Custom Ultra Medals for the Races That Go Beyond

Ultra runners cover distances most people only drive. The medal — or buckle — has to match the effort: heavy, detailed, and unmissable. We build ultra medals at 102–127mm+ with deep 3D relief of the mountains, trails, and horizons your runners conquered, in a weight that feels earned. See the wider race medals range for shorter and longer events.

Many ultra events use a belt buckle as the flagship award and a medal for finishers. We make both on the same zinc base — a substantial buckle with deep engraving and a complementary finisher medal — so your event has a coherent, premium awards program.

Get Free Design & Quote Design Guide

Custom Ultra Running medal produced by MedalOrigin

Product Samples

Why Ultra Running Medals From the Factory Floor

Ultra medals are where size and heft matter most. We build them big — 102–127mm and up — with 4–6mm thickness and relief up to 3mm so the terrain your runners crossed is unmistakable. Browse the race medals overview or plan the build in the design guide.

Ultra awards often pair a belt buckle (the prestige piece) with a finisher medal. We design both from one emblem so the buckle and medal read as a set. Deep antique gold or two-tone plating gives the rugged, earned look ultra runners expect.

Design Detail

Quick Specs — Technical Reference

Specification	Standard	Options / Upgrade
Material	Zinc alloy, heavyweight	Brass for maximum heft
Size	102–127mm+ (4–5 in)	Custom for buckle formats
Thickness	4–6mm premium	Heavier than standard race medals
3D relief	Up to 3mm terrain depth	Mountains, trails, horizons
Buckle option	Belt buckle with deep engraving	Flagship prestige award
Plating	Antique gold/silver/bronze	Two-tone for terrain contrast
MOQ	100 per design	Smaller fields still qualify
Production	10–15 days after sample	Schedule by distance

What Makes the Medal Worth Training For

After 15 years producing medals for races from 200-runner local events to 40,000-runner city majors, these are the factors that separate the medals runners keep from the ones that end up in a drawer.

Size & Heft That Match the Effort

Ultras deserve a bigger, heavier award. We build 102–127mm medals at 4–6mm thickness in zinc (or brass for maximum weight) so the medal feels substantial in hand — a tangible echo of the distance covered.

Terrain in Deep Relief

The mountains, ridgelines, and horizons your runners crossed become 0.4–3mm sculptural relief. Die-casting at 385°C captures the contour detail a flat medal cannot. Runners trace the route they survived — the medal is a map of the suffer-fest.

Buckle + Medal Programs

Many ultra events award a belt buckle as the prestige piece and a medal to finishers. We design both from one emblem so they read as a set. The buckle gets deep engraving; the medal carries finisher data. Coherent, premium, and collectible across years.

Antique & Two-Tone Finishes

Antique gold, silver, and bronze platings give ultra medals the rugged, earned look runners expect. Two-tone masking — gold terrain against silver sky, for example — makes the landscape pop. Small per-unit surcharge, large perceptual payoff.

Customization Options — Features That Make Your Medal Unforgettable

Spinning Center Element

A compass, gear, or race logo that rotates 360 degrees independently from the outer medal body. The spinner uses a precision rivet post for smooth, durable rotation — popular for races with a journey or navigation theme. Adds roughly 30–50% per-unit cost due to the second mold piece and assembly labor.

Bottle Opener Function

A stainless steel opener insert riveted into the medal body — our most popular add-on for race medals. The post-race celebration accessory built right into the award. Insert style is more durable than integrated edge style and keeps the medal's aesthetic integrity.

Multi-Piece Interlocking

Two or three separate medals that fit together to form one larger image — ideal for race series spanning multiple events or a challenge combining different distances. Each piece is a standalone medal with its own ribbon. When assembled they reveal a complete design that drives series registration.

LED Illumination

A flashing LED embedded behind translucent enamel makes your race logo or skyline glow — unforgettable at evening award ceremonies and popular for night runs. The CR2032 battery is integrated and replaceable. Requires minimum 5–6mm medal thickness; tested for 48+ hours of continuous illumination.

Dual-Plating Two-Tone

Gold body with nickel (silver) skyline highlights, or silver body with rose gold landmark elements. Masking during plating allows two metallic finishes on one medal. Small per-unit surcharge, large perceptual payoff for medals with distinct foreground and background elements.

Custom Packaging

Beyond the standard poly bag: velvet pouches in your race colors, gift boxes with custom-cut foam inserts, acrylic display cases for age-group winners, or custom-printed card backing with race branding. Each option is quoted separately based on quantity.

Factory-Direct — What That Actually Means for Your Race

No Middleman Markup

Every medal goes from our Huizhou factory directly to your race — no distributor, no promotional-products middleman, no awards shop marking it up 2–3 times. Your per-unit price reflects actual manufacturing cost plus reasonable margin, which is why race directors who order 500+ medals annually switch to us and stay.

Consistent Year-Over-Year Quality

Your mold, Pantone enamel formulations, ribbon design files, and plating specifications are all archived. When you reorder next year, we retrieve everything — same detail, same color accuracy, same ribbon feel, same weight in hand. Race directors ordering 5+ consecutive years confirm batch-to-batch consistency is why they stay.

Never Missed a Race Date — 15 Years, Zero Late Deliveries

Mold making, die-casting, polishing, plating, enamel filling, laser engraving, ribbon production, assembly, QC, packaging — all 12 steps happen under our roof. In 15 years we have never missed a client's race date. We build buffer into every schedule; your medals arrive before packet pickup. Guaranteed.

Size & Quantity Planning by Distance

A practical starting point for sizing medals and ribbons by distance. We fine-tune sizes and quantities in your free design.

