Cottontail 6 and 12 Hour

20221223
2024-04-13

Apr 13, 2024 at 7:00 AM

Cottontail 6 and 12 Hour

950 NW Carkeek Park Rd

Seattle WA, 98177

USA

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Entry Fee $50
(Lowest or Early Registration)

Entry Fee 2 $70
(Highest or Late Registration)

Prize Money: no

Distance(s):

  • 6H
  • 12H

Type: Ultra

Percent of the course on un-paved trails: 80%

First Year of the Event: 2014

Description:

With gorgeous views of the Sound, varied terrain (rolling trails, steep stairs, a section or two that might generously be called “flat”), and a festive atmosphere, we think this is a race you (and your family, and friends, and well-behaved, leashed dogs) will just keep coming back to—one 1.93-mile lap at a time. Run for twelve hours, run for six. Run as few or as many hours as you like! Every single runner will get something awesome simply for showing up to run, but this isn’t your typical medal-laden sort of endeavor. (We hand-make our bibs, count your laps with star stickers, and the first time we directed this race, winners won giant stuffed dragons. Last year, winners won a variety of things, including bright pink and/or green garden gnomes.)

In addition to being heaps of F-U-N, our races are also low-impact: You won’t find any paper products at the Cottontail 6- & 12-Hour, and we strive to have less than one full bag of trash at day’s end. We also avidly support local businesses, which means as much aid (and prizes!) as possible will come from local businesses. Speaking of aid, we’ll have some of the best out there. We’ll bring you awesome fuel as your legs run loop after epic loop, and we’ll have great, locally-sourced prizes to raffle off throughout the day, too. We also provide re-usable mugs for you to use throughout the day, though if you have a favorite coffee mug, you’re of course welcome to bring your own. We’ll have awesome and super talented local photographer Glenn Tachiyama out on the course while you’re rocking epic loops, too, and you’ll have the ability to purchase gorgeous prints of your ambitious Carkeek endeavors from Glenn, post-event.

GO GO GADGET EPIC LOOPS
This isn’t your average loop race. Cottontail is run on a clockwise, 1.93-mile loop in Seattle’s gorgeous and rugged Carkeek Park, with an additional .54-mile loop open most of the day to give you more distance options and keep things fresh. You’re welcome to run as few or as many loops as you’d like during your 6- or 12-hour stay with us, but here’s what to expect on each loop: steep stairs, rolling trails, gorgeous vistas, loads of singletrack, green trees, glorious ferns, spring flowers, lots of up and lots of down. These loops might be short, but they’re never going to feel that way. Each loop contains 436′ of vertical gain, which adds up QUICKLY, so expect to (have fun, yes!, and) be challenged.

We promise at the end of your day you’ll feel proud of yourself, no matter how many miles you run. (We promise we’ll be proud of you, too.)

RACE DAY
Start & finish beside Puget Sound, in Carkeek Park. 7 AM to 7 PM.

For the 12-Hour and the 6-hour morning crew, gates to the park open at 6:30 AM, which is when check-in starts. The run begins at 7 AM.

For the 6-Hour afternoon crew, check-in starts at 12:30 PM and the run begins at 1 PM. (6-hour runners can also elect to start at 7 AM with the 12-hour folks, but be sure to sign up for the 6-hour AM registration if you’d prefer that option!)

For both races, expect pre-race announcements just a few minutes before the start. The 6-hour AM race ends at 1 PM, and both the 12-hour and 6-hour PM races finish at 7 PM—any laps finished after that time will not be counted toward your day’s total. [By April, we’ll have longer days to work with, so you shouldn’t need headlamps for any portion of the run unless you want it for the first or last laps of the day.] We’re capping registration right around 50 runners, total, and as we’ll likely get to that number well before race-day, we likely won’t be doing day-of registration. We want this low-key event to stay low-key and low-impact. 🙂

All other pertinent info will be emailed to registered runners a few days before race-day.

A FUNDRAISER FOR NORTHWEST TRAILS
The 6-Hour run starts at a friendly $50 (+ applicable sales tax & UltraSignup processing fees), and the 12-Hour at an equally friendly $70 (+ applicable sales tax/US fees). We’ll keep that “Early Bird” pricing open through March 15th, and then prices will jump up slightly March 16th, and then again for the final time April 1st.

This race, like Carkeek in the fall, is an Endless Trails fundraiser, so any and all funds that don’t go to race-related costs (including awesome aid and prizes) will go to our 501(c)3 nonprofit to support trail work, trail education, and trail advocacy throughout the Northwest region. We’ll be accepting cash and check donations on the day of the event, too, and you’ll also have the option to make an additional donation to Endless Trails as you’re registering. Every little bit helps, and all of it goes back to good and much-needed work on local and beloved Northwest trails. Thanks for your support!

WANT DISCOUNTED RACE REGISTRATION?
Like we’ve offered for our Cottontail & Carkeek events in the past, in honor of this being the 6th annual running of Cottontail, we’re offering a way for you to knock $16 off the registration price of either the 12-hour or the 6-hour.

Just email us at [email protected] and sign up to bring a tasty aid station food and/or drink to share with your fellow runners (we keep these events intentionally small, so we’re not talking huge quantities here), and we’ll give you a code that’ll discount $16 off your race entry when you go to register. We always try to have some of the best aid station food around, but we also always try to keep things simple (nuts; wraps; homemade soup; fruit, etc.). You can make a local farmer’s market stop, and/or grab something you love from Costco/Safeway/your pantry, or you can even bring something homemade!

We’ll keep a master list of stuff folks are planning to bring, and might even ask you to bring something specific, so we don’t end up with too much of one good thing. And we’ll keep offering discounted entries as long as we need more aid station food and/or drinks—BUT PLEASE EMAIL US BEFORE YOU REGISTER if you’d like the discount.

If you don’t want to worry about bringing something to share, no worries! Just register as usual and we promise we’ll take good care of you.

Photos

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Map

Past Event Dates

Held on Apr 13, 2024

Held on Apr 15, 2023

Held on Apr 16, 2022

Held on Apr 01, 2021

Held on Apr 11, 2020

Held on Apr 13, 2019

Held on Apr 14, 2018

Held on Apr 15, 2017

Held on Apr 16, 2016

Held on Apr 20, 2015

Held on Apr 19, 2014