Welcome Back!

BIB PICK-UP The day before the race at the start/finish line, early BIB pick-up will be available starting at 2:30 and ending around dusk. If you are heading to the campgrounds on Friday we STRONGLY recommend picking your BIB up the day before the race to beat the lines on race day.

If you cannot pick your BIB up on Friday, the Registration tables will be opening up at 7:00 am on Race Day!

The start/finish line is the same as always, at the Tahoe Hotshot Work Center on Vista Pt Road. When putting the BIB on, please place on the front of your body in a spot easy to see for volunteers and Course Marshals (i.e. your chest or front thighs).

The Course The race will begin promptly at 08:30! The trail is predominantly single track! With 200+ runners, and many competing to win, our goal is to avoid a bottleneck in the first mile. If you are competing to win, start near the front of the pack, and if you are running to finish, allow these runners a berth to get out fast and establish good position before the course transitions into the Bullards Trail, which is 95% single track and passing is more of a challenge.
Again, it may be common sense, but we need to address it for runner safety and trail etiquette. If you are passing a runner, say "on your left" and please allow a foot of space for this runner to pass. The inner competitor in some people wants to "hip-check" this person off the trail, but come on, with no cash prize that would be super lame!!

Bag Drop There will be a designated area for drop bags to be left during the race. It will be right next to the start line and will be supervised.

T-Shirts One T-shirt is included with your registration and more can be purchased on runsignup for $20 each.

Supporting the Runners We know a lot of runners are bringing friends and family to come support. There are 3 aid stations, not including the start/finish line, where people can come watch and support.

The Dark Day Day Use parking lot is Aid Station 1. If coming from the start/finish line drive east on Marysville Rd to Dark Day and turn Left. Pass the kiosk drive downhill until you see the Dark Day Day Use sign and make another Left. If you go straight here you will run into the boat ramp, another good spot to cheer the runners on. There will be a couple Forest Service Fire Engines parked here so you won't have to look too hard.
Aid Station 2 will be located at the 7 ball/8 ball trail intersection. Located about 1 mile east of the Dark Day turn on Marysville Rd, you will see Aid Station 2 signs at the driveways that you can turn onto.
Aid Station 3 is located at the Schoolhouse Campground. Simply turn into the Campground off of Marysville Rd and you will run right into the festivities!!
The top of Dark Day Rd where the 8 ball trail crosses is a great spot with easy access to watch runners come by. There will be two North San Juan Trucks here blocking traffic. There is no Aid Station at this location but a great spot to cheer on charging runners! The Dark Day Boat Ramp is another location which is easy to access and a good spot to watch participants cruise by!

BRING YOUR COWBELLS!!!!!

Bathrooms Always an area of concern for runners before a race. There are two Forest Service restrooms on Vista Point Rd on the left hand side. At the Hotshot Workcenter we are providing portable restrooms. Close to the Dark Day day-use parking lot there will be two Forest Service restrooms and two more at the Dark Day boat ramp. We will place 1 portable restroom at the 7 ball/8 ball Aid Station and the final two will be at the Schoolhouse campground.

Camping For those who are coming from far away or who want to make a weekend of it. As mentioned in the accommodations page of the website, there are hotels available in town. However, the Schoolhouse (Sites 1-14 and any sites without a tag after noon) and Hornswoggle Campgrounds will be available exclusively to interested parties affiliated with the Hotshot Half, free of charge both Friday and Saturday nights. First Come, First Serve. At the main campground in Hornswoggle there will be horse shoes, corn-hole boards (feel free to bring your own set-up as well), and lights set-up for a night of hanging out and fun!
Parking There is a fair amount of parking on either side of Vista Pt road. Please park perpendicular to the road and not parallel in effort to accommodate as many people as possible. We will have volunteers helping coordinate the parking. There will be an overflow lot on the other side of Marysville Rd. Signs will be posted.

Water Bottles In effort to reduce the amount of trash (paper cups, plastic bottles, cans, etc) and be as eco-friendly as possible please consider running with a hand-held water bottle. They are easy to refill at aid stations and at the finish line when you are hanging out after the race. We will have plenty of igloo coolers filled with water and electrolyte drinks. For those not running with hand-held bottles we will supply paper cups at Aid Stations and the finish line