Sandhills Trail & Ultra Festival

Sesquicentennial State Park - Columbia Sc 

A course with a bit of everything

Welcome to the Annual Year of the Sandhills Trail & Ultra Festival that will be held at this urban State Park in Columbia South Carolina! Sesquicentennial State Park is a state park located in Columbia, South Carolina. It covers an area of over 300 acres and features various recreational opportunities, including hiking, fishing, picnic areas, and a lake for boating. The park is known for its scenic beauty, with dense forests, streams, and wetlands making up much of its terrain. Sesquicentennial State Park was established in 1993 to commemorate South Carolina's 150th anniversary of statehood, and it remains a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers.

Sesquicentennial State Park features a network of hiking trails that offer visitors a chance to explore the park's diverse landscapes and wildlife. The trails vary in length and difficulty, ranging from short, easy walks to longer, more strenuous hikes. Some of the trails follow the streams and wetlands, providing opportunities for bird-watching and other wildlife viewing, while others wind through the dense forests and offer scenic views of the surrounding landscape. In addition to hiking trails, the park also has a number of bridle trails for horseback riding. Overall, the trail system at Sesquicentennial State Park offers a variety of options for visitors looking to enjoy the park's natural beauty and recreation opportunities.

Referral Program

Invite your running buddies! When you register you will be assigned a link/code that you can share with your friends & family. The link will appear in your confirmation message, your email, and in your RunSignUp profile! Use your unique referral code to share with your running buddies! For every every 2 participants that use your referral code/link to register you will receive a $5 refund to your registration! Refer enough runners and RUN FOR FREE! 

• Share Your Referral Codes - HERE

Event Details

• What: 30 Hour Run - 50k - 25k - 7.5 Mile

• Where: Sesqui State Park 
  

• Address: 9564 Two Notch Rd, Columbia, SC 29223

• When: February 15th 2025 @ 8am All Races Start
  

• Packet Pickup: will be held at Shelter #2 one hour prior to race start time

• Event Shirts - Our local apparel vendor (Graphic Cow) will be processing all shirt orders. Please follow the link below to pre-order a shirt from the list of races. All race specific shirts will be mailed directly to your home address after the event to commemorate your race experience! The store link will be open until the Monday after each race.

  • SHIRT ORDER FORM HERE

Race Details 

• Sandhills 30 Hour

  • Buckles for 100 Mile Finishers
  • 13 Laps to 100

• Sandhills 50k 

  • 4 lap race

• Sesqui 25k

  • 2 Lap race

• Sesqui 7.5 Mile

  • 1 Lap Race

Sandhills Course Description

• Course Map HERE - Elevation Gain Per 7.75 mile loop - 390 Feet

The course is a 7.75 mile loop that rolls through several sections north of the main trail but comes back to some beautiful and fast single track trails around the lake. The terrain consist of clean single track trails, wider softer trails, and some paved sections around the lake. The looped course runs through the open field where runners can set up personal aid stations if they are not reserving a campsite at the campground. 

Participants Receive

Join our race for an unforgettable running experience! All participants will receive a handcrafted finisher medal to show off an unforgettable course and race experience. At packet pickup your swag bag will be complete with custom stickers, race bib, and crew socks. There will be music at both the start and finish of your event to energize your experience. Make sure to smile because all of our runners will receive complementary race photos along the course. 

Finisher Medal - Complimentary Race Photos - Custom Bib - Race Specific Crew Socks - Event & Upstate Race Series Stickers - Sponsored Giveaways - Raffled Items during the awards ceremony for both Age Group Awards and Overall Winners - Music and Post Race Pancakes while you hangout and cheer on other runners! 

Address / Parking / Day Use

Runners will be asked to purchase a day use pass. If you have a state park pass you do not have to pay that fee. Sesquicentennial State Park is located: 9564 Two Notch Rd, Columbia, SC 29223. Once you enter the park you will drive all the way to the lake parking lot near the ranger station! If you are setting up a 10 x 10 personal tent to be used throughout the day you can follow the driveway next to the ranger station to an open field that we can use for parking which will be located right near our start and finish line. If you are running one of the shorter distances please utilize the main parking lot adjacent to the lake so we can free up space in our field. It’s a 200 meter walk from the parking lot to the 2nd Shelter located in that field behind the ranger station and lake.

30 Hour Participants: limited support between 10pm and 6am as our volunteers and staff will be catching up on some sleep. Our timing system will be operating collecting laps from all of our runners. In the event of a medical emergency please contact 911 directly. In the event you are finished and do not wish to continue through the night please leave your timing chip at the timing table and please grab your finisher medal that will be available at the finish line. You do not need to report in if you plan on take some rest between laps even if that nap turns into a 6 hour coma! It happens to the best of us!

Aid Station

We will have an aid station at the start/finish line. Items may include: pickles, cookies, chips, Little Debbie snacks, assorted candy, chicken/veggie broth, fig newtons, & pretzels. Liquids will include water, Tailwind Nutrition, coke, and ginger ale. If you would like to donate an aid station supply of something that we do not offer or that is homemade feel free! 

• Cup-less Event: Please provide your own hydration vessel for use at our aid stations 

Camping Reservations & Admissions - HERE

The course will run right through both campsite locations! Sesquicentennial State Park, affectionately known to locals as "Sesqui," is a spacious, green getaway in the heart of the Sandhills region. With Camping and Day Use rentals available, a stay at Sesqui is enjoyable. Once you're immersed in the 1,400 acres of pines, you forget just how close you are to bustling, downtown Columbia, South Carolina. - $6 adults - $3.75 SC seniors - $3.50 children age 6-15 - age 5 & younger are free

Race Awards, Age Group Point Series, Chip Timing

• Top 3 Male and Female Overall

• Top 3 Male & Female Age Group

• Age Group Categories

  • 0-9

  • 10-12

  • 13-16

  • 17-19

  • 20-29

  • 30-34

  • 35-39

  • 40-44

  • 45-49

  • 50-54

  • 55-59

  • 60-64

  • 65-69

  • 70-79

  • 80+

• Upstate Trail/Ultra Series - Age Group Point Series Standings - HERE