The Georgia Death Race is a highly challenging ultra distance trail race in Blairsville, GA. The race begins at Vogel State Park and ends at Amicalola Falls State Park. The course is an estimated 74 miles that runs on several popular trails to include the Duncan Ridge Trail, Coosa Backcountry Trail, & Benton MacKaye Trail. The course has over 16,000 feet of elevation gain.

I ran this race in 2023 in one of the worst rain storms ever in the race history. The minute the race director began speaking the rain poured sideways into the picnic area we were all huddled. The rain would continue for most of the morning making the trail nearly impassable in places. If you were in the rear of the pack there was no chance of making the cutoffs over the course due to the lack of average speed everyone had in front of you on this single-track beginning of the race.

I was initially at the rear of the lead pack as we entered the Coosa Backcountry Trail climb. I had made a tactical error to begin the race in street shoes that I had tested on a non-muddy Coosa Backcountry Trail. The rain made these shoes unsafe for the terrain. I slowly fell back to the middle of the second pack of runners as runners with trail shoes and climbing poles passed me.

I completed only the first four cutoffs of the race before missing the Point Bravo cutoff by a few minutes. I had most of my energy still as I had not pushed the pace due to the unsafe footing I had on the trail all morning. I had failed to finish the race due to poor time management and inability to overcome the conditions of the day.

The course was extremely tough. The climbing was constant. The descending was your only break from climbing. I learned a lot of lessons about the importance of placement on the single-track within the group at the start of the race. I also learned about the importance of choosing your equipment wisely for the race day conditions as opposed to the decision made in better conditions.

This race is not a beginner’s race. It is not a race for anyone not training to achieve vertical gain consistently. The race is hard & the competition is some of the best on the East Coast. If you are trained & brave enough I highly recommend attempting this course