Flagship ranking · updated September 7, 2026

Best Trail Races & Ultras in the US

Ranking trail races with the same formula as road marathons would be malpractice, so we don't. Trail races score on their own curve: field size is calibrated to a world where 400 entrants is enormous, USATF certification doesn't apply and isn't counted against anyone, and course character — scenery plus raw elevation gain — carries a quarter of the score, because in this discipline the course is the point. The breakdown is on every row, as always.

What the formula can't capture, and we'll say plainly: most of the races at the top of this list are harder to get into than they are to finish. Lotteries, qualifiers, and years-long waits are the norm at the front of American trail running. We rank the races, not your odds — check each race's entry process before you fall in love.

One more thing we'd rather say than have you discover: this slice leans ultra, and it leans east, because of where our data comes from. Listings sync from RunSignup, so trail races that register through UltraSignup — which is where a great deal of American ultrarunning lives — aren't here yet. The effect is easy to spot once you know to look: right now this list holds more trail races in Texas and Ohio than in California or Colorado. That tells you where races register, not where trail running happens.

So read the top and the tail differently. The races at the head of this list are hand-verified and earn their place. The further down you go, the more you're seeing the shape of our sourcing rather than the shape of the sport. Methodology is public, rankings are never sold, and race directors can claim or add a listing free — if your trail race is missing, that's the fastest way to fix it.

Composite /100 · FLD field · HST history · CRD credentials · CHR character

1 Western States 100 Olympic Valley, CA Jun 2027 72.2/100

The oldest 100-mile trail race in the world and the sport's Boston: 100 miles from Olympic Valley to Auburn through the Sierra high country and the canyons, with a finish lap on the Placer High track that has ended more than one running documentary in tears. A field capped in the hundreds and a lottery measured in years keep its size score tiny — everything else about it is the ceiling of the sport.

2 Dipsea Race Mill Valley, CA Jun 2027 68.6/100

The oldest trail race in America — run since 1905 — and still the strangest and best 7.4 miles in the sport: Mill Valley over the shoulder of Mount Tam to Stinson Beach, staircases and all, with a legendary handicap start that lets grandmothers and Olympians race head-to-head, and shortcut lore passed down like family recipes. Its history component is nearly maxed, and no race on this list has earned one more.

3 JFK 50 Mile Boonsboro, MD Nov 2026 65.2/100

The oldest ultramarathon in the country, born from JFK's 1963 fitness challenge, and the best on-ramp in the sport: rocky Appalachian Trail early, then 26 flat miles of C&O Canal towpath where road runners get to feel at home. A November date, a big field by ultra standards, and six decades of history make it the highest-scored 'first ultra' pick on the board.

4 32nd Annual Turkey Trot 5K Fort Wayne, IN Nov 2026 60.3/100
5 Broken Arrow Skyrace Olympic Valley, CA Jun 2027 59.4/100

The youngest race on this list and the future of it: a June festival of European-style skyrunning above Olympic Valley, with snowfields, via ferrata, and the deepest sub-ultra trail fields in North America. Its history component is a rounding error — its character score is not. Expect this one to climb the board every year the longevity math compounds.

6 Chuckanut 50K Bellingham, WA Mar 2027 59.3/100

Thirty-plus years of March mud outside Bellingham, and the unofficial season opener for elite North American trail running — the start lists here read like a preview of the year. A flat first and last 10K sandwich a mountainous middle on the Chuckanut ridge. Small, low-frills, beloved; the size cap on its score is the community's favorite feature.

7 34th Annual RidgeWalk & Run Wellsville, NY Oct 2026 57.1/100
8 Quad Rock 50 Fort Collins, CO May 2027 54.2/100

The local's pick: 11,000 feet of climbing looped through the foothills above Fort Collins, mixing punchy ascents with genuinely runnable ridgelines. A few hundred entrants, no lottery drama, real mountains. It sits near the bottom of this list's composites while being exactly the kind of race the list exists to surface — proof you don't need a famous name to find a great day out.

9 Black Canyon 100K Mayer, AZ Feb 2027 53.5/100

The February desert descent that has become the sport's Golden Ticket hunting ground — its finish line doubles as a Western States qualifier chase, which stacks the field absurdly deep for a race barely a decade old. Fast, runnable Sonoran singletrack with saguaro for crowd support. Young and mid-sized, says the formula; consequential, says everyone in the sport.

10 12th Annual ROCovery Run/Walk and X-Challenge! Presented by Wegmans, A Better High, Lewis Tree, Rochester Regional Health & Owen's Point Henrietta, NY Sep 2026 48.8/100
11 18th Annual Gobbler Gallop Trail Run/Walk 1 Mile Saginaw, MI Nov 2026 47.3/100
12 11th Annual Trick or Trot 5K Trail Run/Walk Sanford, MI Oct 2026 46.1/100
13 23rd Annual Mariners Bethel 6.2m & 3.1m Trail Run, 1, 2, or 3 mile walk, Kiddie Color Run Frankford, DE Oct 2026 46.0/100
14 16th Annual Vista View 360 Ultramarathon & Relay Davie, FL Jan 2027 45.7/100
15 2nd Annual 5K Trail Run/Walk at Jacobsburg State Park -Benefits Wreaths Across America Nazareth, PA May 2027 43.4/100
16 4th Annual Porterville 5K/10K Trail Run Porterville, CA Apr 2027 43.3/100

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240 races we list but haven't measured enough of to score. By date. What we measure →

Best Trail Races & Ultras in the US

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