The BADWATER® ultra running experience returns to the East Coast when the ninth BADWATER CAPE FEAR race takes place on Bald Head Island, North Carolina on March 18, 2023.

With 50km and 51-mile race options and a start line at the foot of the Old Baldy Lighthouse, 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 19.5 or 39 miles of running on the wild and secluded sandy beach between Cape Fear and Fort Fisher. The beach stretch features spectacular views of the Frying Pan Shoals to the east and the wild and undeveloped marshlands of the Cape Fear River to the west. Running this remote coast is a dramatic, invigorating, and inspiring manner in which to experience Bald Head Island, Fort Fisher State Recreation, and the Cape Fear region in all its grandeur!

Badwater Race Director Chris Kostman discovered Bald Head Island from the Nicholas Sparks movie “Safe Haven” and fell in love with the whole Cape Fear area. Reflecting on the island and on Badwater® Cape Fear, he states “It’s a really interesting and unusual place which allows us to host an extraordinarily beautiful and challenging Badwater race.” He further notes “the 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 the Anza-Borrego Desert featured in our two West Coast Badwater races!”

Bald Head Island and nearby Southport, NC are ideal vacation get-away spots for the entire family, located less than one hour from Wilmington, NC and its major airport with Delta, American, and United 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 and many have turned it into a family vacation as well. It is really that fantastic!