These are high altitude races, with lots of climbing, in the scenic foothills of the Eastern Sierra Nevada, above the small town of Bishop. The course is mainly run on 4 wheel drive dirt roads, with a couple of sections of single-track trail, and very short sections of pavement. There are very few trees, thus the race is exposed, often hot, usually dry, sometimes rocky, and mostly high! Much of the 100k and 50 mile courses are above 7000′ in altitude. These races are the perfect training opportunity for upcoming mountain trail 100 mile events.

The weather can range from cold to hot, dry to snowing, breezy to very windy. We have experienced all weather types, but usually we can expect fine, sunny weather, with afternoon breezes and high temps for the second half of the day. Temperatures usually range from high 40’s at the start to 90’s in the late afternoon, and then cooling in the evening.

Our aid stations are at 3 – 7 mile intervals, and are famous for variety of food and drinks available, not just “standard race fare”, particularly as the race progresses. We have small first aid kits at each, with foot care and the usual supplies. Consistent with recent trends, pain relief meds will not be dispensed. There are usually nurses and EMTs at aid stations, especially the stations later in the course, with a Search and Rescue unit available as well, but let’s hope we don’t need that as Inyo SAR is operating one of the aid stations! Runners are tracked by our local Ham Radio club, who maintains radio contact with the finish line.

Speaking of the finish line – there we have a wonderful post-race buffet with an assortment of hot food and snacks, cold drinks and and lots of “munchies” and real food as well.

Race awards will be provided to winners in each race distance, by gender. Custom coffee mugs commemorating the race are for sale for $30. There are only 30 of them and they are available on a first come, first served basis.