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Across the Years Course Guide

Across the Years is Aravaipa Running's flagship timed ultra, a flat desert loop in the Phoenix metro where you run as far as you can over 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, or a full six days. There are no mountains here and no finish line pulling you in, just the loop and the clock, warm sunny days and cold desert nights. This is a strange race. I will walk you through the format, then give you lap pacing, fueling, and crewing strategy built for exactly this kind of event, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ Quick facts

Across the Years at a glance

Dates
Mon Dec 28, 2026 to Sat Jan 3, 2027
Location
Peoria Sports Complex, Peoria, AZ (Phoenix metro)
Format
Timed laps on a flat certified loop, run as far as you can
Distances
6-Day, 72H, 48H, 24H, plus 100M, 100K, 50K and more
Loop
About 1.42 miles (2.27 km), mixed dirt and pavement
Elevation
Flat: roughly 23 ft of gain per loop, low desert (~1,200 ft)
Climate
Mild sunny days, cold desert nights, dry season
Organizer
Aravaipa Running

Note: the race now runs at Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, AZ (it was held at Camelback Ranch in Glendale through 2023). Distance options, fixed-distance cutoffs, the exact loop, and start dates can change year to year, so always confirm the current details on the official Aravaipa Running race page before you plan your race.

The course

Across the Years runs on a flat, certified loop that winds around the fields and stadium at Peoria Sports Complex. It is roughly 1.42 miles per lap on a mix of dirt path and pavement, with only about 23 feet of gain per loop at a low-desert elevation near 1,200 feet. The organizers flip the direction of travel every so often through the event so the same side of your body does not take all the loading. And you are never far from the start area, your crew, and full aid. That one fact shapes the entire race.

The loop is the whole game

The route is a short, flat loop you run over and over, so the challenge is not finding your way or climbing anything, it is rhythm and repetition. The same muscles do the same job thousands of times with no climb or descent to break it up, and that is why a flat loop can leave your feet, shins, and hips more beat up than a hilly course. But the flip side is real. The loop is the most forgiving format in ultrarunning for fueling and gear, because everything you need comes back around every few minutes.

So use the loop, do not fight it. Stage your food, layers, fresh socks, and supplies at your crew table or the start/finish aid, and let the course bring you back to them on a schedule. The runners who do best are the ones who turn the monotony into a metronome.

Warm days, cold nights, dry desert air

Late December in the Phoenix area brings mild, sunny daytime highs, often in the low to mid 60s Fahrenheit, and cold desert nights that can drop into the 40s or colder. Depending on your distance you will run through several of these swings. The afternoons are when you bank distance comfortably while staying on top of sun and dehydration, and the nights are when you layer up and protect your core temperature. Plan for both, in the same race.

The air is dry, so you lose fluid faster than the cool temperatures make it feel, and it is easy to under-drink at night and pay for it the next day. Keep a warm drink and electrolytes coming through the cold hours, and stage a jacket, gloves, and a hat at your loop crew area so you can add and shed layers without carrying everything around.

Where the race is won or lost

In a timed event there is no course to conquer, so the race comes down to pacing discipline and sleep math. The runner who slows the least over many hours covers the most distance, which means going out far easier than feels necessary and protecting your ability to keep moving deep into night two and three. Going out hard on a flat loop feels effortless, and that is the trap. It will get you.

The other thing that decides it is your stops. Long sit-downs in a warm chair get harder and harder to leave, especially at night. Foot care, fueling, layer changes, and any planned sleep should be quick and have a point, with a clear reason to get up and walk back onto the loop. The time off your feet matters just as much as the time on them.

Aid, crew, and the fixed-distance options

The loop format means a lot of support. There is a fully stocked start/finish aid open around the clock, prepared meals across the event, and a crew and tent area where you can set up your own supplies trackside. Drop bags and personal tables basically let you run your own private aid station that you pass every lap.

