The tiny Village of Grand Rivers, KY (pop 323), located between beautiful Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley contains some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet, and two of the nicest resorts… Lighthouse Landing and Green Turtle Bay. Land Between the Lakes Trail Runs offers four distances to choose from; …
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The tiny Village of Grand Rivers, KY (pop 323), located between beautiful Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley contains some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet, and two of the nicest resorts… Lighthouse Landing and Green Turtle Bay.
Land Between the Lakes Trail Runs offers four distances to choose from; 50 mile, 60KM, Marathon, and 23KM. They all begin together, along the shoreline of beautiful Kentucky Lake, and proceed about 2 miles to the fabulous Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, and the trail head. The Canal Loop is an 11.3 mile, mostly single-track, nicely packed dirt track consisting of rolling hills on the Lake Barkley side of the course, and larger hills on the Kentucky Lake side. The course yields spectacular views of both lakes, and is very runnable. We are blessed with a gorgeous course!
All races start at the same place, and finish at the same place: 23k run one loop and go to finish; marathon two loops then go to finish; 60k three loops then go to finish; and 50 mile runs 4 loops, then a .62 each way out and back, before heading to finish.
All distances start at 06:30 Central Time and have a 12 hour time limit. (NOTE: this is an increase from the previous limit of 11 hours, and will make it easier on you 50 milers!)
Perhaps you’ll see one of the resident bald eagles in flight, or nesting high above the trail on the Barkley Lake side.
Outstanding amenities including:
- Beautiful Custom buckles for ultra marathon finishers (50 mile and 60km).
- Unique Custom medals for marathon and 23km finishers.
- All runners receive a performance tech shirt, running cap, and drawstring backpack.
- Aid stations located every 2-3 miles with friendly volunteers waiting for you.
- Wonderful post race food provided by our hosts at Grand Rivers.
Come see why LBL trail runs has become one of the largest trail runs in the U.S., yet retains its small town feel.
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Tough One
I will preface but saying I'm NOT a trail runner, but I had signed up for this race anyway and then was deferred with Covid. Positives: They offer a spaghetti … MORE
I will preface but saying I’m NOT a trail runner, but I had signed up for this race anyway and then was deferred with Covid.
Positives: They offer a spaghetti dinner the night before, packet pickup is quick and easy and finding parking wasn’t a problem, everyone was very kind and helpful with everything, and free photos on course!
Negatives: HARD course – very technical and I spent almost the whole race just starting down so I didn’t bust an ankle, also make sure you seed yourself properly as it’s a narrow race so when you hit the trail it’s very hard to pass, and the course got rather muddy (not their fault) but had to be careful with your footing.
Amazing
Can’t wait to do it again!!! So much fun running trails. Everyone running was so friendly. The food along with the race was above and beyond. MORE
Can’t wait to do it again!!! So much fun running trails. Everyone running was so friendly. The food along with the race was above and beyond.
Great spring trail races!
This I a great looped trail race with a fair bit of climbing and a few miles of road. Top notch historic event with many distance options! Durbin Race Management … MORE
This I a great looped trail race with a fair bit of climbing and a few miles of road. Top notch historic event with many distance options! Durbin Race Management is a well oiled machine. Great aid stations and support on the course and great buckle award!
Wow...tough course.
Overall Rating: Overall, I would give this race an excellent rating. The one thing that will hurt you the most on a trail run is also the one thing you … MORE
Overall Rating: Overall, I would give this race an excellent rating. The one thing that will hurt you the most on a trail run is also the one thing you can’t control-the weather. Other than that, this event is run as a well oiled machine.
Course Difficulty: Pretty difficult. With the really wet fresh snow, and a lot of runners, the trail quickly turned to mush, roots, and rocks. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a flat spot on the trail, and plenty of roots and rocks sticking up to kick. On the second loop, I was carrying quite a bit of sticky mud with me.
Course Scenery: I’m from about an hour away, so the scenery was nothing new for me. The fresh snow did make for a pretty run though. We spent nearly the whole time in a hardwood forest running along the edge of a lake.
Race Production: Flawless. These guys really have it down. I can’t give them enough credit for going on with the race, even though conditions weren’t optimal-after all, we’re all adults, if the weather is that bad, we’ll stay home. From the informational e-mails leading up to the race, to the guy inside the door at packet pickup directing us where to go, to trying on the shirts before you pick a size…just really outstanding production.
Race Swag: Great. I had to downgrade from the 50 miler to the marathon and the medals were just as good (and a lot better than some) as any other race I’ve done. Shirts were long sleeve cotton or cotton hoodie, hat and check bag were good.
My Performance: Not great. I got stuck in traffic on the first loop…think 200 person long tequila line…and did 12-13+ minute miles for the first 12 miles. The trail was pretty treacherous, and I could feel my knees and ankles getting ready for revolt. I decided at about mile 20 that I wanted to downgrade to a marathon, and the race had made it well known that this was an option. Even though I finished super slow, I actually thought for a while I may get a DNF, so I was happy to just cross the line.
As a side note, I’m probably done with single track trails in the midwest, at least during races, there just isn’t a lot of pleasure in not being able to run your own race, and on the two that I’ve done, you are definitely running someone else s race.
At the end of the day, Kentucky is crossed off of the 50 state list, and I can still make it to work on Monday and run my next race in Ohio at the beginning of April.