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⏵ Course guide · Pennsylvania ultra

Oil Creek 100 Course Guide

Oil Creek 100 is a counterclockwise loop race on the Gerard Hiking Trail in Oil Creek State Park, Titusville, and it is one of the rockier, more rooty tests on the Pennsylvania calendar, run at 100 mile, 100K, 50K, and 25K distances. I will walk you through the course first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for the loops, the terrain, and the distance. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ At a glance

Oil Creek 100 quick facts

Date
Columbus Day weekend (2026: Saturday, October 10)
Location
Oil Creek State Park, Titusville, Pennsylvania, on the Gerard Hiking Trail loop
Distances
100 mile, 100K, 50K, and 25K
Elevation gain
100M: about 17,627 to 17,785 ft (the race’s own site pages disagree by roughly 150 ft, so both figures are listed) · 100K: about 11,010 to 11,026 ft · 50K: about 5,459 ft · 25K: not published
Start times
Staggered starts at 5, 6, 7, and 9 AM by distance
Cutoffs
100M: 32 hr · 100K: 31 hr · 50K: 17 hr
Entry style
Tiered pricing by distance; confirm current pricing on the official site

These facts come from the official race site. The 100 mile vert figure is listed as a range because the race’s own site pages do not agree with each other. Check the current date, cutoffs, and entry pricing in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.

The course: loops, roots, and rocks

Every distance at Oil Creek runs counterclockwise on the Gerard Hiking Trail loop system in Oil Creek State Park, starting and finishing at Titusville Middle School. The course is roughly 87 percent trail and dirt, with about 13 percent asphalt connector, and aid comes every 5 to 7 miles.

The loop format: familiar ground, repeated

Because the 100 mile distance is built from multiple loops of the same trail system, you pass through the start/finish area and familiar sections more than once. That cuts both ways. It means you always know roughly what is coming, which helps with pacing discipline, but it also means there is no new scenery to distract you from how you feel on lap three or four. Runners who do well here treat each loop as its own small race with its own plan, rather than white-knuckling toward a single distant finish line.

Oil Creek State Park itself sits on the site of the world’s first commercial oil boom, and parts of the Gerard Trail pass old oil-field remnants along the singletrack. It is a quieter kind of scenery than a big mountain course, but it gives the loops some character beyond just trees and rocks.

The terrain: rooty, rocky, relentless

This is Pennsylvania singletrack, which means rocks and roots for almost the entire distance, not one crux climb. Nothing on the course towers over you the way a big western mountain would, but the constant technical footing adds up over 100 miles in a way that flat mileage numbers do not capture. Quick feet and staying mentally present matter as much as raw fitness, especially once fatigue sets in overnight.

The short asphalt connectors between trail sections are your one chance to open your stride and recover a rhythm, so use them. They are a small fraction of the course, but they matter more than their mileage suggests when your legs are cooked from the singletrack.

Aid stations and the overnight stretch

Aid comes roughly every 5 to 7 miles across the 100, which is frequent by ultra standards, and most of the 15 to 17 aid stations (accounts differ on the exact count) carry their own intermediate cutoffs on top of the overall 32 hour limit. The specific split times are not reliably published across sources, so do not plan your race down to the minute off a stale spreadsheet. Confirm the current cutoffs in the official race-day details.

With a 5, 6, 7, or 9 AM start depending on distance and a race that runs well past 24 hours for most 100 mile finishers, you will spend real time on these loops in the dark. Practice night running and know your headlamp and backup light before race day, not during it.

Pacing strategy for a rocky, loop-based 100

With no single defining climb and roughly 17,600 to 17,800 feet of gain spread across the full 100 miles, Oil Creek rewards even, repeatable effort per loop over hero pace early.

Plan the race loop by loop

Do not think of Oil Creek as one 100 mile effort. Think of it as several repeated loops, each with its own pacing target and its own checkpoint against the cutoffs. A grade-adjusted pace built around this terrain’s rolling climbs turns your flat-ground fitness into an honest per-loop target instead of a number that falls apart on the technical sections.

Build a vert-aware finish prediction

Do not guess your Oil Creek finish off a road 100 or a smoother trail 100. The rocky, rooty footing and the accumulated vert (state both figures, since the race’s own pages disagree) both add real time that flat-course math will not catch. A vert-aware finish prediction gives you a realistic window against the 32 hour cutoff, so you know your actual buffer at each aid station instead of guessing.

