The Angeles Crest 100-Mile Endurance Run, or AC100, is an ultramarathon 100 miles (162 kilometers) long that takes place annually along trails through California's

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the U.S. Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabriel Mounta ...

. The course was originally designed to be a challenging 30-hour course, but due to its difficulty, the official cut-off time is set to 33 hours. The race is limited to 150 participants; registrants must qualify by completing at least a 50-mile run in the previous year.

The Course

The race starts in

Wrightwood Wrightwood is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County, California. It sits at an elevation of . The population was 4,525 at the 2010 census, up from the population of 3,837 at the 2000 census. Wrightwood is located northeast of Lo ...

, following portions of the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

(where it climbs

Mount Baden-Powell Mount Baden-Powell () is a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains of California named for the founder of the World Scouting Movement, Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell. It was officially recognized by the USGS at a dedication ceremony in 1 ...

), the

Silver Moccasin Trail The Silver Moccasin Trail is a trail located in the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of Los Angeles. It begins at Chantry Flat Recreation Area above the city of Arcadia, California, traversing upward and down through several canyons and along the ...

, and the

Gabrielino Trail The Gabrielino Trail is a United States National Recreation Trail that runs through the Angeles National Forest with trailheads at Windsor Avenue in Altadena, California on the west end and Chantry Flat, just north of Arcadia, California, on the e ...

. It finishes a
Loma Alta Park
in

Altadena Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 miles (23 km) from the downtown ...

, CA, near

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

History

The first event was held in 1986, and was mapped out by Del Beaudoin. Since then, the course has remained mostly consistent. The original finish line was the Rose Bowl in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

through 1991. In 1992 the finish line was shifted to Johnson's Field in the Arroyo, adjacent to the Arroyo Seco. In 2008 the finish line was moved to Loma Alta Park, in

. Since the early 2000s the course has been extended an extra 1 mile around Cooper Canyon due to a closure enforced by the Forest Service to save the endangered Yellow-Legged Tree Frog. The race was held in September until 2010, when the date as moved up August (except for 2011 and 2012, when it was held in July). After the Station Fire cancelled the 2009 race, the race dates were changed in order to avoid the fire season. When Jim O'Brien set the course record in 1989, the overall course was about 1 mile longer.

Awards

Runners who cross the finish line in less than 24 hours receive the Silver Belt Buckle. A solid

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. '' Fine silver'', which is 99.9% pure silver, i ...

belt buckle, only 15 to 20 percent of participants earn this award each All runners finishing between 24 and 25:05 hours receive the Second Sunrise Ram Buckle, made of solid bronze. Any runner who completes the race between 25:47 and 33 hours is awarded with the 33 Hour Ram Buckle. Additionally, all finishers regardless of finishing time get an engraved metal plate mounted on a solid walnut plaque and a finisher T-shirt.

Course Records

Jim O'Brien, until 2013 coach of Arcadia Boys' Cross Country team (ranked #1 in the U.S. and 2-time National Champions), has held the men's course record since 1989 with a finish time of 17:35:48. Pam Smith holds the women's course record with her time of 21:04:18, which she achieved in 2014.

Western Slam

This race is also one of the four endurance runs in the United States that comprise the "Western Slam," a feat entailing the completion of these four notoriously tough events: * Leadville 100 in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

Western States 100 The Western States Endurance Run, known commonly as the Western States 100, is a 100.2-mile (161 km) ultramarathon that takes place on California's Sierra Nevada Mountains trails each year on the last full weekend of June. The race starts ...

in Northern California * Wasatch 100 in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

* Angeles Crest 100 in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Angeles Crest 100 HomepageRealEndurance AC100 race page
Ultramarathons in California San Gabriel Mountains