⏵ Course guide · New Hampshire's original 30-Hour ultra
Ghost Train's headline 30-Hour Ultramarathon lets you choose your own distance, any multiple of 15 miles, on a flat, mostly straight rail trail through Brookline and Milford, New Hampshire, with a Sunset 30 Mile and 15-Mile options alongside it. There is almost no climbing here. The race is decided by pacing, fueling, and how you handle a long out-and-back. I will walk you through the format first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for a flat, extended effort, plus free calculators to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official race site. Formats, cutoffs, and waitlist status can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics before you commit.
The 30-Hour Ultramarathon is the race's signature event: you run any multiple of 15 miles, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 100, 115, or more, along the flat rail trail, and there are no DNFs as long as you complete at least one full 15-mile leg. The 30-Hour Relay applies the same choose-your-distance format to teams of 2 to 7.
The Granite Town Rail Trail runs mostly straight and flat with just one hill on the entire route, following the path once used to ship granite from Milford and ice from Brookline's Lake Potanipo. A few original railroad ties are still visible along the way. About a mile of each 15-mile out-and-back leg is paved, but the surface underfoot is not what will challenge you here.
The 30-Hour Ultramarathon and Relay tend to sell out, with the Ultramarathon capped around 175 on the waitlist in recent years. If that fills before you register, the Sunset 30 Mile (a fixed 30 miles starting 4:00 PM Saturday at Milford DPW, 10-hour cutoff) and the 15-Mile or 15-Mile Relay (Sunday morning at Camp Tevya, 5-hour window) run the same rail trail on a smaller commitment.
Every dollar of profit goes to the Conservation Commissions of Brookline and Milford, NH, and the race has raised over $350,000 for trail improvements since 2009. There is no race-day registration and no refunds or deferrals; a no-show entry becomes a donation to the trails rather than a wasted fee.
With no fixed finish distance on the 30-Hour Ultramarathon, pacing is about picking a sustainable effort and deciding your distance as the race unfolds, not chasing a predetermined number from the gun.
Because you can stop after any completed 15-mile leg without it counting as a DNF, there is no penalty for starting cautiously and extending your day if you are feeling strong. Pick an effort you could sustain for 30 hours, and let your body tell you at mile 45 or 60 whether you are going for 75 or more.
A finish-distance projection built off your first one or two 15-mile leg splits, extended out across a 30-hour window, gives you an honest read on how far you can realistically go, especially once fatigue and an overnight stretch factor in. Flat terrain makes early splits a genuinely reliable predictor here.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
An out-and-back rail trail format means you pass familiar points repeatedly, which is a real advantage for staging your own supplies and drop bags along the way.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour if you are going for a longer distance on the 30-Hour Ultramarathon. Stage your own nutrition at each turnaround or crew-accessible point along the out-and-back so you are not carrying a full 30-hour supply from the start.
If you are pushing past 60 or 75 miles on the 30-Hour Ultramarathon, you will be out through a full mid-October New England night. Keep sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range, and stage warm layers and any caffeine strategy for the overnight hours specifically, since temperatures on the flat, exposed rail trail can drop well below the daytime high.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal distance, and a long overnight New England 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 flat rail-trail format, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for sustained flat-ground effort and durability, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
The signature event, the 30-Hour Ultramarathon, is genuinely unusual: you choose your distance on race day, running any multiple of 15 miles (30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 100, 115, or more) along an out-and-back rail trail, and there are no DNFs as long as you complete at least one 15-mile leg. It starts Saturday at 9:00 AM at Camp Tevya in Brookline and runs until 3:00 PM Sunday, a 30-hour window. A 30-Hour Relay version lets teams of 2 to 7 split the same distance-your-choice format. The Sunset 30 Mile is a separate, fixed 30-mile race starting at Milford DPW at 4:00 PM Saturday with a 10-hour cutoff, and the 15-Mile and 15-Mile Relay run Sunday morning at Camp Tevya with a 5-hour window.
The trail itself is genuinely easy underfoot: mostly straight, flat, and well-groomed, with just one hill on the whole route. What makes the 30-Hour Ultramarathon hard is entirely the distance and duration you choose to take on, since you can run as few as 30 miles or push past 100 on the same flat course. The lack of technical terrain means this is a race decided by pacing discipline, fueling, and how your body handles a long out-and-back rather than by climbing or footing.
The race does not publish a specific aid station food list on its main pages, but as an out-and-back rail trail event, you will pass the same points repeatedly, which is genuinely useful for staging your own supplies and drop bags. Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour for the longer distances, and keep sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range, adjusting for a mid-October New England day and night that can swing from mild afternoons to genuinely cold overnight hours if you are out for the full 30 hours. Build your numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator before race day.
Each race option has its own window: the 30-Hour Ultramarathon and Relay run from 9:00 AM Saturday to 3:00 PM Sunday (30 hours), the Sunset 30 Mile runs from 4:00 PM Saturday to 2:00 AM Sunday (10 hours), and the 15-Mile races on Sunday run from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM (5 hours). For the 30-Hour Ultramarathon specifically, the only real "cutoff" that matters is finishing at least one full 15-mile leg before time expires, since your final counted distance is simply the largest multiple of 15 you completed.
The course runs along the historic Granite Town Rail Trail, once used to ship granite from Milford and ice from Lake Potanipo in Brookline. It is mostly straight, flat, and well groomed, with only one hill on the entire route and about one mile of pavement on each 15-mile out-and-back leg. A few old railroad ties are still visible in the trail bed, a nod to its history.
The flexible distance format is unusually forgiving for a first attempt at a big number: you commit to nothing beyond the first 15-mile leg, and can simply stop after any completed multiple of 15 without it counting as a DNF. That makes the 30-Hour Ultramarathon a genuinely low-pressure way to test whether 60, 75, or 100 miles is within reach. The flat, easy terrain removes technical difficulty from the equation entirely. The trade-off is that the 30-Hour Ultramarathon and Relay sell out quickly (capped waitlist around 175 for the Ultramarathon), so if this is on your list, register as early as you can, or look at the 15-Mile or Sunset 30 Mile options if the longer race is full.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/ghost-train-rail-trail-race">The Ghost Train Rail Trail Race course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/ghost-train-rail-trail-race" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Ghost Train Rail Trail Race course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The format, date, and entry details 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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