Alongside the pure timed races, Across the Years offers fixed-distance goals like 100 miles, 100K, and 50K scored within the timed structure. If you are chasing one of those, confirm the exact time limit and rules for your distance on the official Aravaipa Running page, then build your lap plan backward from that number with a comfortable buffer. Do not cut it close.

Pacing strategy for Across the Years

A flat, timed, multi-day loop rewards restraint and consistency. The winner is the runner who slows the least, not the one who starts fastest. So pace by easy aerobic effort and let the hours add up.

Start absurdly easy, then hold

On a flat course your legs will happily run faster than you should for the duration, and that is the danger. Settle into a relaxed, conversational shuffle that feels almost too slow in the first hours, because that is the pace you can repeat through the night and into the next day. The classic timed-race mistake is banking early miles, and you pay those back tenfold when your body breaks down.

Use our race time calculator to turn your fitness into a sustainable hourly distance for your event length, and our race equivalent calculator to reality-check what a recent shorter race actually says about a multi-day goal before you commit to a number.

Run by effort, walk with purpose

Even on flat ground, a planned run-walk rhythm saves your legs over many hours and often gets you more total distance than trying to run the whole thing. Walk the same segment of each lap, or walk a set interval, and keep those walks brisk and on purpose, not a drift. Power hiking and good walking economy are real skills here. Learning to use them, with or without poles, keeps you moving when running starts to cost too much.

Pace by feel drifts as you get tired, so our grade-adjusted pace calculator helps you anchor your effort honestly, and on a flat loop it just confirms that your easy effort should stay genuinely easy lap after lap instead of creeping up.

Plan your stops and your sleep

In a 48, 72 hour, or six day race, when and how long you rest is a real pacing decision. Short, frequent stops to fuel and look after your feet usually beat rare long ones, and any sleep should be planned, timed, and protected so you do not lose hours to an unplanned collapse in a chair. Decide your stop rules ahead of time so a tired brain at 3 a.m. does not get to talk you out of them.

Break the whole event into laps and hours instead of total miles, set a realistic target distance, and pace backward from it. The loop makes this easy. Every lap is a checkpoint, so you always know whether your effort is sustainable or quietly running you into the ground.

Fueling strategy for Across the Years

A multi-day timed loop is the most fuelable race in the sport, because real food and your own supplies come back around every lap. The hard part is staying consistent over many hours and adjusting for the warm days and cold nights.

Carbs: steady all day, graze every lap

Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour while moving, and lean higher once your gut is trained for it. The big loop advantage is that you can mix gels and drink mix with real food from the aid station and your own table, which keeps your appetite alive over a day or more when sweet-only fueling quits on you. Use a glucose-plus-fructose blend so you absorb more than a single sugar lets you, and practice your hourly number on long training runs until it is automatic.

Graze on a schedule, do not wait until you feel empty, because in a flat steady effort the deficit sneaks up on you quietly. Through the cold night hours, warm broth, soup, and hot drinks turn into some of the easiest calories you can keep taking in.

Sodium and fluid: warm days, dry air

The warm, sunny afternoons push up your sweat and sodium losses, so a sodium intake somewhere in the range of 300 to 600 mg per hour, up in the heat of the day and down through the cool night, keeps cramping and that wrung-out feeling away. Dry desert air also means you lose more fluid than the mild temperatures make it feel like, so do not let the cool nights trick you into under-drinking.

Dial in your own plan with our free ultra fueling calculator. Enter your weight, your goal duration, and the conditions you expect, and it gives you a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine number per hour built for an Across the Years length effort. Then test it on your long runs, so race day is rehearsed and not guessed.

⏵ Free calculators for this race

Run your Across the Years numbers with our free, no-signup tools, then let Summit Line tie them all back to your real fitness and this exact event.

See all free running tools →

Train for Across the Years

A flat, multi-day timed loop asks for time on feet, durable feet and hips that can take endless repetition, a dialed fueling plan, and a crew plan. These guides go deeper on the parts that matter most for an event like Across the Years.

