⏵ Course guide · Midwest Grand Slam anchor
The Indiana Trail 100 runs 150, 100, and 50 mile distances through the wooded lake country of Chain O'Lakes State Park in Albion, Indiana, a Western States qualifier and an anchor race of the Midwest Grand Slam. I will walk you through what is confirmed about the course first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for rolling Midwest trail and a long fall day, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Ignite Trail Series race page and the RunSignup event listing. Elevation gain, loop length, aid station spacing, and individual cutoffs are not published in public sources, so pull the current participant's guide from ignitetrailseries.com before you build a detailed race plan.
IT100 runs 150, 100, and 50 mile races through Chain O'Lakes State Park, wooded terrain built around a chain of connected lakes in northern Indiana. The 150 mile starts a full day ahead of the 100, both from the same park.
IT100 carries Western States 100 qualifier status, which tells you the race meets a real bar for distance, terrain, and organization even though it will not throw mountain vert at you. Rolling wooded trail, changing October weather, and the accumulated fatigue of 100 miles are the real challenges here rather than any single defining climb.
IT100 is one of the marquee races in the Midwest Grand Slam, an informal challenge covering the region's toughest hundred milers in a single season. If you are chasing the full Slam, IT100's October date is a fixed point worth planning your other Slam races around.
Loop length, total elevation gain, aid station count and spacing, and individual cutoff times are not published anywhere we could confirm for this guide. The race publishes an IT 100 Participants Guide and course map directly on ignitetrailseries.com, and given how much these details shape your pacing plan, treat pulling the current version as a required step before race week rather than an optional one.
Without published elevation or cutoff data, your pacing plan needs to lean on the current participant's guide and your own fitness rather than generic assumptions about a Midwest hundred.
Because loop structure and elevation profile are not published in the sources we could confirm, do not guess at a pacing plan from general Midwest race assumptions. Download the current IT 100 course map and participant's guide, then build a grade-adjusted pace target from the actual profile rather than an estimate.
Once you have real splits from the first several hours, a vert-aware finish prediction built off that data is far more reliable than any assumption made before race day. Check that projection against the official cutoffs, which you should have pulled from the current participant's guide, and adjust your effort while you still have room to.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
With a Saturday 6:00 am start for the 100 mile and a Friday 6:00 am start for the 150 mile, most runners spend at least one full night on trail through Indiana's variable October weather.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour as a starting point. Because published aid station spacing is not available here, confirm it from the current participant's guide and adjust your carry strategy for any longer gaps between stations.
Sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range covers most runners, and October in northern Indiana can run warm during the day and genuinely cold overnight. Pack for both, and adjust your sodium and fluid intake down as temperatures drop through the night rather than running one number for the whole race.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a variable Indiana October day and night 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, rolling Midwest wooded terrain, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for a long day and night on trail, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
IT100 is a legitimate Western States qualifier through the wooded lake country of Chain O'Lakes State Park in northern Indiana, and it also anchors the Midwest Grand Slam alongside the region's other marquee ultras. Indiana terrain will not test you with mountain-scale climbing the way a western hundred does, but rolling Midwest trail, changing October weather, and a genuinely long day on your feet make this a real hundred miler, not a warm-up. Detailed elevation and cutoff numbers are not published anywhere we could confirm, so pull the current participant's guide from ignitetrailseries.com to see the exact profile before you commit to a pacing plan.
IT100 meets the terrain, distance, and time-limit requirements the Western States 100 board sets for its qualifying race list, which is reviewed and updated periodically. That status, combined with the race's reputation as a well-run, non-profit event, is a big part of why it draws a competitive Midwest field every October.
The Midwest Grand Slam is an informal challenge among the region's toughest hundred milers, and Indiana Trail 100 is one of its anchor races. Runners chasing the Slam typically complete all of the qualifying Midwest hundreds within a single season, and IT100's October date places it at a specific point in that sequence, worth checking against the other Slam races if you are planning your own multi-race season.
With start times set for both the 100 mile (Saturday 6:00 am EDT) and 150 mile (Friday 6:00 am EDT) distances, plan for at least one full night on trail and likely a second for slower finishers. October in northern Indiana can swing from warm afternoons to genuinely cold nights, so build a fueling and layering plan that flexes with the temperature. Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour and sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range as a starting point, then confirm aid station spacing and offerings against the current participant's guide since that detail is not published in the sources available to us. Build your numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator before race day.
Individual cutoff times are not published anywhere we could confirm for the current race year, so pull the official participant's guide from ignitetrailseries.com before you build a detailed pacing plan. What is confirmed: the 100 mile race starts Saturday, October 10 at 6:00 am EDT, and the 150 mile starts a day earlier, Friday, October 9 at 6:00 am EDT, both from Chain O'Lakes State Park.
It can be, for a runner who has trained on rolling, wooded Midwest terrain and wants a well-organized, non-profit race without mountain-scale climbing. The race committee's reputation for strong organization and its use of proceeds to benefit Chain O'Lakes State Park speak to a well-run event, but because detailed cutoff and elevation numbers are not published here, a first-time hundred mile runner should study the current participant's guide closely rather than assuming this course behaves like any other Midwest hundred.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/indiana-trail-100">The Indiana Trail 100 course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/indiana-trail-100" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Indiana Trail 100 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.