The BADWATER® ultra running experience returns to the (B)east Coast when the eleventh BADWATER CAPE FEAR race takes place on Bald Head Island, North Carolina on March 22, 2025.

With 50km and 51-mile race options, Badwater® Cape Fear features a twelve-mile warm-up on the car-free, one-lane-wide roads and maritime forest trails of Bald Head Island, followed by either 19 or 38 miles of running on the wild and secluded sandy beach between Cape Fear and Fort Fisher. The race is held along the Atlantic Seaboard with spectacular views of the Frying Pan Shoals to the east and wild and undeveloped Cape Fear River marshlands to the west. Running this remote coast is a dramatic, invigorating, and inspiring manner in which to experience the Cape Fear region in all its grandeur*!

This exquisite natural setting is the perfect antidote to the “real world” and a wonderful counterpart to the desert sands and mountains of Death Valley and Anza-Borrego Desert featured in the two West Coast BADWATER® races.

Bald Head Island and nearby Southport, NC (featured in the film “Safe Haven”) are ideal vacation get-away spots for the entire family, located less than one hour from Wilmington, NC and its major airport with American, United, and Delta service. (Flying into Myrtle Beach, SC is another convenient option.) Due to the remarkable beauty and quaint southern charm of this area, as well as this impeccable, authentic BADWATER race experience, many Badwater Cape Fear participants are now making this race an annual pilgrimage!

• Although we anticipate using the same route each year, the final, exact route is subject to approval from various government agencies and may not be fully confirmed until the week of the race. This event is held subject to special use permits from the Village of Bald Head Island, Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, and the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management.

Click here for the current real-time weather data from Cape Fear on Bald Head Island!