⏵ Course guide · Arizona fixed-time ultra
Jackrabbit Jubilee puts you on the same flat 500-meter gravel loop as Hotfoot Hamster, this time in August, with 12-hour and 6-hour windows starting at 7:00 PM. There are no hills here and no finish line pulling you in, just the loop and the clock. I will walk you through the format first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for a timed loop event, with free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Aravaipa race page. Check the current date, start times, and aid in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.
Jackrabbit Jubilee runs on the same flat, crushed-gravel 500-meter loop as Hotfoot Hamster, winding around the grounds of the century-old Nardini Manor with zero elevation gain per lap. The challenge is rhythm and repetition through an August evening and into the night, not navigation or climbing.
Both distances start at 7:00 PM, so you begin in the last of the day's heat and race into a cooler desert night. The course is fairly well lit but has dark stretches, so bring a real headlamp and backup batteries even though you are never far from the lit aid area.
You can pitch a tent or set up chairs in front of the manor at no charge, so treat every lap as a chance to reach exactly what you staged there. Layer changes, extra food, and fresh socks are all a lap away rather than something you have to carry.
This is a cupless event to cut down on waste, so bring your own bottle or reusable cup, or plan to buy one on site. An express water-fill line outside the main aid tent lets you refill quickly without competing with the full aid line for food and other supplies.
On a flat, timed course, the runner who slows the least covers the most distance. Consistency across hours beats speed in any single hour.
A flat course on fresh legs at a 7:00 PM start feels easy, and that is precisely when runners overspend. Hold a controlled, honest effort through the opening hour so you have real legs left for hour ten or eleven if you are in the 12-hour event.
Set a target distance for your chosen window, then translate it into a per-lap split you can check constantly. That number, not the shrinking or growing total mileage, is the honest signal for whether your effort is sustainable.
⏵ Free tools to pace this race
A 7:00 PM start in August means real heat for the first stretch before the desert cools. Plan your fueling for both halves of that transition.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate an hour once you settle in, mixing gels and drink mix with real food from your own trackside supplies to keep your appetite alive over a long night. The looped format makes it easy to eat little and often instead of waiting until you feel depleted.
August evenings in Buckeye can still be genuinely warm at the 7:00 PM start. Sodium in the 400 to 700 mg per liter range covers most runners, leaning higher in the first couple of hours before the desert cools for the overnight stretch.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal duration, and an August Buckeye 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, a flat timed loop, and a realistic target distance. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for pacing discipline over many hours, and rehearses your fueling so race night is something you execute, not guess at.
Jackrabbit Jubilee is a fixed-time race on a flat, crushed-gravel 500-meter loop at Nardini Manor, so the terrain itself is about as forgiving as ultrarunning gets. The difficulty is entirely about repetition and pacing discipline over 6 or 12 hours through a August evening and into the night. The course records, over 80 miles for men and nearly 70 for women in 12 hours, show what is possible with disciplined even pacing, but most entrants are there to test their own limits, not chase records.
None to speak of. The course is a flat, crushed-gravel 500-meter loop winding around the grounds of the historic Nardini Manor, with zero feet of gain per lap. That flatness lets you run even, efficient splits, though the total absence of terrain variation means the same muscles fire the same way lap after lap, which some runners find harder on their legs than a hillier course of similar duration.
They run on the exact same course at Nardini Manor and share the same flat, fixed-time format. Jackrabbit Jubilee, held in August, offers 12-hour and 6-hour distances starting in the evening, while Hotfoot Hamster, held in late May, adds a 24-hour option with more varied start times. Aravaipa frames them as your two chances each year to race this specific course.
Start easier than feels necessary. In a fixed-time event the runner who slows the least over many hours covers the most distance, not the one who starts fastest. Set a target distance, back it into a per-lap or per-hour pace, and hold that number instead of banking early miles you cannot repeat late.
The main aid tent sits directly on course with dietary accommodations available on request, and an express water-fill line lets you top off bottles quickly without the congestion of the full aid tent. This is a cupless race, so bring your own bottle or reusable cup, or buy one on site. Portable restrooms line the course, with permanent facilities on the grounds.
Yes. Choosing the 6-hour option is a gentle, well-supported way to try the fixed-time format for the first time: flat terrain, frequent aid access, and a manageable duration. The course is well lit at night but has some dark stretches, so bring a headlamp and extra batteries even for the shorter distance.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/jackrabbit-jubilee">The Jackrabbit Jubilee course guide</a>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, start times, and aid 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.