Race Details

Have you ever wanted to hike or run the Pacific Crest Trail? Then we have the race for you! The virtual RUN the PCT takes place over three months and you can choose between running the whole thing or just picking a state to run (California, Washington, or Oregon). You can form a team or take it on solo.

RUN the PCT Distances

The Pacific Crest trail starts at the US/Mexico border and goes north to the US/Canada border, passing through California, Oregon, and Washington states. You will be running wherever you are; on the PCT, near the PCT, nowhere near the PCT, really really far from the PCT. You are completing the distance from anywhere. This race has four categories/distances to choose from:

• ENTIRE – The entire Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is 2,653 miles, so probably a wee much for someone to do the whole thing solo. But you can get up to seven of your friends together to make a team and cover that distance together while apart. Breaking that distance down over 92 days is 28.8 miles a day.
• WASHINGTON – The Washington section of the PCT is 506 miles long, so 5.5 miles a day. Doable for one person over three months, but also fun for a team.
• OREGON – The Oregon portion of the PCT is 455 miles, which is 4.9 miles per day. A great goal for you, or still a great team option.
• CALIFORNIA – This state is long. The PCT covers 1,692 miles in California. That’s 18.4 miles a day, which is too much for one person to do every day for three months (right?), so this is a good team option.

 

Dates

The RUN the PCT race starts on July 1 and ends on September 30, 2021. You can run any time and as much or as little as you want during that time.

Price

$40 per person

Categories:
Entire: $40/person
Washington: $40/person
Oregon: $40/person
California: $40/person

Sign Up

Registration is open June 7 – August 31. You can register after the race has started on July 1st, you just have fewer days to complete the distance.

There are no transfers to other runners, and no credits or refunds are given if you decide you cannot run the race.

So Nice You Can Do It Twice

You can now participate on more than one team or in multiple categories! Say you are already running the Oregon distance solo, and now you want to join a team that is doing the Entire distance. You can! And you can use the same run for both categories. Or maybe you finish your category before the race is officially over and you want to sign up to do a different category so you can keep motivated to run. You can!

If you want to register for multiple categories simultaneously or sequentially, you will click the Register button and sign up again, like normal. You will pay the registration fee a second time.

Finisher Awards & Prizes

Everyone earns a pretty cool wooden award, that you’ll want to show off, for completing the section you’ve registered for.

There is a raffle! We will randomly draw five people from all the entrants, at the end of the race, who each will receive an awesome prize packages from our sponsors

Team or Solo Options

You can take on any segment all your own, completing that section over the three months solo.

There is a team option too, to make it easier to tackle the entire PCT distance or the California section, or just to make it more fun to do any category, with friends near or far. Teams can be anywhere between 2 and 8 people. Everyone on the team contributes to completing the distance for the category you sign up for.

If forming a team, you’ll need to have a team name ready when the team captain signs up first. After the captain has created a team, the rest of the teammates can register.

Results Submission

After each run, submit your time and distance online. You can upload your Strava activity, or manually enter your run, by clicking the SUBMIT RESULTS button below, or you can respond to the text message you’ll receive when your registration is processed by the timer (this may take a day or two if you register after the race has started). You’ll use your bib number or your name to enter your results. You can see your bib number on the entrants list on Ultrasignup.

Be sure all your results are entered by midnight PT on September 30th. Bike miles are not allowed.

Record Result

Merchandise

There are gender-specific t-shirts and zip-up hoodies you can add-on to your registration, for an additional cost, if you are interested in more ways to remember this challenge. All RUN the PCT merchandise is mailed after the conclusion of the race, along with finisher awards and any other prizes.

 

Everyone is a winner. No one is a winner. This race is to challenge you to go the distance. We don’t care if you’re fast or slow or if you do it alone or on a team of two or eight people. Everyone is running in different places, different days, and different elevations and so it isn’t fair to crown a person or a team as the overall winners for getting done fastest. You will be able to see how fast your fellow racers are going and their finish times. You can let that motivate you to go further or faster, if you want. Or not.

Community

Like the RUN the PCT Facebook page to stay current on what’s happening with the race.

Get inspired with Go Beyond Racing’s Instagram. Share your photos with the #runthepct hashtag.

If you’re a Strava user, you can join the race Strava club

 

Rules

We do have a few rules that apply to all Go Beyond Racing races. Since this race is virtual, we aren’t there with you and the rules are a bit different:

• If applicable, our normal rules apply.
• Treadmill miles count.
• No cheating. Run or walk the distance you say you do. It’s the honor system here, so be a good person. Cheating will result in a DNF and probably some public shaming.
• Follow your local laws, restrictions and guidelines on social distancing and obey rules around trail/road/public space closures.

 

 

Cover photo of Chinook Pass, in Washington, by Eric Valentine