Mississippi Trail 50

he Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi Trail 50 is held in early March each year on the Longleaf Horse Trail in the De Soto National Forest just south of Laurel, MS. The race was moved from Leland to Laurel in 1996 by Carl Touchstone, a local dentist and accomplished ultra runner. The 2019 race will be the 23nd anniversary of the race in Laurel, and the 19th that commemorates Carl's untimely death due to cancer. 

The Longleaf Horse Trail: The course features soft dirt trails, pine needle paths, and fire roads on 12.5 and 6.1 mile loops through the piney woods. The 20 K runners do the long loop and are finished. The 50K runners run the big loop twice, and finish on the small loop. The 50M runners do the big loop three times and the small loop twice. (See change) Note that since all 50K and 50 Mile runners come by the start area several times, they can leave a drop bag with extra socks, a change of shoes, or special goodies in the area provided. Plenty of parking along the entrance road and in the campground means you can even go by your car on each loop.