Athens Big Fork Trail Marathon & 17 Mile Fun Run

Welcome to the 26th annual Athens Big Fork Trail Marathon and 17 Mile Blaylock Creek Fun Run. Both events are on an “out-and-back” well marked course beginning and ending at the Big Fork Community Center, utilizing the Athens-Big Fork trail.  Full Marathon runners will climb eight mountains twice with ~7,000' of cumulative gain. The event is free/donation based. A minimum $25 donation is suggested to cover our costs. All proceeds over our cost will be donated to the Big Fork community Center and the Ouachita Amateur Radio Association, who help us keep our runners safe. We will have three fully stocked aid stations. All aid stations will be fully stocked with your typical aid station fare. In addition, each of our aid captains provide their own bougie concoctions for you to enjoy.  This event is free but you wouldn't guess it based on the food offerings. Please bring your own cup or handheld because the race will be cupless this year.  There will be an option to purchase a post-race meal ticket. The post race meal will be catered once again by Cheryl with the Big Fork Mall (details coming soon for race swag and meal tickets via email).  Buy early because there will be no race-day meal ticket purchases and swag is pre-purchase only.We encourage you to bring a chair, blanket and other comfort items and plan to stick around to cheer in the finishers.  The community experience at the finish is one of the many things that makes this race so unique and popular. 
Awards:
We will have awards for overall male and female in both the full and fun runs.  We also offer unique awards to our 10 and 20 year finishers. We do not offer finish awards because this race experience is reward enough.
Aid Stations:MARATHON RUN:Little Missouri TrailheadMile 3.8 Outbound & Mile 22.4 Inbound
3:42PM Cutoff (Mile 22.4)
Blaylock Creek West TrailheadMile 8.5 Outbound & Mile 17.7 Inbound
10:30AM Cutoff (mile 8.5) for marathon runners
Turn Around (Forest Rd B23F – Southern Trailhead)Mile 13.1 – the turn around
*Marathon runners may drop to the 17 mile fun run on race day. This can be a game day decision. We highly encourage all marathon runners to take a good assessment of how you are feeling when you reach Blaylock Creek (mi 8.5) and if it just isn't your day switch to the Fun Run.
*There is an early start option for those requiring more than 8 hours. Do NOT take this option if you are capable of finishing in the 8 hour timeframe. (Early start details will be included in race email.)
*Due to the remote nature of this event, there is NO SHUTTLE SERVICE with the exception of a medical emergency. You go in on your own two feet and you come out on your own two feet. Again, this is good reason to take an honest assessment of how you are feeling when you arrive at the Blaylock Creek aid station. It can be a long and tough slog if you do not heed this warning. 
17 MILE FUN RUN:Little Missouri TrailheadMile 3.8 Outbound
Blaylock Creek West Trailhead – TurnaroundMile 8.5 Outbound – Turnaround for 17 mile fun run only
Safety/Required Gear: a hydration system (handheld or bladder) and a light source (handheld or headlamp). A windbreaker or space blanket is strongly suggested but not required. Runner safety is a high priority for us. We will have HAM radio operators at every aid station and they will be in communication with us at Net Control at all times. We also have several medical entities on stand by. It is worth taking your cell phone because runners are often able to get service on the top of some of the mountain peaks. I will provide my cell number in the December runner email. 
 NOTE: This event is NOT for trail-newbies.
If you are not an experienced trail – or ultra-runner (or adventure racer), we happily invite you to one of the other UTS runs, BUT NOT THIS ONE. This is a difficult event on a difficult trail that presents many opportunities for one to get lost, injured, exhausted, or incapacitated–with sparse access for rescue.
Please do not be enticed into trying this run because of the difficulty warning–it is merely an honest attempt at preventing the run organizers from having to find and rescue someone ill-equipped for the event.
A cut-off time of 10:30am (2.5 hours) will be enforced at the turn-around (half-way) point for the 17-mile run. Runners reaching that point after 10:30 must turn around (–NOT proceed on the marathon course).