FLRC Challenge Courses

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For the 2025 FLRC Challenge, we’ve chosen a new set of courses, 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 directions, and (in time) custom RunGo voice directions using your smartphone or Apple Watch. We have once again worked hard to introduce you to new courses both in Ithaca and the outlying communities. (The Google Map below will be updated once I get the start/finish signs installed.)

Courses include:

  • Sweet 1600 (1 mile, track): Feeling frisky? Test your legs at 1600 meters on any standard track in the world (just 9 meters short of a mile—we’ll round up for mileage calculations). You can run the Sweet 1600 in FLRC’s summer track meets for some competition, and it’s a great way to continue to rack up Challenge efforts while you’re traveling. Results | Posts
  • Mulholland Waterfalls (2.7 miles, trail): Never run trails before? This course in the heart of one of Ithaca’s iconic gorges is short, but it features plenty of varied terrain to introduce you to trail navigation. Results | Posts
  • Lakefront Loops 5K (3.1 miles, pavement and crushed gravel): For those in downtown Ithaca, this course on Cass Park and the Allan H. Treman State Marine Park trails provides a flat 5K with no cars. Like the Sweet 1600, you can substitute race results from any 5K or parkrun for this course during the Challenge—a report on remote races is required this year!—so you can keep up with the Challenge while on vacation. Results | Posts
  • Cayuga Cliffs (4.3 miles, trail): This course takes us to a new Finger Lakes Land Trust trail north of Lansing that offers rolling meadows and a few steep forest trails. Results | Posts
  • Fall Creek Trails (5.4 miles, road, path, and trail): For those at Cornell looking to get a run in before work, at lunch, or after work, this course combines familiar paths and roads around the Cornell Botanic Gardens with a detour to some less well-known trails on the north side of Fall Creek. Results | Posts
  • Town & Gown Up & Down (5.9 miles, road and a little trail): You’ll experience all the elevation between Cornell University on the hill and the City of Ithaca by the lake. This course takes in downtown Ithaca, Collegetown, the Cascadilla Gorge Trail, Cornell campus, and Cayuga Heights, plus you’ll go by four Ithaca schools. Results | Posts
  • Abbott Ascent (8.0 miles, trail): You’ll be familiar with this course if you’ve run the 23K distance at the Danby Down & Dirty trail race. If not, prepare to experience the scenic Abbott Loop in the Danby State Forest, complete with long views from the Pinnacles. Results | Posts
  • Black Diamond Cass to Gorge (8.2 miles, crushed gravel): The Black Diamond Trail is an FLRC Challenge favorite thanks to its central location, minimal elevation change, and smooth surface. This year, you can once again run the entire trail in either direction or turn around halfway. Results | Posts
  • Triple Hump (9.2 miles, road): This classic course for Ithaca marathoners and Cornell cross-country runners combines long distances and challenging wills on quiet country roads. Don’t count the humps, but if you run it the RunGo way, you’ll enjoy a long downhill at the end. Results | Posts
  • North Country Half (13.1 miles, trail): Our trail monster course for 2025 starts at the Lick Brook parking lot and follows the North Country Trail all the way alongside Robert H. Treman State Park. It’s a long one, but what better way can you think of to spend a summer morning? Results | Posts

Special thanks to these organizations for allowing us to use their spaces: