The course

Big and small loops out of The Oval.

Single track through Mt. Airy Forest, 1,469.9 acres of it, with an aid station every time you come back through the start.

Cincinnati Parks trail map of Mt. Airy Forest showing the loop network

Loop order

Long, short, all the way to seven

LoopTypeMiles

01Long5.35.3 mi so far

02Short3.28.5 mi so far

03Long5.313.8 mi so far

04Short3.217 mi so far

05Long5.322.3 mi so far

06Short3.225.5 mi so far

07Long5.350K

The 27K punches the first four and finishes. The 50K punches all seven.

Elevation

A stack of saw teeth

Each loop returns you through the aid station at The Oval before sending you back out, so drop bags stay in one place all day.

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

Where it actually goes

Seven loops out of The Oval, drawn from a recorded run of the course rather than traced off a map. Drag to move around it, pinch or use the buttons to zoom, and hover the profile below to place yourself on the route.

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Long loop Short loop The Oval Miles, counted round each loopVertical scale exaggerated 1.5x. Light set to 8am on race day.

Seven loops out of The Oval: four long loops of about 5.3 miles alternating with three short loops of about 3.2 miles.

Race day, historically

What the weather has done

Ask the veterans about the rain in 2021 and 2022!

Low to high 8 am start Rain on the day Wet from the night before

Race-day weather by year
Year	Date	Start	Low	High	Rain	Conditions
2003	Oct 26	50°F	46°F	56°F	0.63 in	Rain
2004	Oct 24	56°F	55°F	67°F	0.05 in	Drizzle
2005	Oct 23	45°F	41°F	48°F	0.3 in	Drizzle
2006	Oct 22	49°F	42°F	49°F	0.06 in	Drizzle
2007	Oct 21	55°F	55°F	77°F	dry	Mostly clear
2008	Oct 19	41°F	41°F	59°F	dry	Overcast
2009	Oct 25	38°F	38°F	60°F	dry	Overcast
2010	Oct 24	59°F	59°F	76°F	dry	Overcast
2011	Oct 23	42°F	41°F	63°F	dry	Overcast
2012	Oct 28	42°F	42°F	50°F	0.05 in	Drizzle
2013	Oct 27	37°F	36°F	55°F	dry	Overcast
2014	Oct 26	48°F	48°F	65°F	dry	Clear
2015	Oct 25	54°F	51°F	59°F	night before	Overcast
2016	Oct 23	46°F	46°F	70°F	dry	Mostly clear
2017	Oct 29	37°F	37°F	41°F	night before	Overcast
2018	Oct 28	43°F	43°F	63°F	0.07 in	Drizzle
2019	Oct 27	52°F	50°F	64°F	night before	Drizzle
2020	Oct 25	44°F	44°F	52°F	0.07 in	Drizzle
2021	Oct 24	54°F	51°F	73°F	0.82 in	Rain
2022	Oct 23	56°F	55°F	76°F	dry	Overcast
2023	Oct 29	55°F	54°F	61°F	0.7 in	Rain
2024	Oct 20	44°F	43°F	70°F	dry	Clear
2025	Oct 26	45°F	44°F	60°F	dry	Overcast

The terrain

What you are running on

The Stone Steps course drawn on a USGS topographic map of Mt. Airy Forest, the contour lines showing the ridge its switchbacks climb. — The interactive map above, held still and turned to look across the ridge. Basemap from USGS The National Map, public domain, and the route is a recorded run.

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.

Kit

What to bring

Trail shoes with real lugs
Roots, rocks and wet leaves in late October. Road shoes will get you round and will not enjoy it.
A handheld or a vest
Aid is only at The Oval, so a long loop is five plus miles between refills.
One drop bag
It stays at The Oval all day and you pass it every loop, so it does the work a crew would.
Layers you can shed
An October morning in Cincinnati starts cold and rarely stays that way.

Runners finishing on the path at The Oval, past the race clock and the crowd under the shelter.

Watching

Seven chances to see your runner

A loop course is the easiest race there is to watch. Everything happens at The Oval: the start, the finish, the aid station, and the end of every single loop. Stand in one place and you see your runner seven times on the 50K and four times on the 27K, without moving the car.

The waits are short and they alternate, because the loops do. A long loop is 5.3 miles and a short one is 3.2, so most runners are back through in somewhere between half an hour and an hour and a quarter, long, short, long, short, all the way to the seventh.

The 50K goes at 8:00 am and the 27K at 8:30, each with an optional early start an hour before. The course closes at about 4:30 pm, so the whole race fits inside a single day out in the park with a chair and a flask.

Ask a question

Ready?

Two distances

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