The Principle
A 24-hour gear checklist is not about owning everything. It is about meeting the event rules and having tested options for the conditions you may encounter. Common problems include changing fit, depleted lights, wet clothing, food aversion, temperature changes, and misplaced gear, but not every runner or event needs the same response.
If you want a customized list, use the gear checklist generator.
Core Kit
The quantities below are an illustrative loadout for one stated scenario, not a required list. Scenario: a certified 1-mile loop with a crewed table passed every lap, forecast 8–18 °C with no rain, darkness from 20:00 to 06:00, one crew member, no mandatory-kit rule beyond a race-supplied timing chip. Change the scenario and the numbers change; the reasoning column is what transfers.
| System | Quantity | Reasoning for that number |
|---|---|---|
| Shoes | 2 pairs | One tested pair worn, one identical tested pair at the table; swap at about 12 h or sooner if fit changes. A backup does not need to be larger by default. |
| Socks | 6 pairs | One change every 4 h across 24 h = 6 changes. Even without rain, sweat and grit accumulate; the pairs you do not use cost nothing on a loop course. |
| Shirts | 3 | One for the warm daytime hours, one dry for the temperature drop at dusk, one spare for the pre-dawn low. |
| Shorts or tights | 2 | One worn, one dry change; chafing usually starts where fabric is wet. |
| Bottles or flasks | 4 × 500 ml | Two in rotation, two being refilled and cooled at the table, so a handover never waits on a wash. |
| Food | About 9,000 kcal of options | A planned 250 kcal/h × 24 h = 6,000 kcal, packed at 1.5× because taste fatigue makes roughly a third of what you bring unusable on the day. |
| Foot care | 1 kit, 2 restocks | Tape, scissors, wipes, lube and a mirror in one labelled box; one restock per shoe change so the box is never empty at 03:00. |
The 250 kcal/h in the food row is the midpoint of the 150–400 kcal/h planning range in the ISSN position stand on single-stage ultramarathon nutrition; it is a packing assumption for this example, not a target you should adopt untested. See what ultrarunners eat for how to set your own range.
Layers by temperature band. The 10 °C spread in this scenario is the whole clothing problem. Lay the bands out in advance so the decision is made before you are cold:
| Band | Likely hours | Loadout |
|---|---|---|
| 16–18 °C | Roughly 12:00–18:00 | Singlet or short sleeve, cap, sunglasses; 1 item to carry |
| 12–16 °C | Roughly 18:00–21:00 and 08:00–12:00 | Add arm sleeves or a long-sleeve top; 2 items |
| 8–12 °C | Roughly 21:00–08:00 | Add a light windshell, thin gloves and a beanie; 5 items |
| Below 8 °C or rain arrives | Not forecast | Add an insulated layer and a waterproof shell; 7 items. Keep them boxed even when not forecast |
Crew Table Setup
Group gear by decision, not by brand. Use clear boxes or bags labeled "feet," "night," "food," "wet/cold," and "electronics." The point is to make the next action visible.
- Keep the current bottle and next food in the same place every lap.
- Put foot-care tools on top, not buried under spare clothing.
- Separate wet gear from dry gear.
- Give crew your consent preferences, relevant medical information, and clear stop-and-escalate signs; crew should not override your decision or try to rule out a medical problem themselves.
Night Kit
Darkness changes everything. Prepare the night kit before sunset. The quantities below continue the same illustrative scenario: 10 hours of darkness, 20:00 to 06:00, on a crewed loop.
| Item | Quantity | Reasoning for that number |
|---|---|---|
| Primary headlamp | 1 | Worn from 20:00; every light and backup the race rules require comes first, whatever this table says. |
| Spare batteries or charged packs | 2 | A 10-hour mixed-output night costs about 10.4 Wh on a Petzl NAO RL, against an 11.84 Wh battery. Carrying 1.5× the calculated need (15.6 Wh) means two batteries, not one. |
| Backup lamp | 1 | An independent second light so a failure does not depend on a swap working. Under 50 g options exist. |
| Warm layers | 5 items | The 8–12 °C band above: long sleeve, windshell, gloves, beanie, plus the dry shirt you change into. |
| Reflective or lit visibility layer | 1 | Only if any part of the loop uses a road or shares space with vehicles. |
| Warm drink or savoury food option | 2 kinds | Sweet-only plans usually fail somewhere in these 10 hours; two warm savoury fallbacks give the stomach somewhere to go. |
The battery arithmetic above is worked through step by step in the headlamp and battery strategy, including how to recover the implied draw from any manufacturer's rated runtime.
What to Skip
Avoid race-day experiments with shoes, tape, lights, drink mixes, and other items whose failure could affect comfort or safety. Mandatory kit still takes priority: if a required item is unfamiliar, learn and test it before race day rather than leaving it behind.
Use the crew and aid station guide to turn the checklist into a fast table routine.
Sources
- International Association of Ultrarunners — official competition documents and technical guidelines.
- Scheer et al. (2014) — The enemy of the feet: blisters in ultraendurance runners.
- Petzl — official explanation of brightness, beam shape, and burn-time tradeoffs.
- Tiller, N.B. et al. (2019) — ISSN Position Stand: nutritional considerations for single-stage ultra-marathon training and racing. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 16(1), 50. Source of the 150–400 kcal per hour planning range.
- Petzl — NAO RL specification: 3200 mAh / 3.7 V (11.84 Wh) battery and 250 lm for 5 h, the figures behind the two-battery night arithmetic (read 14 September 2026).
Every quantity on this page is illustrative arithmetic from the stated scenario. Your event's mandatory-kit rules, the actual forecast, and your own tested tolerances override all of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pairs of shoes do you need for a 24-hour race?
There is no fixed number. Start with a familiar shoe that suits the course; an optional, fully tested alternative can help if weather, surface, or an observed fit problem changes. A backup does not need to be larger by default.
Do you need a hydration vest for a looped 24-hour race?
Check the rules, aid spacing, weather, and course first. On a short loop with frequent access, a handheld, belt, or bottle swap may be enough; a vest may suit longer unsupported sections or required capacity. Use the system you have tested.
Which 24-hour race items need redundancy?
Follow the event's mandatory-kit rules first. Consider redundancy for safety-critical lighting and power based on hours of darkness, course remoteness, weather, aid access, and whether a failure would prevent a safe return.