HOKA + Nights of Thunder Cross Country Fest
About this race
September 11-12, 2026
World Famous Apalachee Regional XC Park, Tallahassee, FL
A Celebration of Cross Country Running in the spirit of the Daytona 500. The BIGGEST and BEST event of the year is the FIRST event of the year!
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
Under the Lights: Nighttime Collegiate, High School, Middle School, & Open/Masters heats
XC Running Festival atmosphere
HEATS INCLUDE:
Collegiate
High School Varsity and Junior Varsity
Middle School
Open
COACHES’ SWAG
Exclusive Nights of Thunder Coaches’ box
Reserved team areas with available tent/amenity rentals
Official course of the Florida HS State XC Championships
2022 NJCAA XC Championships & 2026 World Athletics XC Championships
Pick your distance
Running
College Mens 8K
College Womens 5K
Open Division 5K
Want to run on a World Class Cross Country Course? Come on out for the open heat!
Middle School Girls 3K
Middle School Boys 3K
Junior Varsity Girls 5K
Junior Varsity Boys 5K
Varsity Girls 5K
Varsity Boys 5K
Typical race-day weather
Based on 8 years of Open-Meteo archive data for this event's race dates in Tallahassee, plus the 3 days either side.
The sun rises at 7:19 AM and sets at 7:47 PM local time (EDT) in Tallahassee on September 11, 2026 — 12h 28m of daylight.
Course
No course map published yet.
The organizer hasn't released a route for this event, and we don't publish guesses. If you're the organizer, send us a GPX file and we'll draw the profile.
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2026 results — HOKA + Nights of Thunder Cross Country Fest
1,258 finishers across 8 distances · leading places in the College Mens 8K
| Place | Name | Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hayden Clark | 26:58 | 5:26 /mi |
| 2 | Ian Brown | 27:50 | 5:36 /mi |
| 3 | Obadiah Kipruto | 27:51 | 5:36 /mi |
| 4 | Jonathan Elliott | 28:20 | 5:42 /mi |
| 5 | Justin Martin | 28:40 | 5:46 /mi |
Every finisher is on the results page, filterable by distance, gender and age group.
All results by year
Other races near Tallahassee
Different organizers, within 40 miles, in the next three months
Tallahassee Trick or Trot, 5k and Fun Run
Tallahassee Turkey Trot 15K/10K/5K/1Mile
HurriGains 5K Color Run
Full Press Apparel Memorial to Memorial Veterans Day 5K
🏃 Plan Your Next Race in Tallahassee
Find upcoming events by distance:
- Tallahassee 5K Races 34 races
- 10K Run Events in Tallahassee 13 races
- Tallahassee Half Marathons 11 races
- Tallahassee Running Calendar 2026 53 races
Where this page comes from. Race details were last updated on . We re-check listings regularly and again in the week before race day.
- Entries, prices, waves and inclusions — the event's official registration page
- Temperature and humidity — Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)
- Elevation and terrain relief — Copernicus DEM GLO-90, ESA (CC BY 4.0)
- Comparisons and counts — Race Discovery calendar, 59 Tallahassee events
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