Course
The course for the 2009 Bull Run Run 50 Miler will be the same as was used in 2008* and is very similar to the course used in previous years. It will use all but .3 mile of the Bull Run Trail as well as the White Loop and the infamous Do Loop. This page has information about the course. You don't need to memorize anything here. The course will be well marked. But you may find it helpful to have an idea of where you are on the course at any given time.
* In 2008, runners were sent through the soccer fields following the blue blazes. We will not do that this year. In 2009, you will, as in all prior years except for 2008, follow the dirt road through the soccer fields.
The Course
The course is a double out and back with a loop on the end of the second out and back.
| BRR 2009 Milage Chart | ||
|---|---|---|
| Point | Sec | Cum |
| Start | 0 | 0 |
| Centreville Road | 7.2 | 7.2 |
| Turnaround | 2.2 | 9.4 |
| Centreville Road | 2.2 | 11.6 |
| Hemlock | 5 | 16.6 |
| Marina | 4.5 | 21.1 |
| Wolf Run Shoals | 5 | 26.1 |
| Fountainhead | 2 | 28.1 |
| Do Loop – In | 4.4 | 32.5 |
| Do Loop – Out | 3 | 35.5 |
| Fountainhead | 2.4 | 37.9 |
| Wolf Run Shoals | 2 | 39.9 |
| Marina | 5 | 44.9 |
| Finish | 5.5 | 50.4 |
| All points are aid stations with the exception of the turnaround. | ||
See also: Cutoff Times | ||
You start at Hemlock Overlook. After taking a three quarter mile loop around the parking lot to get spread out, you run down to the river and turn right, going upstream. You cross Popes Head Creek and run to the first aid station at Centreville Road. After this aid station, you keep going upstream to near the end of the trail in Bull Run Regional Park. You will cross the new, fancy bridge over Cub Run, go about 50 yards, turn right, and run through a sea of bluebells. After about a half mile, you will turn around at the point where the trail makes a 90 degree left turn away from Cub Run.
After the turnaround, you go back to Centreville Road for a second shot at the aid station and then straight downstream to Hemlock Overlook for an aid station located at the start/finish area. You go up the hill to Hemlock from the upstream, Popes Head Creek side. You don't go up the hill the way you came down at the start. You will cross Popes Head Creek just before you head up the hill.
After partaking of the aid station at Hemlock, you go down the hill as you did at the start, but when you get to the stream, you turn left and head downstream. You will go to the Bull Run Marina for an aid station and then to the aid station at Wolf Run Shoals. After Wolf Run Shoals, it is only two miles to the aid station at Fountainhead Regional Park. After this aid station, you do the White Loop, coming out by a chain link fence where you turn left and head out on a blue blazed horse trail.
You take the blue blazed horse trail to the next aid station which is at the entrance to the infamous Do Loop. The Do Loop is like a lollipop on a stick. You go out the stick, go around the lollipop, and come back on the stick. You do the loop counterclockwise. Be sure to turn right at the intersection and when you get back to the intersection, go straight—don't do the loop a second time (although if you do, you won't be the first).
After you survive the Do Loop, you go straight back to Fountainhead without doing the White Loop. Then you goto Wolf Run Shoals, the Marina, and then the finish. You go up the hill to the finish from the Popes Head Creek side. You will go up the same way you did when you came back to Hemlock after the first turnaround. The result is that you always go down the hill on one trail and always up the trail on another one.
Cutoff Times
| 2009 Bull Run Run Cutoff Times | ||
|---|---|---|
| Aid Station | Race Time | Clock Time |
| Fountainhead (first pass) | 7:15 | 1:45PM |
| Do Loop (first pass) | 8:20 | 2:50PM |
| Fountainhead (second pass) | 9:45 | 4:15PM |
| Bull Run Marina (second pass) | 11:30 | 6:00PM |
| Finish | 13:00 | 7:30 PM |
The race has a 13-hour time limit. There are four aid station locations that a runner must depart by specific times to continue in the race. These times are generously calculated to allow the runner time to meet the 13-hour overall time limit. There are no exceptions to these cutoffs. Any runner who continues after being asked to give up his or her race number will be banned from all future VHTRC events and bears all responsibility for his safety. (Note: if you miss the time limit going into the Do Loop, you must run, walk, or crawl straight back to Fountainhead. You can't actually quit running at this point unless you have serious medical problems.)
Special note: You must finish the race before 7:30 pm to be an "official finisher." If, however, you leave the Bull Run Marina aid station not later than 6:00 PM and make steady progress but finish after 7:30, you will receive the finishers' award and be listed on the results.
The Map
The VHTRC has spared no expense to provide a piece of cartographic genius for you. You will love this map!
The REI map of the Bull Run Trail is excellent to get you to the start and the aid stations by car, but it does not show the "Do Loop" or the "White Loop." That map shows a 19 mile trail that does not explain where the extra 12 miles are.
Crews: This map is not intended for you. It will probably confuse you. Check out the crew instructions.
If There is High Water: If the water in Bull Run is high, we may have to change the course. There is a high water course planned in case we need it.
The map below is not intended to portray the course precisely. It does show the relative relationship of the check points and aid stations. In conjunction with the REI map, it should give you a good idea of the course. A few points about the map:
- Since the stream goes diagonally across a real map, terms like "west" or "north" can be confusing. Think of the top of the map as "upstream" and the bottom as "downstream." (Technically, at the downstream end of the course, the stream is no longer the Bull Run. It's the Occoquan River.) The stream (the Bull Run that joins the Occoquan River) flows along the left of the map from the top to the bottom. The town of Manassass and Bull Run Regional Park are at the top of the map while Lorton and I-95 would be off the map at the bottom.
- To see how you run the course, click the "Tour the Course" button.
- This map does not show the loop through Hemlock Overlook at the beginning of the race. This short loop is designed to spread out the field before it hits the single track trail.
- Detailed maps and further information about the Bull Run Trail are on the PATC Site.
- If you want to load the map below all by itself in a page, click here. That may make it easier to print although it may not be worth printing.
- This map is Anstr's fault. Don't blame anyone else for it! Remember it's not to scale!
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