⏵ Course guide · Cheatham WMA, west of Nashville
The Music City Trail Ultra starts on a family farm in Pegram, Tennessee, and runs into the 20,000-acre Cheatham Wildlife Management Area on a mix of rugged jeep trails and technical single-track. The race itself calls the 50K a hard course with a firm 9-hour cutoff. I will walk you through the terrain and cutoffs first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan, with free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official HardWin Adventures race page. The page names only "First Weekend of March" rather than an exact date, and elevation gain was not published there, so confirm both with the race before you commit.
The race starts on a family farm and connects into the 20,000-acre Cheatham Wildlife Management Area, mixing rugged jeep trails with genuinely technical single-track.
The 50K splits roughly evenly between single-track and jeep or gravel road, which sounds like it should ease the difficulty, but the race’s own warning that this is "a hard course especially for the 50k" suggests the technical half carries real weight. Respect the intermediate cutoffs, 3 hours 20 minutes at 10 miles and 6.5 hours at 20 miles, as pacing checkpoints, not just formalities.
The 25K runs 65% trail and the 12K runs 75% trail, both with the remainder on jeep and gravel roads. Despite the higher trail percentage, the shorter overall distance generally makes these more approachable than the 50K, especially for a first visit to this course.
With two intermediate cutoffs before the overall 9-hour limit, pacing here is really about hitting three checkpoints, not one.
Reaching the 10-mile aid station well ahead of the 3 hour 20 minute cutoff and the 20-mile aid station well ahead of the 6.5 hour cutoff gives you a real cushion for the final push. The race itself asks 50K entrants to be capable of finishing within 9 hours, so treat that as a floor requirement, not a stretch goal, before you enter.
⏵ Free tools to plan your effort
Aid stations come roughly every 5 to 6 miles with Gatorade, water, and snacks, which gives you a real rhythm to plan around.
Aim for roughly 50 to 75 grams of carbohydrate per hour on the move for the 50K, with sodium in the 300 to 600 mg per liter range as a starting point, adjusted for early-March Middle Tennessee weather, which can still run cool or produce a cold start. With aid roughly every 5 to 6 miles, plan a fueling schedule that tops off at each stop rather than one that only reacts to feeling low.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and an early-March Tennessee day 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 training plan built around YOUR fitness and the firm 9-hour cutoff the Music City Trail Ultra 50K demands. Summit Line reads your real training, builds the technical trail fitness and pacing discipline this course rewards, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
The race says it directly: "The Music City Trail Ultra is a hard course especially for the 50k," and asks that 50K runners be capable of finishing within the 9-hour limit. With roughly half the 50K on technical single-track through the Cheatham Wildlife Management Area and firm intermediate cutoffs at the 10 and 20 mile aid stations, this is not a course to underestimate.
The 10-mile aid station has a cutoff of 3 hours 20 minutes, the 20-mile aid station a cutoff of 6.5 hours, and the overall race limit is 9 hours. Those intermediate cutoffs matter as much as the final one, since missing the 10-mile checkpoint pace early makes the 9-hour overall limit much harder to recover.
The 50K runs half on trail and half on jeep or gravel roads. The 25K runs 65% trail with the rest on jeep and gravel roads. The 12K runs 75% trail with the rest on jeep and gravel roads. All three share the same rugged, technical trail character where they do run single-track, on the family-farm-to-Cheatham-WMA course.
Given the race’s own warning that it is "a hard course especially for the 50k," with a firm 9-hour overall cutoff and real intermediate checkpoints, this is a better second or third 50K than a first. If you are newer to the distance, the 25K or 12K let you sample the same Cheatham WMA terrain and HardWin Adventures organization at a gentler distance first.
The race runs the first weekend of March each year; the official page does not print an exact calendar date, so the next edition is expected around Saturday, March 7, 2026, based on that pattern. Confirm the exact date on the official HardWin Adventures page before you register or book travel.
Registration and current details are on the official race page at hardwinadventures.com/music-city-trail-ultra. Contact the race director, Paul Steele, at paul.steele@hardwinadventures.com with any questions before you sign up.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/music-city-trail-ultra">The Music City Trail Ultra course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/music-city-trail-ultra" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Music City Trail Ultra course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. Course, date, and logistics come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the race before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.
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