Fall for the Fells is this Sunday, November 5, at 1 p.m.

Registration is still open for any friends or family members that want to join you in the race! Click here for registration. The festival takes place during and after the races, and is open to festival-goers of all ages!

Bib Pick Up

Save stress on Race Day and pick up your running bib early, on Saturday, November 4, at Whole Foods in Medford (2151 Mystic Valley Parkway). Bib Pick Up will take place from 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday. All we need is your name.

Bib pick up is available the day of the race as well, beginning at 11 a.m. on the Athletic Fields of Medford High School (489 Winthrop St).

Race Day

An Important Reminder:Race day is November 5, the same day as the end of Daylight Savings Time. Don’t forget that clocks will fall back an hour!

Runners are recommended to arrive by no later than 12:30 p.m. to park and prepare for the 5K raceand 1:15pm for the 10K. The race route begins directly behind Medford High School (489 Winthrop Street), at the Athletic Fields. The 5k starts directly at 1 p.m., the 10k starts at 1:45 p.m., and the Kid’s Fun Run will start at 2 p.m. Click here to view a map of the 5k race. Click here to view a map of the 10k race. A water and electrolyte station will be setup at mile 3.8 of the 10k.

Directly after the races, runners will enjoy an awards ceremony followed by festival activities, including a live band, face painting, and our host of vendors.

Course Descriptions

We are excited to offer a revised 5K and all new 10k course option this year.

* The 5K is a gentler, less technical (relatively few rocks & roots for a trail race) and more runnable course. We have kids as young as 8 signed up so it is certainly suitable for inexperienced trail runners. Thecourse is almost exclusively on relatively smooth doubletrack trails or fire roadswith some small ascents descents.

The trickiest short descent (most rocky uneven surface) is soon after entering the trails. We plan to havethis short section of the trail cleared of leaves to minimize the chance of mishaps when the field is more bunched up.

We still recommend trail shoes for the race, but one should be able to get by with traditional running shoes.

* The 10k course is a considerably harder course than the 5k with almost 600 ft. of elevation gain & descent. It follows most of the first 2.4 miles of the 5K course before deviating onto the first section of undulating single-track trail. The course then switches off between technical single-track and nice runnable terrain.

Trail shoes are highly recommended for this course, particularly if it is wet.

Course Markings

The courses will be marked with course flags, spray chalk and directional signs. We will have course marshals on the trails at certain junctions, but you should be able to follow the course by the markings alone if paying attention.

The 5K course will be marked by PINK course flags. The 10K course will be marked by ORANGEcourse flags. Since certain sections of the course are the same...you will see pink and orange flags on some sections (follow the appropriate color for your race distance). Arrowsapplied by white spray chalk will be used on the trail to indicate certain turns. Red spray chalk will be used to mark off some trails that are not a part of the course (meaning - do not cross over the red spray chalk or you will be off course).

Important: You should always be running in a direction where the course flags are on your right. There are a few sectionswhere you will be retracing your path (so flags will be on both sides of the trail)…but if you remember that you should be running with course flags on your right, you should be fine. Remember that arrows with white spray chalk and directional signs will also be used to keep you moving in the proper direction.

We are excited to countdown with you to Fall for the Fells 2017! Have questions? Email our Race Director Tom at .

Thank you for supporting the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation!