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Kids Challenge | 100K Ultra Challenge
We’ve chosen some of the area’s most scenic courses for the FLRC Challenge with an eye toward making sure there’s something for everyone. Courses range in length, surface, hilliness, and location. Check out their pages for driving directions, course maps, and (in time) custom RunGo voice directions using your smartphone or Apple Watch.
Courses include:
- East Hill Rec Way (1 mile, road): Easy and fast, this 1-mile slight downhill course is a favorite of speedsters and walkers alike. Try for a mile personal record!
- Cornell Botanic Gardens (2.4 miles, road): What could be lovelier than a run around the glorious F. R. Newman Arboretum in spring, summer, or fall?
- Waterfront Trail (3.1 miles, road): Starting and finishing at the east end of the Waterfront Trail in Stewart Park, this flat out-and-back course takes you along the shore of Cayuga Lake and past the golf course.
- Tortoise & Hare (5.4 miles, trail): Buttermilk State Park hosts this traditional FLRC trail race course, which rewards those who climb the hill with beautiful trails at Upper Buttermilk.
- Danby Down & Dirty (6 miles, trail): A classic autumn FLRC trail race, this 6-mile course in the Danby State Forest takes you on the scenic Abbott Loop.
- South Hill Rec Way (6.8 miles, mixed): Start at the playground and run out and back on all three legs of the South Hill Rec Way in any order you want for this course.
- Thom B. Trail Run (8.5 miles, trail): You’ll head out toward Dryden to Hammond Hill State Forest for the Thom B. Trail Run course, another longtime FLRC trail race.
- Forest Frolic (9 miles, trail): Kennedy State Forest in Virgil is your destination for FLRC’s popular Forest Frolic course on the other side of Greek Peak.
- Black Diamond Trail (10 miles, mixed): Start in Cass Park and run toward Trumansburg for this speedy 10-mile out-and-back course that’s sure to be a hit with distance specialists.
- Pseudo Skunk Cabbage (13.1 miles, road): With a start/finish at the Ellis Hollow Community Center, this half marathon follows some of the same route as FLRC’s marquee race, the Skunk Cabbage Classic.
Special thanks to these organizations for allowing us to use their spaces:
- The Town of Ithaca for the East Hill Rec Way and South Hill Rec Way
- The Cornell Botanic Gardens for the course around the F. R. Newman Arboretum
- The City of Ithaca and the Ithaca Youth Bureau for the Waterfront Trail
- The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation for the Tortoise & Hare and Black Diamond Trail
- The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for the Danby Down & Dirty, Thom B. Trail Run, and Forest Frolic
- The Ellis Hollow Community Center for the Pseudo Skunk Cabbage