San Antonio Trail Running
Submitted by jlinwood on Sat, 2010-09-18 18:15
The center of San Antonio's trail racing scene is McAllister Park, with the Prickly Pear 50K and 10-miler, the Carraba's Classic Half Marathon and Half Marathon Relay race in June, the Chupacabra night-time race, the Jalapeno del Sol race in August, and the Cupid's Valentine race in February.
To do longer, tougher races, check out the Bandera 25K/50K/100K in January and the Cactus Rose 50 Mile/100 Mile trail races in October. Both are put on by Joe Prusatis and Tejas Trails at the Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera, Texas, northwest of San Antonio.
The local trail running club is the Hill Country Trail Runners, but their meetings and club runs are in Austin.
Trails:
Description:
McAllister Park is next to the San Antonio airport, in north San Antonio. The park has over 15 miles of singletrack and paved trails that wind in and around eachother in a maze. There are colored trails, such as, red, blue, and orange that you can follow, although intersections are not always clearly marked. McAllister's terrain is pretty tame - trails go from buttery smooth singletrack under trees to pebbly limestone trails to jeep roads on top of a dam.
The city provides a confusing map of the colored loops at http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/pdf/McAllister_Overall.pdf - but that doesn't show all of the side trails inside the park.
Also within McAllister Park is the Salado Creek Greenway - an asphalt paved, 6 foot wide trail suitable for bikes, strollers, inline skates, or just walking. The McAllister Park section heading to the airport has just been built.
Where can I get a running event schedule?:
Trail Races:
The San Antonio Road Runners put on a great trail race in San Antonio in McAllister Park by the airport in March. It used to be held in May, but that must have been extremely hot.
The 10-mile loop course is a windy maze of mostly singletrack mountain biking trails, with about 3/4 of a mile on top of a dam/flood control structure that is completely exposed. The rest is pretty shady. 50K runners do three loops. The course has mile markers, which is a nice touch for a trail race.
Race Types:
Running race
10 Mile
50K Ultramarathon
Trail Run
Cactus Rose is put on by Joe and Joyce Prusatis of Tejas Trails out at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera, Texas, northwest of San Antonio.
New for 2011 - Cactus Rose has a 4-person, 100 mile relay!
The race has aid stations, but you are responsible for providing everything you need except ice and water. There won't be any volunteers at the aid stations unless you bring a crew. Anything you need to eat, any sports drink or supplements, you will need to drop them off at the aid stations before the race.
Race Types:
Running race
50 Mile Ultramarathon
100 Mile Ultramarathon
Trail Run
Race Types:
Running race
5K
Other short
Trail Run
Race Types:
Running race
10K
Trail Run
For several hundred runners, January trail racing in Texas means the Bandera Trail Races northwest of San Antonio in Hill Country State Natural Area. The race has three different distances, all of which have a 24 hour cutoff - the 100K, 50K, and 25K.
Finishers of the 100K get a great belt buckle, and the 50K and 25K finishers get nice medals. Before and after the race, you'll see a few grizzled trail runners wearing "Bandera 500K" fleece jackets - they've gotten over 300 miles in on the Bandera trails during the race, in any combination they want.
Race Types:
Running race
25K
50K Ultramarathon
100K Ultramarathon
Trail Run
Trail Running Clubs:
The Hill Country Trail Runners (HCTR) are Austin and San Antonio's trail running club. Members are located all over Texas and the rest of the country, but the club meets in Austin and club runs are generally on Austin trails. The club has hundreds of members, and club runs every Wednesday evening at the Hill of Life entrance to the Barton Creek Greenbelt and Sunday mornings at the Dog Park parking lot of the Bull Creek Greenbelt