⏵ Free tools to pace this course

Fueling strategy for a full day and night on trail

With aid roughly every 5 to 7 miles and most 100 mile finishers out well past 24 hours, Oil Creek is a long, sustained fueling problem, not a short, hard effort you can grit through.

Carbs: steady across a very long day

Aim for around 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and treat the top of that range as something you have already trained your gut for, not something you discover mid-race. Over 100 miles your stomach changes its mind about what it wants, so build in real food and flavor variety alongside gels and drink mix, and lean on the frequent aid stations to reset rather than trying to carry a full day of nutrition at once.

Sodium and pacing your stomach through the night

Scale sodium to your sweat rate and the day’s heat, typically somewhere in the 300 to 700 milligram per liter range, higher if you are a heavy or salty sweater. As the race moves into the overnight hours, appetite and stomach tolerance often drop even as your calorie need does not, so have a backup plan of bland, simple food for when nothing else sounds good. Rehearse this exact fueling rhythm on a long training day before you trust it here.

⏵ Build your fueling plan

Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a race that runs well into the 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, this exact Oil Creek course profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for the rocky loops, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.

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Oil Creek 100 FAQ

How hard is the Oil Creek 100?

Oil Creek 100 is a genuinely hard 100 miler, built from counterclockwise loops of the Gerard Hiking Trail in Oil Creek State Park. The 100 mile distance climbs somewhere around 17,600 to 17,800 feet (the race’s own site pages do not fully agree on the number) over almost entirely singletrack and dirt, with a 32 hour cutoff. The loop format means you see the start/finish area repeatedly, which is either a mental boost or a mental trap depending on how your race is going, and the terrain itself is rocky and technical enough that Pennsylvania trail runners call the state Rocksylvania for a reason.

How much climbing is in the Oil Creek 100?

The 100 mile distance gains somewhere in the range of 17,627 to 17,785 feet, depending on which page of the official race site you read, so plan around both numbers rather than trusting one exactly. The 100K is around 11,010 to 11,026 feet, and the 50K is 5,459 feet. The 25K vert is not published. None of the climbs are single monster mountains, this is a course built from repeated rolling grades on the Gerard Trail loops, which adds up fast over 100 miles even without one defining hill.

What are the cutoff times for the Oil Creek 100?

The 100 mile has a 32 hour overall cutoff, the 100K has 31 hours, and the 50K has 17 hours. Starts are staggered by distance at 5, 6, 7, and 9 AM. Most of the roughly 15 to 17 aid stations (sources vary on the exact count) carry their own intermediate cutoffs, but the specific split times are not reliably published, so build in buffer rather than banking on exact numbers until you confirm them in the current race-day details.

How should I fuel for the Oil Creek 100?

Plan around aid roughly every 5 to 7 miles and a race that, for most finishers, runs well past 24 hours. Most runners do well on roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, with sodium scaled to your sweat rate and the day’s heat, often landing in the 300 to 700 milligram per liter range. Over 100 miles your stomach will have opinions late that it did not have early, so plan real food and flavor variety, not just gels, and rehearse the plan on a long training day before you trust it here. Run your numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator.

What is the terrain like at Oil Creek 100?

The course runs counterclockwise on the Gerard Hiking Trail loop system in Oil Creek State Park, roughly 87 percent trail and dirt with about 13 percent asphalt connector, and aid roughly every 5 to 7 miles. Oil Creek State Park also sits on the site of the world’s first commercial oil boom, so parts of the course pass old oil-field history along with the singletrack. Expect rooty, rocky Pennsylvania trail underfoot for almost the entire distance.

Is the Oil Creek 100 a good first 100 miler?

It can be, if you have real ultra experience behind you and you respect the terrain and the loop format. It is not flat or fast. Rocky, rooty Pennsylvania singletrack over 100 miles asks for technical trail fitness, not just endurance, and the 32 hour cutoff gives you room but not slack if you are not prepared for the footing. First-time 100 mile runners who have a solid 50 mile or 100K under their belt and have trained specifically on technical trail tend to do well here.

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.