We added the Cactus Roulette to our bucket list of races after reading about it in the May 2024 issue of UltraRunning. This timed event trail race in Lawrence, Kansas, includes four timed options: 6-hour, 12-hour Owl (noon start), 12-hour Lark (midnight start) and a 24-hour. Cactus Roulette offers a unique concept: spin a tri-colored roulette wheel to determine which of three loops (1.9, 2.6 or 3.6 miles) you’ll run next through Clinton Lake State Park. As fate would have it, Cactus Roulette perfectly coincided with our training plan for a 48-hour event. About an 8-hour drive from Wisconsin, we eagerly registered for the 24-hour race with a goal of 50+ miles. At packet pick-up, we were notified we’d be running as a linked pair – meaning we would spin and complete all our loops together.
Our first spin started us out on the blue loop (Swim Beach), and we took off excitedly with the other runners. We also learned trail conditions were the snowiest they’d been since the race’s inception and quickly realized we’d underestimated the technicality especially given the snow, mud and ice. We became fast acquaintances with this loop, spinning blue on the next two rounds.
Kylie Pachta spins the roulette wheel with buddy Jackson Witter at the start of the 6-hour race. Photo: Kristi Mayo | Mile 90 Photography
Finally, our spin landed on red, which took us to Bunker Hill. As we consider ourselves to be road runners, we welcomed the small concrete portion of this loop. However, even the grassy terrain was runnable despite the ice and mud. Eventually, we landed on the green Cactus Ridge loop, which was by far our favorite of the three. Throughout this loop we were greeted by deer, saw the elusive namesake prickly-pear cacti and witnessed the sunset over Clinton Lake.
As nightfall hit, the more we spun… the more we spiraled. Rolling blue after a failed nap attempt left us on fumes, and we clocked some of our slowest miles, but approaching the start/finish line with the rising sun gave us a second wind (well, at least a breeze). After checking the live stats, we realized we were catching up in the distance we had logged. Kicking it into high gear, we started to move with a purpose and achieved our 50-mile goal upon completion of the last lap. At the awards ceremony, we learned we had narrowly secured first place in the women’s division by just three-tenths of a mile. Many consider running as an individual sport, but this truly was a team effort.
Cactus Roulette highlights include the High Rollers Lounge aid station (some favorites: bacon and cheese quesadillas and breakfast burritos), the positive energy of the volunteers and race directors, and the overall personalized feel of the race. We are looking forward to returning next year, and who knows… maybe we’ll get out on a few trails before then.