Dead Horse Ultra

Every November, the Dead Horse Ultra gathers trail runners about ten miles north of Moab, Utah, at the Gemini Bridges trailhead. Organised by Mad Moose Events as the second race of the Triple Crown of Moab, it offers four distances on the same desert playground: 15K, 30K, 50K and 50 miles, all starting and finishing at the same spot.

The courses run on the Magnificent Seven trail system, a network of world class singletrack carved into the Colorado Plateau. Runners climb the Gemini Bridges Trail with views from Court Point and down into Bride Canyon, then the longer races continue onto the Bull Run Trail and its extraordinary panoramas over the Moab Valley, the snowy La Sal Mountains and Arches National Park. The terrain is demanding: technical slickrock, loose rocky climbs and very little shade, between roughly 4,560 and 5,800 feet of altitude. The 50 miles totals 4,895 feet of climbing, the 50K 2,805 feet, the 30K 1,729 feet and the 15K 932 feet.

November brings cool mornings and mild days, ideal conditions for running in a landscape that is scorching in summer. The race is cupless, with water dispensers at the start and at every aid station, the 50K sets off in self seeded waves, and finishers celebrate with a medal and a cold drink in the desert. It sells out year after year.