03/17/2020
Devil’s Racetrack Runners,
On the guidance for mass gatherings by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the state of Tennessee Department of Health, and our insurance provider (Road Runners of America) we have decided to cancel this year’s Devil’s Racetrack 20M and 10M races. In light of what we are seeing across the country and the rest of the world, this is not only the correct decision but the responsible decision to make for the health and safety of our runners, volunteers, staff, and the community.
We were "fortunate" because of the size of this event and the timing being almost 8 weeks out, to not have incurred many costs for the race besides the rental of the pavilion for our finish area in Cove Lake State Park and our own time. In light of that, we will be issuing full refunds of the registration fee.
Thankfully, the company that does our medals, Elevation Culture, has agreed to cancel the order we put in at no charge. Be sure to thank those folks as they are taking a huge hit with over 80+ races they cover being canceled as of this point.
We were really excited to put on this race for you this year, especially with the new routes. We had been working for months on approval for the new courses with TWRA and had finally received the green light not long ago. Don’t worry, we had a backup plan if the course had not been approved. =)
Looking ahead.
We trying to make Devil’s Racetrack a big and better trail running event. This race since we took it over two years ago has had relatively small numbers or participants. We’ve made some small changes such as moving the course to the more scenic, Devil’s Racetrack and Eagle Bluff section of the Cumberland Trail. We are continuing to explore options to make this race even more attractive. The biggest change you might see for 2021 is moving the race date to April. One of our other big events, Yamacraw currently takes place in April but because of issues we deal with each year with flooding, we are considering flip flopping the dates. We are waiting to hear back from the Park Service and National Forest as to whether the May date would work for putting on Yamacraw.
Beyond that, we are exploring the possibility of a longer distance option but there are a lot of variables there so that might be something that happens later rather than sooner.
We thank you for your patience and understanding in these unfortunately circumstances. Thank you for choosing to race with us and we hope you will join us at future Ultranaut Running events.
Be safe and happy running!!
Brian and Shelley Gajus
Ultranaut Running
