Blue Ridge Ultra
Blue Ridge, GA
- 50K, 30K, 15K
- Trail (Unpaved)
- Official race website
This is not just a race; it is an unforgettable event! The best part of the season with a beautiful location, music, and a hot meal. The Blue Ridge Ultra is a 50K loop trail race is deep within the beautiful Chattahoochee National Forest of the North Georgia Mountains. It … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Oct 05):
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
| H (°F) | 77 | 75 | 72 | 69 | 72 |
| L (°F) | 54 | 55 | 37 | 64 | 47 |
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Hard course, great location
My Garmin is often short by a mile or two on 30k runs, but it measured this one as 16.93 miles. I'm guessing it is probably closer to 19+ but … MORE
My Garmin is often short by a mile or two on 30k runs, but it measured this one as 16.93 miles. I’m guessing it is probably closer to 19+ but maybe not 20? Not sure and I don’t mind some distance variation in the races I run because I’m not a competitive runner and am just fine going a bit shorter or longer than the advertised distance, but for purists you may want to confirm before registering for this one.
The start line is promising. It’s a super pretty area. There isn’t much parking and it seems like basically everyone just parks in the grass along the side of the road. There is a cool country store across from the iron bridge where you start and finish. And that’s also where you get your post race meal. I didn’t stay for the post-race meal because you order from a menu and the line was crazy long with other runners ordering and waiting. It was just a small country store the looks like the restaurant was an afterthought. So it’s not like they have a lot of help back there. I’m sure the food was good but maybe they need to get rid of the menu and just make a standard array of foods and put them on tables for the runners after the race. It’s a small store with not a lot of room for a line. That’s really not a negative at all; just a suggestion. The store was super cute and I’d like to go back and drive through there, and eat at the store, during the week when it’s not so crowded.
Would I recommend this race? Maybe. It was hard, steep and more technical than I like, but I’m an average runner who finishes in the middle of the pack. Out of 102 people who started the race I finished 59th. So if you are in that range of finishers in the races you run you may also think this is a steep and technical race. And there was no great payoff during the race. No incredible views, nothing to redeem itself from the technical work. It’s a pretty course at times, just not spectacular.
I’m glad I ran this one but probably wouldn’t run it again. But I can see the attraction of driving to such a pretty place, camping for the weekend, eating at the Iron Bridge store and cafe, and doing the run.