quite good. Mostly well marked though the course is a bit confusing and I saw someone take a wrong turn but get promptly corrected by a volunteer. There were mile markers and a good amount of aid stations. The first two just had water, the rest had water and Gatorade and one closer to the end also had Gu. Another thing I liked was these trailer toilets they used instead of porta potties. There were a few on course and at the start. They were nicer than porta potties and I really liked that they had sinks to wash your hands. I was doing fairly well about a 3:10 pace until the last 3 miles which were so hot I mostly walked as I didn’t want heat stroke before my trip. The finish line announcer was great and there were a lot of people cheering. The announcer cheered on us back of packers very enthusiastically. I thought the medal was only okay. It was below average but not terrible and fair for the race price. Post race food was fine: bagels with PB or cream cheese, granola bar and fruit. Overall I thought this was a solid race. There were things I liked more about this one and things I liked more about the Publix Atlanta Half if I were to compare the two. Atlanta is better if you like bigger, urban races and don’t want to rent a car. This race is better if you like more nature scenery and smaller to mid sized races and don’t mind driving a bit. I’d definitely recommend this race to locals and it could be a good option for 50 staters depending on what you are looking for. I probably wouldn’t travel to Georgia just to do this race but if I had another reason to be there like I did this weekend I would do this race again.
Not Flat
This small town race is absolutely gorgeous. You run from the Berry College Main Campus to the Mountain Campus and back. There is a reason it is called the mountain … MORE
This small town race is absolutely gorgeous. You run from the Berry College Main Campus to the Mountain Campus and back. There is a reason it is called the mountain campus. And the elevation guide on the webpage is not accurate. The steep hills came a mile sooner than it portrayed.
Once on the mountain campus, there are three little out and backs to do, which gets kind of boring. But the entire race is closed traffic, which is nice. And running through the forest is just amazing. Definitely a challenging course.
Water stations are plentiful- there is one almost every two miles or so.
The race does a t-shirt reveal the day before the race…. I am not sure why, nothing special. And I think a lot of the stuff on the shirt requires you to be affiliated with Berry College to understand. But whatever. The medal is nice enough.
Post race was chaotic. I crossed the finish line into a crowd of people who were already complete and just hanging out. I had to walk through them and go to the medal station to get my finisher medal. I didn’t stick around for the awards because I ran poorly, but some of the comments on Facebook were not happy because they were given a water bottle for age group awards.
Maybe if I lived in the area, i would run it again. But if I am travelling to GA for a race again, there are a bunch of others I would like to try first.
The view from the back of the pack
What a great event. Straight line winds wreaked havoc on the campus just 18 hours prior to the event. By start time, the course was cleared and ready for the … MORE
What a great event. Straight line winds wreaked havoc on the campus just 18 hours prior to the event. By start time, the course was cleared and ready for the runners. Great route, although I would prefer to do the sunny/exposed trail going outbound when it’s cold, and the shaded road on the return when it’s warm. Anyways, great volunteers and race production. Would travel from Houston again to participate. It’s also very nice to see that everything isn’t shut down for those runners who use their full 4 hours.
Lovely, relatively easy run
-Beautiful, peaceful run throughout the Berry College campus -No cars to pollute the air that you're running in -Lots of aid stations with water along the way (and 2 with … MORE
-Beautiful, peaceful run throughout the Berry College campus
-No cars to pollute the air that you’re running in
-Lots of aid stations with water along the way (and 2 with GU gels)
– Nice port-a-potties in several locations along the course
– We saw deer towards the end
– Fairly easy, mostly flat course with some slight elevations mid-race
– Great after-race snack stations with multiple flavors of cold PowerAde, trail mix, oranges, bagels, clementines
Close to perfect
I can’t think of a reason not to run this race. The weather was perfect, and the scenery is gorgeous. Parking is easy and plentiful, but don’t expect much in … MORE
I can’t think of a reason not to run this race. The weather was perfect, and the scenery is gorgeous. Parking is easy and plentiful, but don’t expect much in the way of an expo/swag.
Beautiful course!
This course doesn't get enough PR. This is maybe one of the most beautiful courses that aren't in a national park, along the beach, or on top of a mountain. … MORE
This course doesn’t get enough PR. This is maybe one of the most beautiful courses that aren’t in a national park, along the beach, or on top of a mountain. This is a far better course than Run the Bluegrass, which is listed as a bucket list or must-do list race on many websites.
The parking for this race is fine, plenty of space, but you do have to walk a couple of minutes to the start line. You run through the college campus at the finish and it’s a beautiful campus.
Race day packet pickup was easy, indoors, and quick. There isn’t much in the way of swag that is better or worse than any other race, but there are INDOOR bathrooms and a warm place to wait indoors while you wait for the race to start. It’s a lobby of a student center or something, but plenty of space.
The course itself is not terribly difficult but it isn’t the easiest course either. It’s got a few hills, is on gravel and paved, but I noticed these less given the beauty of the course.
There are aid stations on the course, AND porta poddies, which isn’t as common if you aren’t at the start/finish line. I’ve done this course twice and the second time the course and organization were FAR better than the first time. It wasn’t bad the first time, but it was extraordinary the second time around, a few years later, in March 2020 just a few days before the Covid shutdown.
Beautiful race! Spring time in GA!
Great course because there is NO traffic. Entire race was on closed campus roads. Perfect size event. Didn’t have to park far away, hotels were not full. Easy to find … MORE
Great course because there is NO traffic. Entire race was on closed campus roads. Perfect size event. Didn’t have to park far away, hotels were not full. Easy to find and get to. Very quiet run thru the countryside.