BELLEVILLE, WI — In a bold reimagining of both endurance sports and psychological warfare, organizers of the Badger 100 Mile have unveiled a 101.1-mile course that allows participants to arrive at the finish-line area multiple times before race officials point south and tell them to keep running.
The event begins with runners reporting to Belleville Community Park, where they will immediately be placed on a bus and transported roughly 31 miles away to Orangeville, Illinois—the location where the race actually starts.
“Welcome to the starting line,” an organizer will reportedly announce after removing competitors from the place they are ultimately trying to reach. “Your vehicle is back there. Good luck.”
At 6 a.m., runners will begin traveling north from Orangeville toward Belleville, operating under the outdated assumption that reaching the finish-line town means they are close to finishing.
They are not.
Upon arriving at Belleville Race HQ at approximately mile 30.9, participants will pass through the very park containing their cars, tents, families, dry clothing, pizza, beer, and every reasonable argument for stopping.
Volunteers will then direct them another 4.2 miles north to Dot’s Tavern.
Race organizers described Dot’s as an essential part of the ultrarunning experience, giving exhausted athletes the opportunity to encounter a functioning tavern at mile 35 and somehow make the incorrect decision to leave.
“You’re allowed to have a beer or a shot,” the race manual explains, apparently acknowledging that no sober person would continue once they understood the route.
After reaching Dot’s, runners return to Belleville at mile 39.3, where they once again encounter Race HQ.
At this point, anyone unfamiliar with the event might reasonably assume the extra trip to Dot’s was the final ceremonial flourish before finishing.
Instead, runners are informed they still have approximately 62 miles remaining.
“You have now completed the first part of the out, back, and out again,” a volunteer will explain while physically rotating the runner 180 degrees. “Please go back to Illinois.”
Competitors then leave Belleville for a third time, running all the way south to Orangeville at mile 70.2.
Orangeville, which had previously been the starting line, has now been repurposed as a turnaround point, demonstrating the course’s commitment to ensuring no physical location maintains a stable meaning for more than several hours.
Upon reaching Orangeville, runners turn around and begin the 30.9-mile journey back to Belleville, a town they have already successfully reached twice.
“This course teaches perseverance,” race officials said. “Specifically, perseverance after achieving your stated objective and being informed that your achievement does not count.”
The official route can be summarized as:
Belleville by bus → Orangeville on foot → Belleville → Dot’s → Belleville → Orangeville → Belleville.
Organizers have referred to the design as “out, back, and out again,” although transportation experts have classified it as “being repeatedly expelled from Belleville.”
The race’s logistical structure has been praised for ensuring runners finish near their cars rather than requiring transportation after completing 100 miles.
“We thought it would be cruel to make people ride a bus after the race,” said one organizer, “so we make them ride the bus before the race, then spend the next 36 hours trying to get back to where we picked them up.”
Veteran ultrarunners said the most difficult portion will likely occur at mile 39.3, when competitors return to Race HQ for the second time and must willingly depart for Orangeville.
“At mile 39, your body is tired, your brain is negotiating, and your car is probably 400 feet away,” said one participant. “That isn’t an aid station. That’s an escape room.”
Pacers are permitted after the runner’s second arrival at Belleville, allowing each participant to select a trusted friend who can accompany them while repeatedly answering the question, “Why are we leaving again?”
Race officials stressed that the unusual format is not the result of someone accidentally arranging the aid-station chart in the wrong order.
“This course was carefully designed,” organizers confirmed. “Every time runners begin to feel a sense of geographic accomplishment, we remove it.”
Finishers who complete the full 101.1 miles within 36 hours will receive a belt buckle, pizza, beer, and official confirmation that the third arrival in Belleville was, in fact, the real one.