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⏵ Course guide · Vermont ultra

Vermont 100 Endurance Race Course Guide

The Vermont 100 is one of the oldest 100-milers in the country and an original Grand Slam race, run on rolling Green Mountain dirt roads and horse trails out of Silver Hill Meadow. It has no giant climb, just endless rollers that quietly add up to about 17,000 feet, plus a 4 AM start and a full night out there. I will walk you through the course first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan that fits the grind and the night. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ At a glance

Vermont 100 quick facts

Date
July 18, 2026 (race weekend July 17 to 19); held every July since 1989
Location
Silver Hill Meadow, West Windsor, Vermont (Southern Green Mountains)
Distances
100 miles and 100K (about 62 mi)
Elevation gain
100M: about 17,000 ft of total ascent · 100K: about 9,000 ft
Start
100M: 4:00 AM · 100K: 9:00 AM
Cutoff
100M: 30 hours · 100K: 25 hours (both finish by 10:00 AM Sunday), with intermittent cutoffs
Surface
Mostly rolling dirt and jeep roads plus horse trails, only about 2 miles of pavement
Note
Original Grand Slam of Ultrarunning race; the only 100 still run alongside a simultaneous 100-mile horse ride; benefits Vermont Adaptive

These facts come from the official race site and public sources. Check the current date, start times, cutoffs, and aid stations in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.

The course: where the Vermont 100 is won and lost

The 100-miler is a big shamrock-shaped loop out of Silver Hill Meadow, mostly on rolling dirt and jeep roads with woods-trail and horse-trail sections mixed in, and only about 2 miles of pavement the whole day. It is runnable terrain, not technical mountain trail, and that is exactly what makes it dangerous: there is nothing to force you to slow down early, so you have to do it yourself.

The rollers: a thousand small hills, not one big climb

There is no signature climb here to brace for. Instead you get relentless rolling dirt roads, hill after hill after hill, that add up to roughly 17,000 feet of ascent on the 100-miler. None of them look like much on their own. But they never stop, and your legs never get a real flat stretch to recover on, so the cumulative cost is what gets people. The 100K is the same character with about 9,000 feet.

The move is to run the gentle grades and power-hike the steeper pitches with discipline from the very first hours, even when it feels almost too easy. Walk the ups, run the downs and flats, settle into a rhythm you could hold all day. People who try to run every hill in the first 40 miles because the terrain is friendly are the ones shuffling by mile 70.

Camp 10 Bear and the back half

Camp 10 Bear is the landmark aid station you pass twice, roughly mile 47 and again around mile 70 on the 100-mile course, and that second pass is a real psychological gate. It is also where your pacer can join you for the 100-miler, so a lot of runners plan their day around getting there in good shape. The miles after the second Camp 10 Bear are where the race is decided, on tired legs in the dark.

Treat the first 70 miles as setup. If you fuel well, keep your effort honest on the climbs, and stay on top of the heat early, you arrive at Camp 10 Bear the second time with something left to race the last 30 miles. Blow the early pacing or fall behind on calories and those final rollers feel like a wall that never ends.

The night, the heat, and the aid

You start at 4 AM in the dark, run through the heat and humidity of a Vermont July afternoon, then finish into a second night for most people, so you are dealing with both ends of the temperature swing and a long stretch of headlamp running. Plan your layers and lighting for both, and do not underestimate how much the daytime heat can quietly drain you before the night even starts.

The upside is the support. The 100-mile course has around 25 aid stations, so you are rarely far from help, fluids, and food, with about 8 of them crew (handler) access points for the 100-miler. That generous aid is part of why this is a friendly first 100, but it also means it is on you to actually eat and drink at them instead of blowing through.

Pacing strategy for a relentless rolling 100

With about 17,000 feet of gain delivered as endless small rollers and a 30-hour clock, the Vermont 100 is about managing effort over a full day and night, not chasing a flat-ground pace. Run the hills by feel and protect the back half.

Pace by grade and effort, not the watch

Your flat-road pace is useless on a course that is never flat. What matters is grade-adjusted effort: hold a steady, easy output, hike the steeper rollers without ego, and let the downhills come for free. The classic Vermont mistake is running the friendly early hills too hard because nothing forces you to walk, then paying for it in the dark. Use a grade-adjusted pace to turn your real fitness into honest climbing and descending targets so you do not torch the first half.

