A trail runner on a grassy ridge above a sea of clouds

Never Summer 100K

The Never Summer 100K is run inside State Forest State Park, below Cameron Pass in northern Colorado.

Prepare for Never Summer 100K

A plan built from your answers and your race date.

trail training plan

The Never Summer 100K is run inside State Forest State Park, below Cameron Pass in northern Colorado. The course links conifer forest, high alpine lakes and long stretches of exposed ridgeline, with fast-changing mountain weather even in midsummer. The start and finish are in Gould, a small settlement in the middle of the park.

The event spreads across the weekend: the 60K on Friday, the 100K on Saturday. A combined entry, the Dirty Double, lets runners take on both distances back to back.

The formats

2 formats on the program.

Format	Distance	Vertical gain
100K	65.7 mi	4,420 m
60K	39.2 mi	2,469 m

Organizer information, checked on September 21, 2026 · gnarrunners.com

When to start

A build for this distance usually runs 12 to 24 weeks. Counted back from race day, that puts the start somewhere between February 8, 2027 and May 3, 2027.

These ranges are working conventions, not a research finding — no trial has compared plan lengths against each other. What matters more is that the plan was built for the weeks you actually have, rather than shrunk down from a longer one.

How to choose your start date

When to start

February 8, 2027

→ May 3, 2027

Worth reading before you enter

Races and distances Trail distances: what changes off the road Distance stops being the useful number. What decides a trail race is how long you are out, how much you climb, and how much the descents have wrecked your legs by the end. Read Training Eating and drinking: what’s proven, what isn’t This is where confident advice most often runs ahead of the evidence. Some of it is well tested. Some is opinion wearing a number. And one common habit can kill you. Read Races and distances When to start preparing your race Most plans fail before the first session, because the block started too late and everything had to be squeezed. Counting back from the date is the dullest and most useful thing you will do. Read

Questions

What is the date of Never Summer 100K in 2027?

Never Summer 100K is run on Friday, July 30, 2027 in Gould. Date published by the organizer, checked on September 21, 2026.

What distances does the Never Summer 100K offer?

1 km with 2,469 m. The Dirty Double entry combines both races over the same weekend.

How hard is the Never Summer 100K course?

It is demanding mainly because of altitude and long exposed alpine ridges. 7 km, and afternoon storms or wind on the high sections can slow progress considerably.

Other races

This list keeps growing; it draws no line. A race that is missing is prepared for in exactly the same way.

Honolulu · United StatesUltra HURT 100 Jan 16 Its five-loop, 20-mile-per-lap format carries a famously high drop-out rate. Bandera · United StatesUltra HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race January The HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race is a trail and ultra weekend held in Bandera, Texas, inside the Hil Moab · United StatesUltra Moab 240 Endurance Run January 7 km ultramarathon with 9,620 m of vertical gain, run as one continuous loop out of Moab, Utah. It is par Your race is not here? Tell us about your race You can prepare for it all the same. Any race, anywhere, and even a goal without a race.

Your race is on the calendar. Your plan should be too.

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