⏵ Course guide · Pinhoti Trail Series, Oak Mountain State Park
The Oak Mountain 50K sends runners through forested hills at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, Alabama, mostly single-track, with two separate climbs to the top of Double Oak Mountain and roughly 3,900 feet of total gain. I will walk you through the course and cutoffs first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for two hard climbs on one 50K, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Pinhoti Trail Series event page. Entry fee and checkpoint-level cutoffs are published in the race's own aid station document rather than the main page copy, so download that directly before race day.
Unlike a loop-format ultra, the Oak Mountain 50K does not repeat any section, so every mile of climbing and descent is new ground.
The course includes two distinct climbs to the top of Double Oak Mountain, roughly 600 feet of gain each, on mostly single-track through forested hills. Because they are separated by other terrain rather than back-to-back repeats, each climb arrives as its own distinct effort within the race.
Total climbing lands around 3,900 feet for the full 50K, a meaningful vert total for a state-park course. Combined with mostly single-track footing, this is a course that rewards real hill training over flat-road speed.
Packet pickup opens at 6:30 AM at the Dogwood Pavilion / South Trailhead, ahead of a 7:30 AM start. Since the course does not loop back through the start, plan your morning logistics, parking, and any drop-bag staging around that single starting point.
With a 9 hour 30 minute limit and two distinct climbs to manage, pacing is about respecting each Double Oak Mountain ascent on its own terms rather than running one flat effort.
Roughly 600 feet of gain per climb changes your effective pace meaningfully on the way up. Use a grade-adjusted pace target for each Double Oak Mountain ascent so your flat-terrain pace expectations do not lead you to overcook the climbing sections.
Since the course does not repeat, you cannot use an earlier loop's split to sanity-check a later one the way you can on a loop course. Build your buffer against the 9:30 cutoff on the rolling and flatter sections, and treat both Double Oak Mountain climbs as pace-neutral efforts you simply need to get through cleanly.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
Nearly 3,900 feet of gain split across two distinct climbs means your carbohydrate needs will spike around each ascent rather than staying flat through the whole race.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour while moving and sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range. Take in extra carbohydrate in the miles leading into each Double Oak Mountain climb rather than trying to eat heavily while your legs and lungs are working hardest partway up.
Early April in central Alabama can start cool in the forest and warm up noticeably by afternoon, right around when most of the field is working through the second half of the course. Increase your sodium and fluid intake as the day warms rather than sticking to one fixed number for all 9 hours.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and an early-April Alabama day at Oak Mountain State Park 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 two hard climbs this course demands. Summit Line reads your real training, builds the vert-specific durability your distance needs, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
Roughly 3,900 feet of total climbing across a 50K, built around two separate ascents to the top of Double Oak Mountain at about 600 feet of gain each, makes this a genuinely hilly Alabama course rather than a flat one. The 9 hour 30 minute time limit is honest about that difficulty, generous enough for a well-prepared runner but not so loose that you can take the climbing lightly.
The course includes two separate climbs to the top of Double Oak Mountain, each roughly 600 feet of gain, on mostly single-track through forested hills. Because the course does not repeat a loop, you experience each climb once rather than facing the same ascent twice, but you do face two distinct climbing efforts across the 31 miles.
The overall time limit for the 50K is 9 hours 30 minutes. For checkpoint-by-checkpoint cutoffs along the way, the race publishes a dedicated aid station mileage and cutoff document alongside its official Runner's Handbook, worth reading closely before race day so you know your intermediate targets on a non-repeating course.
With roughly 3,900 feet of climbing split across two separate ascents, plan your carbohydrate intake around the effort of each climb rather than a flat per-mile rate. Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour while moving and sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range, adjusted for an early-April Alabama day that can warm up meaningfully in the forest by afternoon. Build your own numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator.
With 26 years of running the same event, the course marking and aid infrastructure are well established, and the official Runner's Handbook and cutoff document give you real preparation material ahead of time. The two Double Oak Mountain climbs make roughly 3,900 feet of gain a genuine test, so a first-timer should come in with real hill training rather than treating this as an easy introduction to the distance.
Forested hills on mostly single-track trail, with two distinct climbs to the top of Double Oak Mountain built into a non-repeating route. Expect the kind of technical, rooted Alabama singletrack that Oak Mountain State Park is known for, rather than wide gravel road or a flat park loop.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/oak-mountain-50k">The Oak Mountain 50K course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/oak-mountain-50k" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Oak Mountain 50K course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The format, date, and course 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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