Tunxis Trail Ultramarathon will be held Sunday, September 12, 2021 at 275 Punch Brook Road, Burlington, CT.

The event, which is organized by the Burlington Land Trust, offers races of both 60K and 30K.

6:00 am the 60K race begins

7:00 am The 30K begins

Runners will start in a staggered format, five runners at a time.

Each race is capped at 50.

Entry fees:

60K race $70

30K race $60

To register go to: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=85871

Registration ends at 11:59 pm, Thursday, Sept. 9th.

The Tunxis Trail Ultramarathon is a challenging, technical trail race through the Tunxis Trail system in Burlington, CT. The Tunxis Trail is part of the Blue Blazed hiking trail system managed by Connecticut Forest and Parks Association. We, the Burlington Land Trust, is holding the race as a fundraiser. There are options for an 30K mile “fun run” (in honor of the Barkley Marathons) and a 60K Ultramarathon.

The courses consist of lovely double track, single track, half track, off track, a little bit of road and maybe some prickers, if we don’t get to brush hogging some bits of the trail. The 30K and 60K course takes you to all of the “world famous” landmarks of Burlington trails: Sessions Woods, Mile of Ledges, Tory Den, Johnnycake Mountain, the CT State Trout Hatchery, Perry’s Lookout, Nassahegan State Forest, and Devil’s Kitchen.

Please take note of these COVID 19 precautions, especially for out-of-state runners.

Note that this year Tunxis will not be an official CT Trailmixers event, and will only be organized by the Burlington Land Trust.

First, it is important to note that no spectators allowed. We will only allow participants and a few race staff.

After the race, we dispose of all and belongings left behind.

This will not be a social event, so we cannot have anyone hanging out after the race, but must leave as soon as possible after they finish.

All participants (runners and volunteers) must be masked while in the start/finish area and while within 30′ of anyone on the race course. Runners will not be allowed to race if they do not have a mask, and will be pulled from the race (marked as Did Not Finish) for not masking appropriately.

The race briefing will be posted online.

Runners will be sent off in waves of 5 every 5 minutes, with the fastest projected runners going first.

Because of these waves, each distance is capped at 50 entrants, .

Runners must stay in their cars until 5 minutes before start time. Violation of this will result in a “Did Not Start”.

We are eliminating the sections where runners cross each other’s paths. I am reorganizing the courses so that runners will not have to pass each other coming in the opposite direction. This will remove the occurrence of runners having to pass along narrow trails.

There will be only one aid station besides the start/finish: at mile 10 there will be a water drop where each runner will have a gallon jug marked with their bib number. There will be one volunteer at that station to ensure distancing and to report runner status. They will be masked, keep their distance, and can eject runners for violating course rules.

Runners who drop from the race on-course will need to make their own arrangements to get back to their car.

The same arrangement will be set up for 60K runners at the start/finish so they can refill their water supplies.

There will be no drop bag area. If runners need to resupply from their own gear, they will need to go back to their car.

In order to make sure we keep track of runners, we will have a few masked course monitors at locations that provide enough room for them to note runners safely from a distance of 12′ or greater.

Runners coming from a restricted state need to submit a negative “PCR” COVID-19 test (not a antigen or antibody test) within 5 days of the race to the race director. This means they need to get tested outside of CT and mail, email or fax the negative test result with their name to you to keep on record (30 days). Before the race, runners must sign a form attesting that they have not been in CT for more than 24 hours and will leave CT within 24 hours of their arrival to CT. Otherwise, by state law, they can’t participate unless they have quarantined for 14 days prior to the race. Remember, testing doesn’t exempt them from quarantine.

The post-race food options will be pre-packaged under sanitary conditions, and include a 1 liter bottle of water.

Additionally, we will share our participant information with the health district to facilitate contact tracing.

There will be no awards or finisher medals handed out in person. Bibs will be mailed the week before, and t-shirts and finishers medals will be mailed out after the race.

Proceeds from the races will benefit the Burlington Land Trust.