The Dirty German Endurance Fest takes place within the city limits of Philadelphia, and therefore qualifies as an urban ultramarathon, but you will not find things like traffic, noise, bad air quality & concrete buildings here. This race course is located within Pennypack Park, a hidden gem within Philadelphia’s Fairmont park system. The park stretches along Pennypack creek for about 7 1/2 miles, and is home to many trails, huge old trees, birds & other wildlife.
This race offers a perfect opportunity for runners to enter the exiting world of trail (ultra)running . This is a good course to run your first ultra or a PR if the weather cooperates. We accomplish this by providing a course that is well marked & not too technical. The course features different surfaces. Some soft and occasionally sandy spots along the creek, a lot of smooth single track as well as some wider flat gravel trail. Every loop includes about 1.5 miles of paved bike trail. There is some elevation, but the climbs are short.
This course is very runnable and easy by trail running standards, which as experienced runners will know, can make it even more challenging, because it will not give you many opportunities where you can/should hike.
Course
Along the Pennypack Creek within the limits of Pennypack park. Course is basically a figure 8 consisting of mostly single track trail and a short paved bike path section.One loop is 25K. 50 K runners will run it twice, 50 mile runners will run a mini loop first and then run the main loop 3 times. No traffic at all. It’s actually pretty cool, that you run miles and miles within the city limits of Philadelphia without seeing a house or a car at all.
Swag
Every runner will receive a top notch upper garment (tbd), no advertising on the back. Will be gender specific!!! Every finisher will receive a finisher medal, all 50K and 50 Mile finishers will receive an embroidered tech hat in addition.
Awards
Winner overall & Winner Masters (age 40+) male and female will receive a cuckoo clock.
Top 3 in age groups: 29 & under, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and winner 60+
These unique awards come from the Black Forest of Germany. They are German weather houses. They can predict future weather pretty much as reliable as “Glen Hurrican Schwarz” . Here is how they work: There is a gut string inside which reacts to all changes in air humidity. Depending on weather the air is dry or humid, the gut string changes it’s position and twists more or less, so that the female turns outside when it is dry (predicting nice weather) and the male, when it is humid. We will go 3 deep for 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and winner 60+.
Time Limit
12 hours & 30 min. This is a firm time limit. The park closes at 9 pm, and we need to be all cleared out by then, therefore we can not go out on the course and look for runners in the dark. You have to make it to the 35 Mile mark by 8 hours, otherwise you cannot continue.
Weather
The average temp at the start is in the 50s. Average high 70. The course is mostly shaded.
Aid Stations
Aid Stations are about 3-4.5 Miles apart and are staffed by ultra trail runners. 50k and 50 Mile runners should carry a bottle to keep hydrated between aid stations. Gatorade and water will be available at all the aid station. Also available: PBJ, Sandwiches, Grilled Cheese (Aid station 4 only), Gels, Ibuprofen, Sodium tablets, Bananas, Oranges, M&M’s, Chocolate Chip cookies, Oreos, Cooked potatoes, Crackers, Pretzels, Nuts, potato pancakes (Aid station 4 only), Sports drinks, Water, Soda
Post Race Party
There will be no official award ceremony. We will hand out the awards as you cross the finish line. However, we encourage you to stick around, relax, talk running, refuel and listed to Uberhans, America’s toughest accordion player.
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