Summit Line

⏵ Course guide · Georgia ultra

The Bootlegger 100 Course Guide

The Bootlegger 100 is a fast, friendly looped hundred at Dauset Trails near Indian Springs, central Georgia, just over an hour south of Atlanta. Eight laps of a runnable 12.5-mile loop on gentle mountain-bike singletrack, low on vert, big on first-buckle energy, and it is a Western States qualifier. I will walk you through the loop and how the race actually plays out, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for a long, runnable day (and night). There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ At a glance

The Bootlegger 100 quick facts

Date
Saturday, March 28, 2026 (12.5 mile runs Sunday, March 29)
Location
Dauset Trails, near Flovilla / Indian Springs, central Georgia, about an hour south of Atlanta
Distances
100 mile (8 loops), 50 mile (4 loops), 12.5 mile (1 loop)
Elevation gain
About 1,050 ft per 12.5-mile loop, roughly 9,000 ft for the full 100
Start
50 mile: 7:30 AM Saturday · 12.5 mile: 7:30 AM Sunday · 100 mile: early Saturday morning (confirm with the race)
Cutoff
100 mile: 35 hours, finish by 5 PM Sunday, last loop must start by noon Sunday · 50 mile: no hard cutoff (you have until the 100 ends)
Qualifier
Western States qualifier (counts toward the 2027 lottery), plus a raffled 2028 WSER entry for 2027 finishers

These facts come from the official race site and UltraSignup. Check the current date, start times, cutoffs, and aid stations in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.

The course: where The Bootlegger is won and lost

The whole race lives on one 12.5-mile loop, run eight times for the hundred. Each lap is about a half mile of road, then the 3.5-mile connector trail from Indian Springs into Dauset, then the gently rolling mountain-bike singletrack, and finally a couple of miles of gravel and paved road back to the start/finish. Two aid stations per loop, at roughly mile 6.2 and at the start/finish. The climbing is soft, only about 1,050 feet a loop, so this race is won with patience and a stomach, not with quads.

The loop: runnable, gentle, deceptively easy early

The footing here is kind. These are flowy mountain-bike trails, so the grades are gradual and there is almost no technical rock or root to slow you down. That is exactly the trap. On the first couple of laps the loop feels so easy you will want to run all of it, including the gentle rises you should be power-hiking. Bank that effort instead of those minutes. The runner who jogs the early climbs at a conversational effort and walks the eating has way more left at lap five than the one who raced the first marathon because it felt good.

Learn the loop on lap one. Notice where the aid sits, where the shade is, where the road sections are, where you can zone out and where you need to pay attention. You are going to see this same ground seven more times, so the more you turn it into a familiar routine, the less it grinds on you later.

The looped format: the real challenge is mental

There are no mountains to break you at The Bootlegger, so the thing that breaks people is the repetition. Eight laps of the same trail, passing the same start/finish, watching shorter-distance runners finish and go home while you head back out for another one. That can mess with your head in the small hours. The flip side is a gift: you hit your drop bag and your crew every 12.5 miles, so you are never far from dry socks, a warm layer, real food, or a person who will tell you to stop sitting down.

Beat the loop by chopping the hundred into eight smaller races. Do not think about mile 87. Think about getting to the next aid, then this lap done, then back out. Have a tight plan for what you do at the start/finish each time (refill, grab calories, swap what needs swapping, leave) so you do not bleed twenty minutes a lap to the camp chair. The chair is undefeated. Respect it.

Night, crew, and drop bags

A hundred means running through the night, and the loop format makes that easier to manage than a point-to-point. Stage a drop bag at the start/finish with your night kit: headlamp plus a backup, batteries, warmer layers, gloves and a hat for the coolest hours before dawn, and the foods that still sound good when nothing does. Because crew access is at the start/finish only, you do not need a complicated crew plan, you need a sharp one that resets you every lap.

Even though the course is mild, the back half of any hundred has lows, and they tend to land deep in the night and again in that gray patch after sunrise. Eat before you bonk, drink before you are thirsty, and keep moving through the bad patches instead of sitting them out. On a runnable course like this, the people who keep shuffling the flats while everyone else death-marches are the ones who finish strong.

Pacing strategy for a fast, runnable hundred

With soft climbing and easy footing, The Bootlegger rewards even, disciplined effort more than raw speed. The danger is not the terrain, it is going out too hard because the first laps feel free. Pace the early loops slower than feels natural and you give yourself a real shot at a strong, even finish well inside the 35-hour cutoff.

Negative-split the effort, not the splits

You will not run even lap splits over a hundred miles, nobody does, the back half is always slower. What you can control is effort. Run the first few laps easy enough that they feel almost too slow, hold a conversational output, hike the gentle rises early, and keep something in the tank. On a runnable course like this, the cost of starting 30 seconds a mile too hot is brutal, because you keep paying it for 70 more miles. Use a grade-adjusted pace to set honest targets for the rolling sections so you are running by effort, not by ego.

