Get off on the right foot by averaging an ultra a day in the new year! Late 8:00 am to let you work off any lingering hangover.
The course consists of three repeats of a roughly 10 mile loop. Terrain is primarily groomed forest trails, interspersed with two 1–3 mile section of rolling gravel roads. If you don’t like the recommended course, just run anywhere you want to — this is not a real event. The first loop features an initial “prologue” that extends the length of this loop by nearly 2 miles, making it 11.9 miles in length.
Aid
We will have the one unmanned aid station at the /finish, which runners will access at the end of each loop. In keeping with the Team Slug tradition of this run, we ask that the runners contribute to the aid station, which usually then evolves into a small feast. This is your chance to get rid of that fruit cake your co-worker gave you. Bring enough for you and a couple of inconsiderate jerks who bring nothing. Don’t bring something for everyone. We generally have had to throw a lot of food away in previous years.
There are bathrooms in the field above the main parking area, and another bathroom adjacent to the visitor’s center. Roughly 7 miles into the loop, at Turkey Run, there is also a bathroom. You can get water there if you need it.
History
For its first 8 years, Team Slug, primarily Dan Grayson, Bill Sublett, and James Moore, put on the much-loved Redeye 50km on New Year’s Day. After a gap year in 2004, Team Slug passed the event on to Anstr Davidson and Gary Knipling, who led the race in 2005. Eventually Anstr let Gary do all the work alone, and this continued through 2017. Gary then passed the reins of Redeye power on to Dave Woll, with the run on New Year’s Day in 2018.
The essential nature of this “race” has remained the same over all these years. In the Team Slug days, the aid station was manned and there were creative, goofy finishers awards. Under Gary and now Dave, the course has changed on occasion; there are no awards; and the aid station at the /finish is not officially manned, but there is often a volunteer or three who sets up shop to help the runners, keep tabs on the food and drink tables, and even to offer up some hot food and drink to ward off the often chilly conditions. The aid continues to be supplied by the runners — remember that the tradition is to bring good, calorie-laden holiday leftovers to share!
In 2004 the Redeye was in hiatus. In 2019, the event was because of a US Government shut-down, and it was again in 2021 due to the pandemic.
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