Build a vert-aware finish window

Do not guess your Vermont 100 finish off a road marathon or a flatter ultra. The 17,000 feet of rolling gain, the heat, and the night all add real time. A vert-aware finish prediction that accounts for this course profile gives you a realistic window and lets you work backward into the intermittent cutoffs and your crew plan, so you know how much buffer you actually have at each station instead of guessing.

⏵ Free tools to pace this course

Fueling strategy for 100 miles and a full night

Most runners are out on the Vermont 100 for somewhere between 20 and 30 hours, through the heat of the day and a full night, with frequent aid. Over that long, carbohydrate, sodium, and fluid become the whole ballgame, right alongside fitness.

Carbs: steady, hourly, and trained

For an effort this long, do not chase the very top of the carb range the way you might in a short race. Aim for something sustainable, often around 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and keep it coming every single hour rather than gorging at aid stations and starving between them. The July heat kills your appetite and slows your gut, so lean on things that go down easy and rotate flavors and textures before everything starts tasting awful. Practice your exact race-day intake on long, hot runs so it is boring, not an experiment.

Sodium and fluid: ride the heat all day

Vermont in July is warm and humid, so plan sodium toward the higher end, often around 500 to 700 milligrams per liter of fluid, and more if you are a heavy or salty sweater. Drink to thirst and to your sweat rate through the hot afternoon, then expect to need less overnight when it cools. With aid roughly every few miles you do not need to carry huge volumes, but you do need to actually use the stations. Weigh yourself before and after a hot long run to find your real sweat rate, then build the plan around your own number.

⏵ Build your fueling plan

Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and the Vermont heat 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 Vermont 100 course profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for the rolling grind and the night, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.

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Vermont 100 FAQ

How hard is the Vermont 100?

The Vermont 100 is hard in a sneaky way. There is no single monster climb, but the course is built on relentless rolling dirt roads and horse trails that stack up to roughly 17,000 feet of total ascent over 100 miles, so it grinds you down hill by hill instead of with one big mountain. Add a 4:00 AM start, a full night out on course, the July heat and humidity, and a 30-hour cutoff, and it becomes a real endurance and patience test. It is also one of the oldest 100s in the country and an original Grand Slam race, so it draws a serious field.

How much climbing is in the Vermont 100?

The official figures are about 17,000 feet of total ascent for the 100-miler and about 9,000 feet for the 100K, spread across endless rolling hills rather than a few defined climbs. You are almost never on flat ground for long, so the climbing comes in hundreds of short, runnable-to-power-hike bumps. That constant up and down is exactly what wears people out late, because nothing ever lets your legs fully recover.

What are the cutoff times for the Vermont 100?

The 100-mile race has a 30-hour overall limit and the 100K has a 25-hour limit, with both distances finishing by 10:00 AM on Sunday. There are also intermittent cutoffs at aid stations along the way, so you cannot bank all your buffer for the end. The exact intermediate cutoffs live on the current year aid-station spreadsheet, so check those before race day and pace so you stay comfortably ahead at each crewed station.

Can I have a crew and pacer at the Vermont 100?

Yes to both, with rules. Crews can only help at designated crewed (handler-access) aid stations, roughly 8 of them for the 100-mile and 6 for the 100K, and runners without a crew can send drop bags to those same stations. Pacers are allowed after your second pass through the Camp 10 Bear aid station, which is around mile 70 for the 100-miler and around mile 32 for the 100K, so most of the night miles can be run with company. Runners over 60 can have a pacer the whole way.

What is the terrain and weather like at the Vermont 100?

The course is a shamrock-shaped loop out of Silver Hill Meadow that runs mostly on rolling dirt and jeep roads with stretches of horse trail through the woods, and only about 2 miles of actual pavement. It is runnable terrain, not technical mountain single-track, which is part of why pacing discipline matters so much. Mid-July in Vermont is usually warm and humid, sometimes genuinely hot in the day, then cooler overnight, so you are managing heat early and a long dark night later.

Is the Vermont 100 a good first 100-miler?

It can be a strong first 100 for a well-prepared runner. The footing is friendly and the aid is plentiful, with around 25 aid stations on the 100-mile course, which takes a lot of the technical risk and logistics stress off the table. The challenge is the relentless rolling profile, the heat and humidity, and getting through the night, so the prep that matters is long-run volume on rolling terrain, a rehearsed fueling plan for 24-plus hours, and some practice moving in the dark. Train those and the 30-hour cutoff gives most committed runners room to finish.

This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, start times, 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.