Build a finish prediction and back into the cutoffs

Do not eyeball your Bootlegger finish off a road marathon time. A hundred adds fatigue, aid-station time, and night miles that a calculator has to account for. Build a realistic finish window, then work it backwards into a per-lap schedule and the loop cutoffs: you need to be out for your final lap by noon Sunday, and done by 5 PM. Knowing your target time per loop turns a vague 35-hour ceiling into a clear plan you can check against every time you roll through the start/finish.

⏵ Free tools to pace this course

Fueling strategy for 20-plus hours of running

A hundred is an eating contest with some running mixed in, and most Bootlegger finishers are out there for somewhere around 24 to 34 hours. Over that long, your stomach decides your race more than your legs do. The good news: with the loop, you restock real food at the start/finish every 12.5 miles, so a steady, trained intake is very doable here.

Carbs: steady, trained, and never let the tank hit empty

Aim for something like 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour and treat it as a job you do every single lap, not a thing you remember when you feel low. The biggest fueling mistake in a hundred is waiting until you bonk to eat, and by then your gut has shut down and you cannot climb back out. Keep the calories going early when your stomach still works great. Practice your exact race-day intake on long runs so 250-plus calories an hour feels routine, and lean on the aid stations and your drop bag for real food when gels stop sounding good (they will).

Sodium, fluid, and warm-March heat

Late March in central Georgia is usually mild, but it can warm up in the day, and warm plus humid quietly raises how much fluid and sodium you burn. Drink to thirst, do not over-drink, and back it with sodium, often in the range of 300 to 700 milligrams per liter, more if you are a heavy or salty sweater or the day turns hot. The night swing matters too: it can get genuinely cool in the small hours, so keep eating and drinking even when you do not feel like it. Weigh yourself before and after a long run to learn your real sweat rate, then build the plan around your own number instead of a generic one.

⏵ Build your fueling plan

Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a long looped hundred 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 Bootlegger loop profile, and your projected lap splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds the long runnable base a hundred needs, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.

Start free →Explore the demo

The Bootlegger 100 FAQ

How hard is The Bootlegger 100?

By 100 mile standards The Bootlegger is on the friendly end. It is a flat-to-rolling, runnable course on mountain-bike singletrack at Dauset Trails, with only about 1,050 feet of climbing per 12.5-mile loop, so roughly 9,000 feet across the full hundred. There are no real mountains and no technical rock, which is why it has a reputation as a fast, beginner-friendly first hundred. That said, 100 miles is still 100 miles: the generous 35-hour cutoff and the easy footing do not make the distance short, and the looped format brings its own mental grind.

How much climbing is in The Bootlegger 100?

Each 12.5-mile loop has a little over 1,000 feet of gain, around 1,050 feet, so the full 100 mile race stacks up to roughly 9,000 feet of total climbing across eight laps. The 50 mile is four laps for about 4,200 feet, and the 12.5 mile is a single loop. None of it is steep or technical, it is the gentle, gradual grade of trails built for mountain bikers, so the climbing rarely forces you to a hard hike the way a true mountain hundred does.

What are the cutoff times for The Bootlegger 100?

The 100 mile race has a 35-hour overall cutoff, which means you need to finish by 5 PM on Sunday. There is also a loop cutoff: you have to start your final lap by noon on Sunday, which leaves five hours to close it out. The 50 mile has no hard cutoff of its own, since 50 mile runners have until the 100 mile race ends to finish. Always confirm the current cutoffs in the official race-day details before you start, because race logistics change year to year.

How many loops is The Bootlegger 100 and what is the course like?

The whole event runs on one 12.5-mile loop at Dauset Trails. The 100 mile is eight laps, the 50 mile is four, and the 12.5 mile is one. Each loop starts with about a half mile of road, picks up the 3.5-mile connector trail from Indian Springs into Dauset, rolls through the gently graded mountain-bike singletrack, and finishes with a couple of miles of gravel and paved road back to the start/finish. There are two aid stations per loop, at roughly mile 6.2 and at the start/finish, and crew access is at the start/finish only.

Is The Bootlegger 100 a Western States qualifier?

Yes. The Bootlegger 100 is a Western States Endurance Run qualifying race, so finishing it makes you eligible to enter the lottery (a 2026 finish counts toward the 2027 lottery). The race has also offered a raffle that gives one finisher a guaranteed entry into the following year of Western States. That qualifier status, plus the fast and forgiving course, is a big part of why people pick it as a first hundred. Confirm the current qualifier details with the race and with Western States, since both can change their rules season to season.

Is The Bootlegger 100 a good first 100 miler?

It is one of the more sensible places to attempt a first hundred. The course is runnable and low on vert, the footing is easy, the loop means you pass your drop bag and crew every 12.5 miles, and the 35-hour cutoff gives most prepared runners real margin. The trade-off is the format: eight laps of the same loop is a mental test, and warm March weather in central Georgia can sneak up on you. If you train your stomach, rehearse a lap routine, and respect the distance, it is a great target for your first buckle.

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, 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.