Our 20th Anniversary HOODOO 500 is once again the 2026 World Ultra Cycling Association Ultra Distance North American Championship event.

Both supported and self-supported racers in all 500-mile non-stop divisions will compete for NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION* status! Fastest overall solo male and female racers will be awarded the WUCA Championship jersey.  Age group winners and top relay team members in all categories may purchase the jersey.

*To qualify and to be listed in WUCA National Championship results, racers must be current WUCA members. You may join online by clicking this link; or pay for a single-event membership when you register to race.

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HOODOO 500 OVERVIEW
Racers follow a course from St. George, and traveling through Hurricane, Colorado City, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Carmel Junction, Bryce, Tropic, Escalante, Boulder, Torrey, Panguitch, Cedar City and back to St. George. The scenery is amazing – passing through, around or by three National Parks: Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef; three National Monuments: Pipe Springs, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Cedar Breaks; countless Utah State Parks including Anasazi, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kodachrome and Snow Canyon, and meanders in and out of the Dixie National Forest. It’s a loop course on mostly wonderful, well-maintained, quiet roads with little traffic (in most places).
46-50 hour time limit, depending on division.

SOME OF THE REASONS WHY THE HOODOO 500 IS THE BEST ULTRACYCLING RACE ON THE PLANET:

Hoodoo 500 is a qualifier for the Race Across AMerica (RAAM)!

The route is a perfect loop, starting and ending in beautiful St. George, Utah. Racer check in, meeting, start and finish lines, and post-event awards banquet are all in one central location.

St. George is about 90 minutes from Las Vegas and about 5-6 hours drive from most of southern California. You can fly directly to St. George or take an inexpensive shuttle from Las Vegas.  Rental vehicles are readily available in either location.

Road conditions are stellar! Utah takes wonderful care of their roads and highways. Generally speaking, the pavement is smooth, without potholes or expansion gaps or long stretches of rough road where cracks have been filled in but remain bumpy and uneven. The roads are virtually litter and glass free!

Relay Teams choose their own strategies. There are few restrictions on when or how often riders may exchange. A team may have one, two, three or four riders on the course at the same time, in a team paceline. It’s a ton of fun! 

Solo and team riders may bring an unlimited number of crew members and one or two crew vehicles. This allows riders to have fresh and alert crew members at all times (which is especially important on the second day, in all hours of darkness, and for those riders who may take more than 40 hours to complete the course).

When the clock stops at the finish line, we’ll all enjoy the Post-Event Banquet – a buffet brunch, fun awards and sharing of newly created, but long-lasting memories of the awesome Hoodoo 500 experience!

Divisions and Entry Fees

EARLY ENTRY –  Thanksgiving Day – March 31:
• Solo – $475
• Voyager & Voyager 72: $495
• 2-Person & Tandem: $785
• 4-Person & 2-Tandem: $1275

STANDARD ENTRY –  April 1 to July 31: 
• Solo: $550
• Voyager & Voyager 72: $570
• 2-Person & Tandem: $860
• 4-Person & 2-Tandem: $1375

Important Registration Information:

  • Entry fees are non-refundable; but if you let us know 90 days before the race, you may defer a portion of your entry to the following year. That said, sometimes life gets in the way, so your best bet is to purchase for a nominal fee during registration the event cancellation insurance. More information about the cancellation insurance and cancellation policy here.
  • Registration closes July 31st.
  • Relay Team and Tandem Team entrants:  If one person registers for all team members, please make sure you have accurate information for each (email and mailing address at minimum). Teams must choose a team name to be used during the race. Please use good taste, as Race Directors have discretion to veto team names. 
  • Flexibility regarding relay team rosters:  Each team must enter with two or four riders. If one or more of the team members gets hurt or cannot start, substitutions are allowed to the team roster until 5pm Friday before the start.
What's Included with Entry?

