The Vermont 100 runs 100 miles in the rolling rural country around West Windsor, Vermont. 14,000 feet of climb. 30-hour cutoff. Held in mid-July. One of the original American 100-milers (since 1989) and famously the only major 100 that runs alongside a 100-mile horse race — the Vermont 100-Mile Endurance Ride. Runners and horses share the course.
The course
Loop-and-out-and-back combination. Mostly dirt roads, jeep roads, and trails through farmland, forests, and rural Vermont. Climbing is rolling — no big sustained climbs, but hills are constant. Less technical than mountain 100s; more runnable. The course passes through small Vermont towns where families set up unofficial cheering stations on their porches.
By the numbers
- Distance: 100 miles
- Vert gain: 14,000 ft
- Vert per mile: 140 ft/mi (rolling hills, no sustained climbs)
- Highest point: ~2,400 ft
- Cutoff: 30 hours
- Date: Mid-July (Saturday morning start)
How to qualify and enter
Open registration with a 50-mile qualifier required. Less competitive than lottery races; first-time entrants typically get in. Field is capped at ~325 runners.
The horse-runner thing
A 100-mile horse endurance race runs concurrently on the same course. Horses pass runners (don't startle them), and aid stations serve both. This sounds chaotic; in practice it's well-managed and adds character. Don't try to keep up with horses on flat sections — they will lap you.
Gear strategy
- Vest: 8–10L. Salomon Adv Skin 8.
- Shoes: Hoka Speedgoat 6 — runnable course, mix of dirt road and trail. A pair of road shoes works for some runners.
- Layers: long sleeve for the early-morning start; ditch by 9 AM. July heat in Vermont can hit 90°F.
- Headlamp: primary + spare. ~6–8 hours of dark for most finishers.
- Bug spray: July in Vermont = mosquitoes + black flies. Don't skip.
The Vermont 100 experience
Most finishers describe Vermont 100 as the most "American Heartland" of the major 100s. Family-run aid stations, dairy farmers waving from front porches, the smell of cut hay, generous cutoffs. The most welcoming first 100. The horses make it weirder, in a good way.
What these sessions assume you are measuring with
Every pace, zone and power figure here needs something recording it. These three cover running, long days and the bike.
Garmin Forerunner 965 AMOLED multisport with the training-load and threshold metrics most of these sessions assume you can see day to day.
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COROS APEX 2 Series GPS Watch Sapphire titanium and the longest battery in its class, which is the deciding feature once a day out runs past a few hours.
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Favero Assioma Uno Power Meter Pedal Single-sided pedal power, the cheapest honest entry into training with watts rather than estimating from heart rate.
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