If you’re new to the Black Hills 100, this course will almost certainly be harder than you think it will. If you’ve been here before, you know what you’re in for. Don’t take the relatively gentle appearance of the Black Hills lightly. Sure, they may look tame from afar, but there’s a beast lurking in there.
While we call this the “Black Hills 100”, the reality is that our 100 mile course is closer to 105 miles. Likewise, the 50 mile course is more like 52.5. Consider these bonus miles. Like one of those buy 2 get 1 free deals, except buy 100 get 5 free. Given the quirks of commercial grade GPS running watches, 20 people could come up with 20 different distances for the same route. Don’t think about it too hard; just run to where you’re supposed to run and enjoy the experience. The course sets up quite nicely from Sturgis to Silver City and back, and that just so happens to be a bit longer than 100 miles. We can’t very well shorten the trail, so there ya go. We stick with the “100” and “50” in the names because it just sounds better, but the aid station information below reflects a reasonable approximation of the actual course mileage.
