Angeles Crest 100 2026 Pace Chart

The course data comes from the official 2026 AC100 course page, its GPX file, and the 2026 race book. Mileage, cutoffs, and crew, pacer, and drop bag access are the race's published numbers. Gain, loss, and the elevation profile are computed from the GPX, which totals about 19,788 feet of climbing.

Every 20 meters of the GPX is converted to grade-adjusted flat distance using the ultraPacer grade factor, which makes a 10% climb cost about 1.5 times a flat mile and treats steep descents as only slightly faster than flat. Summed per leg, that gives each section a weight. The whole course weighs about 116 flat-equivalent miles.

Aid station time comes off the goal first, using your average minutes for crew stations and for the rest. The fade setting then applies a linear slowdown from start to finish, and the remaining moving time is split across the legs in proportion to weight and fade. Two checks against the race's own numbers, with stops set to zero: at a 17 hour goal with 25% fade, the model matches the projected front-runner splits within about 15 minutes at every checkpoint. At 33 hours with 40% fade, it tracks the official cutoff schedule within about 45 minutes. Faster runners fade less, so pick the fade that matches your goal.

What it does not model: heat, altitude, slower footing at night, or stops that grow longer as the race goes on. Later stops usually do, so if your averages are honest the early arrivals will run a little late and the late ones a little early.

The 2026 route is new. Christmas Eve flooding took out Highway 2 past Vincent Gap, and the Eaton Fire closed the trails around Idlehour, so the point-to-point from Wrightwood was off the table. For the first time the race starts and finishes at Loma Alta Park in Altadena. Runners head down the Arroyo Seco in the dark, climb the Gabrielino Trail past Switzer's to Clear Creek, then a fire road to the summit of Josephine Peak: about 4,700 feet in the first 15 miles. From there the course wraps around Strawberry Peak to Red Box, drops the Red Box-Rincon road to the West Fork, and climbs to Newcomb Saddle. That starts a 39 mile out-and-back through Shortcut Saddle, Charlton Flats, and Chilao to the turnaround at Mt Hillyer, the high point of the day.

Back at Newcomb, the course drops the Gabrielino Trail through Big Santa Anita Canyon to Chantry Flats, the low point of the second half, then climbs Upper Winter Creek and the Winton Bypass to the Mt Wilson Toll Road and on to the summit. The race book calls it 6.1 miles and 4,000 feet. The finish follows paved Mt Wilson Road down to Eaton Saddle, goes through Mueller Tunnel, and descends the Mt Lowe Motorway past Sam Merrill and the Sunset Trail to Millard before the last 4 miles of El Prieto and Altadena streets back to the park.

It is October now, not August, but it is still Southern California. The race book gives Altadena highs around 80°F and overnight lows near 60°F, and warns that the upper course gets windy and cold at night. Aid stations have water, Tailwind, ice, and food, with soup at night, and no gels. Poles are allowed. Cell service is close to nonexistent on the course and along Highway 2.