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This report is based on my first run at this race and my first trail run in Louisiana. We drove up on Friday and picked up my packet on Friday evening at 5PM, but you could easily pick it up on Saturday morning before the race as there is a small crowd which was 133 finishers this year for all distances. There are 5 mile, 10 mile, 20 miles and 31 mile options at this race held in Lincoln Parish Park in Ruston, La. The race starts at 8AM, which I thought was late, since it was light at 7AM. The 31 mile race starts in the opposite direction of the other distances at the same start line for a one mile out and back to the start line for three 10 mile loops. The race entry fee was on $35.00 and includes tech socks, a hat, long sleeve heavy cotton finishers shirt and a medal. The race was well organized, but did not have many volunteers so my wife, Julanne staffed the sart/stop aid station. There are two additional aid stations approximately 3.5 miles apart and had water, gatorade, salty and sweet snacks. The course is run on mountain bike trails with many single track loops but is well marked.

Dr. Jeff Baillie is the race director and even blew the trails clear of leaves, which was good since the forest has heavy leaf cover and many back and forth loops, lots of ups and downs, roots, rocks and several nice climbs and descents to make it more difficult than Huntsville State Park. There were four water crossings, but I did not get my feet wet since it was relatively dry. It could be quite wet it it had rained which would have made for more memories.

I would recommend this race, which is low key and a small number of entrants in the 50K distance. The post race food was tasty chili, soda, many different types of beer and some brownies and cookies. The race is run by Ouachita Valley Road Runners ( http://www.ovrrc.com/ ). The temperature at the start was in the mid 40's and at the finish was in the mid 60's.