Doan Creek Trail Race

50K, 25K, 12.5K - September 22nd

The Doan Creek Trail Race is the first and only ultra trail racing event that takes place in the City of Cleveland. The course is nestled between suburban and city streets in an inspiring gorge that contains much natural beauty. It is arguably the hardest 50K in North Eastern Ohio.

Free Race

There are strings attached however. The event will provide a first rate running experience for its participants but they must give back by doing two or more of the following:

1) DOANate to our charity Girls with Sole.

2) DOANate to Doan Brook Watershed Partnership

3) DOANate time to our Environmental Clean Up Program

4) DOANate effort to our Trail Maintenance Program

Race Director

Rich Schlenk

About Doan Creek Trail Race

Hidden Trail Gem

This is a very special and unique urban trail running experience in a forgotten and mysterious area known to very few NE Ohio residents. There are no known published maps of this trail system. It starts around the Lower Shaker Lake and once it crosses west past Coventry Road descends into the gorge of Doan Creek (Brook). The course undulates in a narrow corridor between several busy suburban streets but once within the gorge you will be overwhelmed with a sense of being transported to a remote location. Urban ruins mixed with the natural raw beauty of the Doan Creek set this apart from other local trail events. The geological history of the gorge traces back thousands of years. This is where the earliest Cleveland settlers dwelt in the early 1800s.

Course Features

Mostly single track and gnarly punishing trail
Several road crossings
Rolling hills
800+ ft of gain per loop and 3200+ ft over 50K
Immense rock walls
Narrow ledges and steep drop offs
Cascading waterfalls
Car wreckage
Flood retention concrete graffiti dam
Post apocalyptic ruins
Urban art work

Abundant wild life

Choose Your Distance Carefully

Semi-Accurate Descriptors:
50K (Crushing. Menacing. Ugly. Hardcore)
25K (Formidable. Arduous. Painful. Respectable)
Fun Loop (Sensible. Intelligent. Injured. Old)

2018 Charity

Girls with Sole

Girls With Sole is the only local organization providing free fitness and wellness programs, running shoes and fitness journals to girls ages 9-18 who have experienced abuse of any kind, or who are at-risk. Your support enables GWS to directly impact the lives of girls in our community who need our programs in order to gain empowerment, self-esteem and a sense of belonging, as well as, fitness and fun!

Click here to Donate to Girls with Sole

Doan Brook Watershed Partnership

Doan Brook (Creek) is a very important local ecological watershed. The Doan Brook runs through Shaker Hts from Horseshoe Lake receiving tributaries from Southerly Park to meet the Lower Lake. From there it decends through the gorge then dives underground for over a mile until it emerges once again in Rockefeller Park and finally enters Lake Erie.
DBWP focuses on restoring ecosystem services within the Doan Brook watershed to further local sustainability goals.

Click here to donate to Doan Brook Watershed Partnership