A runner climbing the stone steps through Mt. Airy Forest, the staircase cut into the hillside below her and autumn canopy overhead

Sunday, October 25, 2026

Stone Steps 50k

Cincinnati's longest running ultra marathon24th year

Single-track loops through Mt. Airy Forest, about 5,200 feet of climbing, and an aid station every time you come back through The Oval.

Gun time in

37072529

About 5,200 ft of climbing·
Big and small loops, alternating·
Aid every loop·
Mt. Airy Forest·
Since 2003·
USATF sanctioned·

About 5,200 ft of climbing·
Big and small loops, alternating·
Aid every loop·
Mt. Airy Forest·
Since 2003·
USATF sanctioned·

About 5,200 ft of climbing·
Big and small loops, alternating·
Aid every loop·
Mt. Airy Forest·
Since 2003·
USATF sanctioned·

About 5,200 ft of climbing·
Big and small loops, alternating·
Aid every loop·
Mt. Airy Forest·
Since 2003·
USATF sanctioned·

0 ftTotal elevation gain

0.0 mi50K course distance

0 loopsAlternating long and short

0thEdition, in 2026

Two distances

Pick your race

The full ultra

50K

30.8 miles7 loops

Four 5.3 mile loops alternating with three 3.2 mile loops

The original. Seven single-track loops through Mt. Airy Forest, each one returning you through the aid station at The Oval before sending you back out. Roots, rocks, ridge traverses and the occasional blow down.

Start: 8:00 am
Entry cap: 120

Trekkers may start at 7:00 am.

Through January 31: $35
February 1 to September 30: $45
October 1 to race day: $55

T-shirt
Timing chip
Aid station every loop
USATF sanctioned

The fun run

27K

17 miles4 loops

Two 5.3 mile loops alternating with two 3.2 mile loops, turning for home at 17 miles

Same trail, same climbs, four loops instead of seven. The way a lot of Stone Steps finishers start before they come back for the 50K.

Start: 8:30 am
Entry cap: 130

Trekkers may start at 8:00 am and are ineligible for age group and overall awards.

Through January 31: $30
February 1 to September 30: $40
October 1 to race day: $45

T-shirt
Timing chip
Aid station every loop
USATF sanctioned

Earlybird pricing (2008 registration fees!) runs through January 31. Prices go up after January 31 and again after September 30.

The climbing

About 5,200 feet of it

The Oval sits near the top of the course, so every loop drops away from it and climbs back. The big ones save the worst for last: the final half mile climbs at least 170 feet, four times over. Nothing about this course is flat.

10,344 ft total elevation changeMeasured from USGS 1 m LiDAR along a recorded run of the course Aid station at the end of every loop

The map

See where it actually goes

Seven loops out of The Oval, drawn from a recorded run of the course. The full map is yours to move around, tilt and fly.

A topographic map of Mt. Airy Forest, tilted into its hills, with the Stone Steps 50K course drawn on the ridges it runs, mile markers round each loop, and the Stone Steps themselves marked. — Explore the course map3D terrain, mile by mile

What to expect

Roots, rocks, and one very good park

Two runners descending leaf-covered single track in autumn — Hilly trails with roots and rocks and occasional tree blow downs. Pictured are Jon Hastings, one of two sub-4 hour finishers, and Backyard champion Harvey Lewis.

Single track, start to finish

Hilly trail with roots, rocks and the occasional tree blow down. Nothing about this course is flat, and very little of it is forgiving.

Aid at the end of every loop

Because the course is a loop stack out of The Oval, you pass through aid seven times on the 50K. Drop bags stay in one place all day.

1,469.9 acres of forest

Mt. Airy Forest is larger than Central Park's 843 acres. Evergreens, hardwoods, meadows, river crossings, hill climbs and ridge traverses.

It gives back

Every year the race donates the net proceeds (>$2000) to Cincinnati Parks, the reason this trail stays runnable.

The full course

Race day

How the morning goes

TBCPacket pickup opensThe Oval, Area 13
TBCPre-race briefingStart line
7:00 am50K trekker startOptional early start
8:00 am50K startSeven loops
8:00 am27K trekker startIneligible for awards
8:30 am27K startFour loops
TBCAwards
4:30 pmCourse closesApproximate

The fast ones

The names on the board

Men 50K
David Riddle
3:40:562011
Women 50K
Katie Ruhlman
4:27:232020
Men 27K
David Riddle
1:59:322017
Women 27K
Katie Ruhlman
2:28:402021

All-time records

Why it exists

Over $2,000 a year to Cincinnati Parks

Mt. Airy Forest is 1,469.9 acres, larger than Central Park. The race has run here without a break for over twenty years, and every entry helps keep the trail runnable for everyone who uses it the rest of the year.

Find out more about Mt. Airy

Race director

David Corfman

The 34th person to finish 100 hundred-mile ultramarathons.

A wide dirt trail running through the hardwoods of Mt. Airy Forest — Mt. Airy Forest, Cincinnati

David Corfman, the race director, grinning with one arm raised to show his watch.

Who runs it

Your race director

David Corfman has directed this race for over twenty years, which is most of the time it has existed. He is also the 34th runner in history to finish a hundred hundred-mile races, so the person setting the cutoffs has stood where you will be standing at four in the afternoon. He now wears a Coros watch!

Everything the site cannot answer yet, he can. Parking, packet pickup, the briefing: ask, and the answer goes on this site.

Ask David a question

Between race days

The group knows first

Most of what happens between one race day and the next happens in the Facebook group. Ask about the course there and you will usually have an answer from somebody who ran it that week.