16th Trail Nut 10k & Half Marathon

This park is one of Bedford’s little known treasures.  We were first introduced to the park during years ago and have been amazed at how the park continually changes.  It is a family park, with a playground, pavilions, paved path with workout areas, Frisbee golf, fitness circuit, shuffle board, bird watching trails, mountain bike trails, bike park, downhill lines, and pump track. 

It is loaded with over 9 miles of intermediate rolling, twisty, single track in a beautiful wooded setting.  It isn’t uncommon to see wildlife during one of your trips to the park (turtles, raccoons, rabbits, ground hogs, the occasional skunk, and deer).

Course Description
Water/Skratch Stops;
The 10k will be one lap on the park’s rolling single track trails with a water/Skratch stop at the 3.4 mile mark.
The Half marathon will do a 9 mile long loop and then a 2nd loop of 4.1 miles with water stops at 4.65 and 9 miles
The race is 90% trail, 9%  grassy fields, and 1% gravel road.

10k Loop
The race starts down from the pavilion near the creek and bridge (trailhead 2).  It follows the bluebird path going in front of the bathrooms and onto the Deer Trail at trailhead 1.  It follows deer trail to a left onto Piney Ridge taking you to an asphalt road.  Take this road to Beaver Dam and the Pond Loop where it will bring you back to the road where you will cross onto Turkey Hill and then Sleepy Hollow.  This will take you to the mowed Bluebird Path where you will take a left heading to our Water Stop at mile 3.4.  Then onto the Ledge, White Rock, Slick Rock, Hillndell, Race Course, to a left onto the Bluebird Path, Creekside to a right onto a social path leading to the bottom of Lower Deer Trail, up Lower Deer and then finishing in front of the big pavilion.
Here is a Strava link; https://www.strava.com/activities/973756912

Half Marathon does 1 Long 9 mile Loop and then then a shorter 4.1 mile Loop
There will be one Half Marathon Cutoff:
You will need to finish the first loop in under 2 hours and 10 minutes to continue on for the second loop.

Long Loop – The race starts down from the pavilion near the creek and bridge (trailhead 2).  It follows the bluebird path going in front of the bathrooms and onto the Deer Trail at trailhead 1.  It follows deer trail to a left onto Piney Ridge taking you to an asphalt road.  Take this road to Beaver Dam and the Pond Loop where it will bring you back to the road where you will cross onto Turkey Hill and then Sleepy Hollow.  This is where the course changes;  you will now take a sharp left up the hill to get a tour of the bike park and the views from the top of the park.  Here you will take the bike park trail looping and curving around the the skills area and then down the beginner downhill trail where you will meet up with the 10k runners at the Bluebird Path. This will take you along the mowed Bluebird Path where you will take a left heading to our Water Stop at mile 4.65 the Ledge, White Rock, Slick Rock, Hillndell, Race Course, to a left onto the Bluebird Path, to Creekside then a left onto Fat Albert, then take a left onto Ridgeloop, to Creekside to a left onto a social path leading to the bottom of the Lower Deer Trail and then finishing this long loop in front of the big pavilion (Water Stop 2 at mile 9.35).  From here you will circle around the asphalt path and then head into the trails again at Trailhead 1 for the shorter 4.1 mile loop.

Short Loop – Go through the finish chute, below the pavilion, follow the grass path to the asphalt path in front of the bathrooms to the Deer Trail at trailhead 1.  Take Deer Trail to a left onto Piney Ridge taking you to an asphalt road.  Take this road to Beaver Dam and the Pond Loop where it will bring you back to the road where you will cross onto Turkey Hill and then Sleepy Hollow.  At the bottom of Sleepy Hollow, at the Bluebird Path, take a right, then an almost immediate left across the creek, then a right onto Creekside.  From here, take a right on Creekside to the social path leading to the bottom of Lower Deer Trail, up Lower Deer and then finishing in front of the big pavilion.

Here is a strava link for the course;  https://www.strava.com/activities/973927864