Included with your Hoodoo 500 entry:

  • For 2026, racers in all non-stop divisions will compete for World Ultra Cycling Association North American Champion status! Overall male and female solos in both supported and Voyager divisions will receive a WUCA champions jersey. Solo age group winners and 2-person and 4-person category winners may purchase jerseys.
  • LIVE Tracking includes your GPS SPOT tracker rental.
  • Tech t-shirt. Shirts for your Crew may be purchased during registration.
  • Official Finishers receive a custom medal and cycling jersey.
  • Awards ceremony and breakfast banquet: One ticket per rider plus two crew tickets. Extra crew tickets may be purchased with registration. Your banquet ticket is also a raffle ticket. Lots of fun prizes up for grabs!
  • Podium awards (if you’re a top finisher in a division with more than 5 competitors).
  • Event Book, Route Sheets, Registration Forms (electronic copies) and access to route RideWithGPS files for download.
  • Entry and passage through Snow Canyon State Park, Dixie National Forest and Cedar Breaks National Monument.
  • Included for Voyagers only: Drop bag service to Panguitch time station.
  • Successful 500 Solo and Voyager racers qualify for RaceAcrossAMerica (RAAM).

Hoodoo requires a year-round organizational effort. In addition to the items above, we also provide these all-important non-tangibles:

  • An outstanding, scenic and incredibly challenging course through Utah’s beautiful color country.
  • Festive and professional start/finish line.
  • Live and active weekend webcast with updated time-splits and active Facebook feed.
  • Year-round access to a live person who will answer emails within 24-hours and help you prepare for the experience of a lifetime!
  • Access to historical data and event records for each division and category.
  • And so much more!
Route

Click here for RideWithGPS map and GPS downloads. Please note: RWGPS is showing a dirt section beginning at mile 65.5 which was paved several years ago. We promise you, there are no dirt roads on our amazing route!

Click here for time station to time station RWGPS maps for crew.

Generally speaking, riders follow a course starting in St. George, and traveling through Hurricane, Colorado City, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Carmel Junction, Bryce, Tropic, Escalante, Boulder, Torrey, Panguitch, Brian Head, Cedar City and back to St. George. It’s a loop course on wonderful, well-maintained, quiet roads with little traffic and breath-taking scenery. Click here to see some photographs of the route.

Please note: With a route this distance, it’s simply impossible to not have some traffic-y miles without a great shoulder. Some of the less great roads have no other option. Whether racing or riding in our local communities, we take some risks while cycling. This is no different. 

Riders interested in seeing the entire course at a leisurely pace (a week), in full daylight, should check out our Planet Ultra Tour of Southern Utah.

Rules

The sole purpose of Rules is to strive for safety (although road cycling is inherently dangerous), ensure competitive fairness and to comply with various permit requirements.

We trust that every racer and every crew member understands that the consequences for breaking or even bending a rule is less a measure of time (even if you get a penalty) than a measure of personal integrity. So if it were possible to have just ONE rule, it would be this: Don’t be a jerk. That actually covers quite a lot.

Everything in the Rules seemed important enough to put in writing. For anything else that comes up, we (Race Directors) will attempt to do what is right and what is fair, and not be jerks about it. We have final say over Rules, their interpretation and enforcement; and we may at any time alter the Rules or invent new ones. If a racer or crew plans to do something not explicitly covered by the Rules, they are encouraged to inquire in advance.

Click here to READ THE RULES. We’ll know if you don’t.

Voyager (Self-Supported) Info

The Hoodoo 500 offers two unique divisions for the most experienced ultra-distance cyclists which allows them to race without a support crew, entirely self-supported: Voyager and Voyagers Conjoined (two racers “joined at the hip” for the duration of the race).

Voyager divisions are open to everyone and no request for entry is required.

While there are no specific qualification standards, potential Voyagers must understand that this is a very challenging route with the potential for extreme weather changes and long stretches with no services.You absolutely must be willing to put a rack and bag on your bike, as well as carry a camelbak. You absolutely must be willing to carry everything you could possibly need to make it through a long, dark and cold night (and perhaps the better part of the second night). You absolutely must be willing to study the route and do as much research as required to plan your refueling stops, rest stops if needed, and water sources.  Before signing up, do your homework!

For a newbie Voyager, at the very minimum your cycling experience should include multiple day bike-packing adventures, and/or completion of a 400k brevet, 24 hour event or a supported 500-mile race within the past two years.

Click here for more Voyager information.