⏵ Course guide · Clinton Lake, Kansas
The Hawk Hundred repeats a technical, rolling 25-mile loop above Clinton Lake in Lawrence, Kansas, four times for the 100 miler, twice for the 50 miler, once for the marathon. I will walk you through the loop and aid station layout first, then give you pacing and fueling strategy built for repeated technical Kansas singletrack, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official hawkhundred.com race site. Check the current year details, cutoffs, and aid stations before you commit; race logistics can change year to year.
Every distance runs the same 25-mile Big Loop through technical, rolling trail above Clinton Lake: a short blue- blazed section to Lands End, red-blazed trail, then white- blazed trail out to West Park Road and the Bunker Hill/Goodwin loop, then back to Lands End and the Start/Finish.
The white and blue trails cross at several points on the course, and while crossings are marked and signed, it is your responsibility to read the markers correctly, especially by loop three or four when fatigue makes it easy to miss a turn. Study the course description before race day, not just during it.
West Park Road (miles 10.5 and 13) and the Start/Finish (mile 25) allow crew access and drop bags; both visits to Lands End (miles 4.5 and 18.5) are drop-bag only, no crew. If you are relying on crew support, build your plan around the two stations that actually allow it, not all four.
The tightest checkpoint is Sunday 10 AM at West Park Road, mile 88 for the 100 miler and mile 38 for the 50 miler, so treat it as your key pacing checkpoint, not the finish.
Because the Big Loop is technical and rolling, not flat gravel, a grade-adjusted pace target gives you a more honest per-loop number than a flat-ground estimate. An even effort across all four 100-mile loops (or both 50-mile loops) protects your legs for the Bunker Hill/Goodwin section late in the race, when the West Park Road cutoff is closest.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
Mid-September in Kansas can still run warm in the afternoon with a real overnight cooldown, especially for 100-mile runners on course into Sunday.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and keep sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range depending on the day's heat. With drop bag access at every aid station on every loop, use that frequency to keep your intake predictable rather than carrying more than you need between stops.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight and your goal time 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 technical Clinton Lake loop, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for repeated technical singletrack, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
The Hawk Hundred repeats a technical, rolling 25-mile loop above Clinton Lake, four times for the 100 miler, twice for the 50 miler, once (plus a short 1.2 mile lead-in) for the marathon. This is not a flat Kansas cruise: the course is genuinely technical singletrack, and the Hawk Hundred is one of the required legs of the Kansas Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, which tells you how the local ultra community rates its difficulty relative to the state's other 100 milers.
Each 25-mile "Big Loop" hits Lands End at mile 4.5 (no crew access, drop bags only), West Park Road at both mile 10.5 and mile 13 (crew access and drop bags, sandwiching the 2.5-mile Goodwin Loop over Bunker Hill), Lands End again at mile 18.5 (no crew, drop bags), then the Start/Finish at mile 25 (crew access, drop bags). One hundred milers repeat this full loop three more times after the first, fifty milers once more, so know which aid stations offer crew access before you plan your support.
Mid-September in Kansas can still run warm during the day with cooler nights, especially for 100-mile runners on course into a second day. Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and keep sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range depending on conditions. Aid stations are fully staffed and crewed by experienced ultrarunners, and you get drop bag access at every station on every loop, so plan to reset your intake regularly rather than carrying a full loop's worth of supplies.
The tightest checkpoint is Sunday 10 AM, when 100 and 50 mile runners must have left West Park Road after the Bunker Hill/Goodwin loop, mile 88 for the 100 miler and mile 38 for the 50 miler. The Lands End cutoff is Sunday noon (mile 93.5 / 43.5), and the overall finish cutoff for award eligibility is Sunday 2 PM. Miss the West Park Road cutoff and you are out of the race; miss the 2 PM finish and you are not eligible for finisher awards even if you complete the distance.
The loop format helps a first-timer: you pass through the Start/Finish (and West Park Road) with crew access multiple times per loop, and the course is well marked with blue, red, and white blazes at trail crossings. The technical, rolling terrain and the required Kansas Grand Slam status among local ultrarunners suggest this is more demanding than a flat gravel-road 100, so come with real trail fitness. A well-prepared first-time 100 mile runner comfortable on technical singletrack has real room to finish inside the cutoffs.
Link this guide
Race directors and clubs: link or embed this guide anywhere. It stays current.
<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/hawk-hundred">The Hawk Hundred course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/hawk-hundred" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Hawk Hundred course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>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.