⏵ Course guide · Enchanted Forest Nature Sanctuary, Titusville
Ancient Oaks is a flat, invitation-only 100 miler run as 29 loops of a mixed-surface 3.46 mile course at Enchanted Forest Nature Sanctuary in Titusville, Florida. I will walk you through the entry process and the loop itself, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for a flat, hot, repeated-loop 100 with free calculators to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official RunSignup event page. Check the current year details before you commit. Race logistics can change year to year.
Ancient Oaks is not an open-registration race. You request an invitation during a specific window, and the field is capped at 60 runners.
Requests for an invitation open at 12:01 AM June 1 and close 11:59 PM June 30 for the December edition. The race director draws the entry list from those requests on or about July 3. There is no entry fee, which is unusual for a 100 miler, but the field is hard-capped at 60 runners, so the request window is genuinely your only path in.
The course is flat and mixes several surfaces within one loop: asphalt pavement, sand and grass two-track, wood-chip trail, a short concrete stretch, twisty rooty single-track, two boardwalks, a short bridge, one sharp 15-foot hill, and some loose sand. Running the same loop 29 times means you get intimately familiar with every surface transition by the back half of the race.
The official page states plainly there is no finisher buckle. With a small, invitation-only 60-runner field circling the same loop for up to 32 hours, this is a race built around the loop community and the format itself more than hardware.
With 32 hours to cover 100.34 miles and no real elevation to slow you down, the pacing risk here is going out too fast on a flat, fast-feeling loop and paying for it over 29 repetitions.
A flat loop invites a faster-than-sustainable early pace, but 29 loops of the same mixed surfaces, plus Florida heat, will punish that just as surely as a mountain course punishes an aggressive climb. Build in walk breaks or planned rest from the start rather than waiting until you are forced to slow down.
⏵ Free tools to plan your effort
December in Titusville is milder than Florida summer, but daytime heat and humidity can still add up over 32 hours on a shadeless loop in stretches.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour and sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range, adjusted for whatever daytime heat you hit during the race. Since you pass the same start/finish area every 3.46 miles, plan a consistent per-loop routine rather than improvising as fatigue sets in.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a Florida December day with the free ultra fueling calculator. Browse the rest of the free running tools at the tools hub.
⏵ Train for it with Summit Line
Get a training plan built around YOUR fitness and the flat, repeated-loop demands of Ancient Oaks. Summit Line reads your real training, builds the sustained time-on-feet a 100.34 mile loop race asks for, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
The course itself is flat, run as 29 loops of a 3.46 mile route mixing asphalt, sand and grass two-track, wood-chip trail, a short section of rooty single-track, two boardwalks, and loose sand. Elevation is not the challenge here. The difficulty is almost entirely about sustaining 100.34 miles within 32 hours across constantly repeated terrain and Florida heat and humidity, which wears differently than a mountain course but is no less demanding for it.
You submit a "Request for an Invitation to Run" during the official window, 12:01 AM June 1 through 11:59 PM June 30 for the December 2026 edition. The race director then draws the entry list from those requests on or about July 3. There is no entry fee, but the field is hard-capped at 60 runners, so submitting during the window is the only path in.
Each of the 29 loops covers 3.46 miles and mixes several surfaces in one lap: asphalt pavement, sections of sand and grass two-track, rolling wood-chip trail, a short section of concrete path, a twisty rooty single-track stretch, two boardwalk sections, a short bridge, one sharp 15-foot hill, and some loose sand. That variety keeps your feet and stride adjusting constantly even without real elevation change.
The overall time limit is 32 hours from the 7:00 AM Saturday start. That works out to an average pace a little under 19 minutes per mile across the full 100.34 miles, which includes time at aid and any rest you take, so plan your moving pace with real margin built in.
No, the official event page states plainly there is no buckle as an award for finishing. If a buckle matters to your race calendar, factor that in, but for many runners the appeal here is the format and the small invitation-only field rather than the hardware.
The flat, loop-based course removes the mountain-vert factor that makes many first 100-mile attempts so brutal, and passing through the same start/finish area every 3.46 miles makes crewing, drop bags, and mental checkpoints far simpler than a point-to-point course. The tradeoffs are the invitation-only entry process and a 32-hour cutoff that demands genuine fitness and heat management, so this suits a runner with solid ultra experience looking for their first 100 more than a true beginner.
The confirmed next edition runs Saturday, December 19 through Sunday, December 20, 2026, starting at 7:00 AM Saturday, at Enchanted Forest Nature Sanctuary in Titusville, Florida.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/ancient-oaks-100-mile-endurance-run">The Ancient Oaks 100-Mile Endurance Run course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/ancient-oaks-100-mile-endurance-run" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Ancient Oaks 100-Mile Endurance Run course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The format, date, and course come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the official race before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.
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