⏵ Course guide · Inaugural point-to-point, three states
Run Bum Tours sends its 200 and 100 mile fields point to point from Jones Gap State Park, South Carolina, through North Carolina and Georgia, and back into North Carolina to finish in Franklin, on the Foothills, Palmetto, and Bartram Trails. I will walk you through the shared start and the route first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for a multi-day, multi-night effort across three states. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Run Bum Tours event page. This is the inaugural 2027 running, so course specifics can still shift before race day. Confirm the current runners handbook before you commit.
Both distances start together on Wednesday. The 100 mile race is literally the first 100 miles of the 200 mile course, so 100 and 200 mile runners share the trail, the aid stations, and the crowd energy for the entire first half of the bigger race before the 100 milers finish and the 200 milers keep going.
The route starts at Jones Gap State Park in Upstate South Carolina and finishes in Franklin, North Carolina, but it does not go there directly. The course dips into Georgia along the way before returning to North Carolina to finish, stitching together the Foothills Trail, the Palmetto Trail, and the Bartram Trail into one continuous point-to-point line. Run Bum Tours calls it ten years in the making, built from their favorite trails in the region.
The full 200 mile course climbs roughly 40,000 feet. Because the 100 mile is the first 100 miles of that same route, it inherits a big chunk of that climbing on its own, about 21,500 feet of gain and 20,500 feet of loss, before its own finish line. Neither number is trivial, and the point-to-point format means there is no flat recovery loop built in anywhere on the course.
2027 is the first running of this event, with the field intentionally limited to keep the experience manageable in year one. Required mandatory gear is spelled out in the runners handbook, and given the multi-day, multi-night exposure and early March mountain weather, treat that list as a real safety requirement rather than a box to check.
A 110 hour cutoff on the 200 and a 39 hour cutoff on the 100 both give real margin, but both also mean managing sleep and effort across more than one night, which changes what "pacing" even means compared to a single-day race.
On a course this long, your finish time depends as much on how you manage rest as on how fast you move while awake. Decide before race day roughly how much sleep you will bank and where, rather than discovering the answer at 3 AM on the trail. A grade-adjusted pace target for the climbing sections still matters, but it only tells part of the story on a multi-day event like this one.
With individual aid station cutoffs layered on top of the overall 110 hour or 39 hour limit, a single slow stretch early can put you behind long before the final cutoff looms. A vert-aware finish prediction, checked against your progress at each aid station, gives you an early warning system instead of a surprise on the back half of the course.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
Early March in these mountains means mild afternoons but genuinely cold nights, and a race running into multiple nights needs a fueling plan that survives fatigue, cold, and a shrinking appetite.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour while you can hold that, and have a backup plan of real food and warm options for the stretches when gels stop sounding appealing, which is normal on anything approaching two or three nights on trail. With 6 to 14 aid stations depending on your distance, use the runners handbook to plan drop bags rather than guessing at spacing.
Sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range covers most runners, but on a race spanning cold nights the bigger risk is often getting cold and stalling rather than dehydration. Take the mandatory gear list seriously, and treat warm layers and a plan for overnight temperature drops as part of your race strategy, not an afterthought packed at the last minute.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a multi-day early-March Appalachian effort 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 race-day plan built around YOUR fitness, this exact point-to-point climbing profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for a multi-day mountain effort, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
This is Run Bum Tours' biggest event, ten years in the making by their own description, and the numbers back that up. The 200 mile course climbs roughly 40,000 feet point to point from Jones Gap State Park, South Carolina, through North Carolina and Georgia, and back into North Carolina to finish in Franklin, on the Foothills, Palmetto, and Bartram Trails. The 110 hour cutoff gives you real room, but it is still a multi-day effort through three states with 10 to 14 aid stations to manage. The 100 mile, which runs the first 100 miles of the same course, still carries about 21,500 feet of gain against a 39 hour cutoff. There are no course records yet since 2027 is the inaugural running.
The 200 mile course carries about 40,000 feet of cumulative gain over its full point-to-point route. The 100 mile, which shares the first 100 miles of the same course, carries about 21,500 feet of gain and 20,500 feet of loss. Both numbers come from a point-to-point Southern Appalachian route rather than a looped course, so the climbing is spread across the Foothills, Palmetto, and Bartram Trails rather than repeated on a single mountain.
A 110 hour cutoff on the 200 mile means multiple nights on trail, likely three or more, and a 39 hour cutoff on the 100 mile still means at least one full night. Plan for temperature swings: early March in the Southern Appalachians can be cold overnight even with mild afternoons, so build a fueling plan that holds up when your appetite drops from fatigue and cold. Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour while you can stomach it, and sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range. With 6 to 14 aid stations depending on distance, spaced across a point-to-point route, plan your drop bags around the aid station list in the runners handbook rather than assuming even spacing. Build your baseline numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator before race day.
The 200 mile carries a 110 hour overall cutoff. The 100 mile, which runs the first 100 miles of the same course starting the same Wednesday, carries a 39 hour cutoff. Both distances also have individual aid station cutoffs published in the runners handbook on the official race site, so check those splits rather than pacing only to the final deadline.
The route is point to point across three states, Upstate South Carolina into North Carolina into Georgia and back into North Carolina to finish in Franklin, using the Foothills Trail, Palmetto Trail, and Bartram Trail. Expect classic Southern Appalachian mountain terrain: steep, rooty singletrack, ridge climbs, and river valleys. Early March weather in these mountains swings from mild, even warm, afternoons to genuinely cold nights, so mandatory gear is required and worth taking seriously rather than treating as a formality.
Not for a first ultra, but it could work as a serious next step if you already have a mountain 50 miler or two behind you. About 21,500 feet of gain and 20,500 feet of loss on point-to-point Southern Appalachian singletrack, with a 39 hour cutoff spanning at least one full night, asks a lot even with generous time allowed. Because this is the inaugural running, there is no track record of how the course actually runs day to day, so go in prepared for a race that may still be finding its footing logistically in its first year, and build in your own margin rather than trusting a fresh course to run exactly as described.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/appalachian-200-100">The Appalachian 200/100 course guide</a>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, cutoffs, and aid stations come from public sources and can change year to year, especially for an inaugural race, 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.