The Virginia Trail Running Festival

Please read all information / everything about this race and our other races on our website RunBumTours.com
We have been race directing fun, scenic and safe trail races for 13 years now.

The Virginia Trail Running Festival by Run Bum Races is a weekend of running, camping, local food / drinks, friendships and hopefully some personal bests! It takes place at peak fall colors along the New River. This race takes place on the New River Trail, a 57 mile rails to trails path. Most of the trail is right along side the MASSIVE New River. Beautiful orange and yellow leaves at peak fall colors light up the river above its rapids and waterfalls. You will cross over many old train trestles that are several hundreds of feet in length crossing the New River several times. Foster Falls, home of beautiful rapids, beckons runners with its hum of rushing water. The trail itself is dirt / crushed gravel. The elevation change is minimal. Most of it is completely flat or a 1% grade. This is an extremely runnable maybe too runnable course. If you are looking for a PR or your first 100 or 50 miler then this is it! Aid stations pretty much every 5-8 miles. There is lots of crew access.

Run Bum Races has been race directing for 13 years now. We have a trusted name to deliver on a fun, scenic and safe race. Check out all the info about this race and our other races on RunBumTours.com

Race details

RACE ROUTE FOR 2024 only...
https://caltopo.com/m/L0F66


For the 2024 race the state park (which owns and is in charge of the entire trail) is fixing and upgrading its bridges and trestles on the Northern end of the trail. So for 2024 only we will have a 25 mile out and 25 mile back course. The 100 does that twice.
For 2025 onwards we will do a 50 mile out and back course and likely a point to point 50 mile.

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100 mile
32 hour cutoff
1,500 ft gain or less.
Finishers get a buckle

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50 Mile
17 hour cutoff
All races have individual aid station cutoffs
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100 mile relay
There will be about 9 spots to switch runners. Max of 8 runners per team.
32 hour cutoff
You are running the same exact course as the 100 solo runners with all the same cutoffs.
Relays must provide their own food and are allowed 2 vehicles per team along the course.
Relay teams will receive a medal upon team finishing. Please read our runners handbook on our website with all the relay specific details. Relay team finishers get a medal





SWAG
For all races there is no swag...its all add on which can be pursued from the "STORE" link above. We do this to keep the race cheaper.

Aid stations
All aid stations will be fully stocked like normal Run Bum Races. We will have drop bags as well. Please refer to the RunBumTours.com website once that is set up around June 15th.

Mandatory fees / parking
All runners must pay a $5 per person fee that is given to the park / local rescue squads.
All runners are responsible for paying the $7 park entrance fee per day. This is per car.

What to do where to stay

Fries, Virginia is where our race is based out of and finishes. The shuttles go from there and the camping is there. We have limited camping available at the finish this is limited to 50 people and is available on this event page under store or at checkout. It is per person and there until sold out.

We recommend you get an house rental or stay in hotels in the Fries, Galax, Pulaski or Wytheville area.

Crew people go check out the following... Fries River Park (our finish line), Shot Tower, Foster Falls.
Go rent a bike from New River Trail Outfitters in Galax. Get a beer at Creek Bottom Brewery. Head up to Grayson Highlands and see the wild ponies (also where our largest and most popular race is).

Relay details

Virginia Trail fest 100 mile relay explination.
All runners of the team join individually and pay individually. It is $65 per person. This includes a medal if your team finishes.
The first person can create a team with a name and the other folks can join it. You can have up to 6 people in a team. One person is not responsible for paying the entire time. Its just $65 per person that they pay themselves as they sign up.
We are allowing 10 teams this year. There is no all men, all female or mixed category. With 10 teams this year its just everyone together. We are testing out the relay to see if it is something we want to do moving forward.

We have a set crew change spots. You will only be allowed to swap runners there. You can add runners up until 1 month from the event. There are no transfers between runners. Aka if someone can't run that signs up they can't give that to someone else. A new person will have to pay and register. The person who cannot come can find out refunds / deferral policy on RunBumTours.com/about

Event's current local time: 11:32 PM ET