Welcome poor soul to the Hell Hole Hundred! While each distance utilizes the same section of trail, each event offers up its own little slice of misery…and adventure!
All participants will have a place to camp Thursday night through Sunday morning. You will have access to restroom facilities, but there are no shower facilities.
The event schedule is as follows:
• Devil’s Doorknob, 212 mile race that starts on Thursday at 1 PM
• El Diablo 140.6 mile race starts on Friday at 6PM
• 100 Mile, 100 Mile 5 Person Relay, 100K, 50k and 16 mile events start on Saturday at 7AM
• 16 mile and 50K NIGHT RACE starts Saturday at 6PM
All events take place within the Hell Hole Swamp located in the heart of the Francis Marion National Forest located outside Charleston, South Carolina. The trail we run on is called the Jericho Horse Trail, it’s a 16.3 mile loop through the forest consisting of dirt fire roads, single track trail and double track trail. It is a flat trail that is unforgiving. Past participants found it difficult due to the fact that there are zero hills, little elevation change and when they were on the course, they didn’t know when to walk.
Devil’s Doorknob participants (211.9 mile race) are required, I say it again, required to have a team of at least 3 people for the duration of the event. If 2 individuals want to sign up together and run the entire race together, they can share the same crew for the duration of the event… or until they quit. It takes 13 times around Jericho Horse Trail to complete the 211.9 miles.
El Diablo participants (140.6 mile race) are required to do 2 loops around Jericho Horse Trail PRIOR to 7AM on Saturday.
Devil’s Doorknob participants will be required to wear a SPOT Gen 3 GPS Tracker. This will be provided to you prior to the event. This piece of gear is required to be on you at all times. It must be visible and not covered up. I am tracking each participant to ensure you are on course and not lost due to the very real possibility that you will hallucinate at some point during the event. Also, if you run into trouble, you can contact me with preset messages to let me know you are just not right and need some assistance. You crew can also help you out during the event. BUT at no time can they DRIVE you down the dirt roads. Once you get into a vehicle and move, you are disqualified from the event.
If you complete your event within the time frame given, you are considered and “official” finisher and will be awarded your time and Finisher Coin. If you are running Devil’s Doorknob, El Diablo or the 100 Mile event, you will be awarded the Finishers Coin along with a buckle if you complete the event in the given time frame. 100 mile runners, due to the extremely low finisher rate of this event, I will order four buckles to be handed out at the event. If there are more than 4 finishers, buckles will be ordered and mailed to you.
Devil’s Doorknob and El Diablo 140.6 mile winners will have special belt buckles commemorating the completion of the toughest foot race around.
Aid Stations
• Start/Finish Line – Fully stocked and supported with bathrooms
• Conifer Road (after second road/trail crossing) – Water Stop Only
• Irishtown Road Trail Crossing – Fully stocked and supported with bathrooms
• Burned Cane Road – Water Stop Only
• Yellow Jacket Road at Thomas Road – Fully stocked and supported with bathrooms
• Hell Hole Road – Water Stop Only
The Trail and Use of the FMNF
All events take place within the Francis Marion National Forest located outside Charleston, South Carolina.
The trail we run on is called the Jericho Horse Trail, there are two courses, a 16 mile loop and an 18 mile loop. Depending on your event…it will dictate what course or combination of courses you will run. Both courses consisting of dirt fire roads, single track trail. It is a flat trail that is unforgiving.
LESS
Jesus Christ! What Was I Thinking?!
First of all, roots, roots, and more roots! I cart-wheeled over one and four more tried and failed. The first 10 or so miles went fine, but the humidity enveloped … MORE
First of all, roots, roots, and more roots! I cart-wheeled over one and four more tried and failed. The first 10 or so miles went fine, but the humidity enveloped me to the detriment of my optimum performance. Not to mention, two weeks ago I ran 17 miles under 3 hours (80 degrees F) at a decent pace, but I live 4 hours from the coast. And, I got blisters for the first time in 30 years! Beware, the trail is deceiving.
Surprisingly Challenging
2022 is my first time doing their nighttime 50k. It was a bit brutal. Flat, so I wasn’t expecting it to be so challenging. There were lots of riots to … MORE
2022 is my first time doing their nighttime 50k. It was a bit brutal. Flat, so I wasn’t expecting it to be so challenging. There were lots of riots to trip over and a good amount of heat and humidity starting out. The heat did dissipate but that 1000% humidity was there to stay.
Volunteers and other runners were super nice and helpful. I live kinda far away so probably won’t do it again. However, it was exactly what I wanted. Good training for future challenges!