Race distance	Recommended size	Typical plating	Ribbon	Quantity tip
50K	89–102mm	Antique gold	900mm × 30mm	Entry ultra tier
100K	102–114mm	Antique gold, deep relief	900mm × 30mm	Flagship heft
100M / multi-day	114–127mm+	Two-tone antique	Custom buckle	Buckle + medal program
Ultra relay	76–89mm	Mixed per team	Shared design	Team award
Kids ultra-lite	51–64mm	Nickel or painted	800mm × 20mm	Youth option

Die-cast vs stamped vs acrylic medals

Three production routes, three very different finisher medals. Here is how they compare.

Feature	Die-Cast (Zinc)	Stamped (Brass/Iron)	Acrylic
Process	Molten zinc injected into a steel mold at 385°C	Sheet metal struck between dies	Laser-cut and printed sheet
3D relief	Deep sculptural relief, from 0.4mm minimum detail	Shallow raised or recessed, flat overall	Flat, print only — no relief
Detail	Highest — skylines, portraits, fine texture	Moderate — line logos and text	Graphic print, no dimension
Weight & feel	Hefty and premium	Lighter	Lightweight
Best for	Marquee finisher medals	Budget or basic medals	Lightweight, colorful events
Relative cost	Higher	Lower	Lower

Factory-direct medals — by the numbers

15+

Years making race medals

30,000+

Medals produced per day

50+

Countries shipped

100

MOQ per design

385°C

Zinc die-casting

Electroplating steps

Certifications: ISO 9001, BSCI, Sedex, Reach, RoHS, Disney-approved supplier.

Medal Order Planning Matrix — Quantity, Mold & Lead Time by Event Size

Every race distance is its own production run — its own mold, its own 100-piece minimum, its own plating schedule. This is how a race director plans the whole event family without paying for tooling twice.

Event size	Typical quantity	Molds needed	Unit-price tier	Production window
Local 5K / fun run	100–300 finishers	1 mold (one distance)	Base tier at 100; steps down at 300	7–15 days after sample approval
Half marathon + 5K	300–1,500 finishers	2 molds (one per distance)	300–1,000 tier per design	7–15 days, two runs sequenced
Full marathon	1,000–5,000 finishers	1–2 molds (finisher + age-group)	1,000–5,000 tier	10–15 days; parallel laser stations
Ultra / championship series	500–2,000 across distances	2–4 molds (distance family)	1,000+ tier per design	12–15 days; schedule by distance
Multi-city race series	2,000–10,000 total	Shared shape family, one mold per city	5,000+ tier	Staggered 2–4 weeks by city

Defect Library — Symptom, Cause, Prevention

The faults worth knowing before you approve a sample are the ones that appear in the metal, not in the artwork.

Symptom	Likely cause	How it is prevented
Flow lines on the face	Cavity not polished enough, low machine pressure, or shot fired too fast	Mold polishing schedule and pressure set per part; first-off inspection after casting
Porosity / pinholes	Mold not venting properly	Vent channels cut and checked before the run; samples inspected under magnification
Short fill at sharp corners	Pressure too low for that section	Gate and pressure tuned at sampling; corners radiused at the artwork stage
Plating blisters	Parts not cleaned before the bath, or sealing oil baked before fully dry	Cleaning and full-dry check before plating; tunnel-oven schedule fixed at 100°C / 40 min
Enamel colour bleeding	Fill area below the minimum (0.3 mm soft / 0.5 mm hard)	Artwork thickened at the proof stage; Pantone matched before production
Ribbon print misregistration	Artwork not set up with bleed and fold allowance	Print file checked against the 4-fold construction before the run

Finish & Packaging

Ultra Running medal finish detail — Ultra Running medal — 3D die-cast relief, Pantone enamel and plating detail

Explore related medals & guides

Race Medals Overview All 15 race types we make Trail Running Medals Off-road and mountain awards Medal Materials Guide Zinc, brass, iron Medal Design Guide Size and relief planning Medal Packaging Pouches, boxes, cases Race Medal Complete Guide Plan a full order Bulk Custom Medals Volume pricing

Ultra Running Medal FAQ — Answers From the Factory Floor

What size and weight should an ultra medal be?

102–127mm at 4–6mm thickness is the ultra standard — noticeably larger and heavier than a standard race medal. Brass adds maximum heft; zinc is the cost-effective heavyweight. Smaller 50K awards run 89–102mm.

Can you make an ultra belt buckle?

Yes. Many ultra events award a deep-engraved belt buckle as the prestige piece plus a finisher medal. We design both from one emblem so they read as a set, with the buckle carrying the event name and the medal carrying finisher data.

How much relief detail can you show?

Up to 3mm sculptural relief — enough for mountain ridgelines, trail switchbacks, and horizon contours. Fine facade texture runs as low as 0.1mm. We render it in 3D so you approve the depth before tooling.

What finish suits an ultra award?

Antique gold, silver, or bronze platings give the rugged, earned look ultra runners expect. Two-tone masking (gold terrain against silver sky) makes the landscape pop for a small per-unit surcharge.

Can small ultra fields still meet MOQ?

Yes — 100 pieces per design. Ultra fields are often smaller, but 100 finishers is a common threshold and reorders use the same mold at a lower unit price.

How long does an ultra medal take?

10–15 days after sample approval because of the larger size and deeper relief. Buckle builds add engraving time. Rush options exist with in-stock molds.

Start Your Ultra Running Medals Project

Tell us about your event — the distance, the location, and how many finishers you expect. We will create a free custom design with 3D renderings and a detailed line-item quote within 24 hours. No obligation.

Prefer to browse first? Explore medal materials, see our 12-step manufacturing process, or review our design guide.

Get Free Design & Quote Now

Related Medal Types

For off-road events see our trail running medals. Ultra awards pair with custom packaging (boxes and display cases) and the same Zamak base as our enamel medals.