Cat’s Tail Catskill Trail Marathon

The Cat’s Tail is a rugged mountain marathon. In the first three years of the race, out of 257 starters, we have had 253 finishers under the 10 hour time limit. Only 4 DNF’s!! We attribute these high success rates to our tough entry requirements which are:

You must have minimally completed within the last year:

1) Cat’s Tail 2021 or 2020.
2) A legitimate trail marathon distance or greater race (no fat-ass or other unorganized events) with at least 4,000 feet of elevation gain within the cut-off.
3) The Escarpment Trail race within the 6 hour cut-off.
4) A mountain ultra distance trail race within twice the time as the winner.
5) Another race that you think qualifies you to run 26+ miles of rugged Catskill trails with 7000+ feet of elevation gain in a reasonable time that will not have us out looking for you when it gets dark.

Following the same route as past years, this year’s race will begin at the Fox Hollow trail head off rt 28 in Shandaken, NY. Runners will go south over Panther Mountain and Giant Ledge before reaching rt 47. They will run just off the road south for a short distance to the Slide Mountain trail where they will turn east and ascend Slide, Cornell, and Wittenberg Mountains. Slide is the highest peak in the Catskills at 4,180 ft. On the northward descent off Wittenberg, runners will turn east onto a newly (2014) created trail leading them over Cross Mt. before heading northward over Mt. Pleasant and Romer Mt. and depositing them a short distance from Phoenicia and the finish line. The distance is around 26.5 miles with 7000+/- ft of ascent.

This is a mainly self-supported event with 1 real point of aid and a couple of water drops. Runners will be required to carry certain supplies throughout the run to ensure their safety in this remote area. The Cat’s Tail is not meant to be someone’s “first” marathon or trail race.