⏵ Train for Across the Years

Get a race-day plan dialed to YOUR fitness, this exact event, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your actual training, builds a fueling and pacing plan around the flat multi-day loop and the desert day-night swings, and tracks how your gut and legs handle the load, so race day is rehearsed and not guessed.

Get started free →See it on a real ultra

Across the Years FAQ

How hard is Across the Years?

Across the Years is hard in a completely different way than a mountain ultra. The loop is flat and the footing is friendly, so the hard part is not climbing or technical trail, it is time on feet and the mind. In a timed format you run as far as you can in 24, 48, 72 hours or six days, which means there is no finish line pulling you in, only the clock. The repetition of a roughly 1.42 mile loop, the warm desert afternoons, the cold nights, and the sleep math over multiple days are what make it brutal. It rewards patience, fueling discipline, and being willing to keep shuffling forward when nothing hurts badly but everything aches.

How much climbing is in Across the Years?

Almost none, and that is the point. The course is a flat, certified loop at Peoria Sports Complex with only about 23 feet of gain per lap and a low-desert elevation near 1,200 feet, so total climbing stays tiny compared with a mountain race. The flatness cuts both ways. It lets you run efficient, even splits, but it also means the same muscles fire the same way thousands of times with no downhill or uphill to break up the rhythm. A lot of runners are surprised that a flat loop can leave their feet and hips more trashed than a hilly course, just because nothing ever changes the load.

How should I fuel for Across the Years?

Fuel for the duration, not for one hard push. On a flat timed loop you can eat more like a long day of steady work, so aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour while moving, backed up by the full aid station and your own crew table. The warm Arizona afternoons push up your sweat and sodium needs, so plan a sodium intake somewhere in the range of 300 to 600 mg per hour, adjust for the heat of the day, then ease off through the cold nights. The big advantage of a loop course is that real food, warm drinks, and your own supplies come back around every lap, so use it. Graze constantly instead of waiting until you feel empty. Our free ultra fueling calculator turns your weight, goal duration, and the conditions into an hourly carb, sodium, and fluid plan.

What are the cutoffs and time limits at Across the Years?

Because it is a timed event, the time limit is the race. Your 24, 48, or 72 hour or six day window is exactly how long you have, and the goal is the most distance you can cover inside it. The fixed-distance options like 100 miles, 100K, and 50K are scored within the larger timed structure, so confirm the exact cutoff for whichever fixed distance you enter on the official Aravaipa Running race page, since those specifics can change year to year. For the pure timed races there is no checkpoint to miss, only the question of how much you sleep and how long you keep moving before the clock stops.

How do I handle the cold nights and warm days?

Late December in the Phoenix metro means mild, sunny daytime highs often in the low to mid 60s Fahrenheit and genuinely cold desert nights that can drop into the 40s or lower. Plan for both, in the same race. Use the warm, low-humidity afternoons to bank distance while staying on top of sun and dehydration, then layer up at night with a jacket, gloves, and a hat staged at your crew area. A loop course makes this easy because you pass your gear every lap, so you can add or shed layers as the temperature swings without carrying everything. Dry desert air also means you lose fluid faster than it feels like, so keep drinking even when it is cool.

What is the strategy for a timed loop race like this?

The winning move is even, sustainable effort plus smart breaks, not early speed. Treat the first many hours as easy aerobic shuffling well under what feels comfortable, because in a multi-day event the runner who slows the least wins, not the one who starts fastest. Plan your nutrition, layer changes, foot care, and any sleep around the lap so every stop has a point. Keep moving with short, deliberate aid stops instead of long sit-downs that get hard to leave. And use the loop in your head. Break the race into laps or hours, not the total distance, so the size of it never gets on top of you.

This guide is for planning and training purposes and reflects publicly available information about Across the Years. Race details, including the dates, venue, loop, distance options, aid, and fixed-distance cutoffs, can change year to year. Always confirm the current specifics on the official Aravaipa Running race website before you train or travel.