The Bandera Endurance Trail Run credo: No whiners, wimps, or wusses. A trail of rugged and brutal beauty where everything cuts, stings or bites. The Hill Country State Natural Area is notorious for rocks and sotol and challenging beauty! You will climb or descend on gnarly trails pretty much the …
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The Bandera Endurance Trail Run credo: No whiners, wimps, or wusses. A trail of rugged and brutal beauty where everything cuts, stings or bites. The Hill Country State Natural Area is notorious for rocks and sotol and challenging beauty! You will climb or descend on gnarly trails pretty much the whole course aside from on either side of YaYa Aid Station. There’s a section we call the Race Track. That’s the only consistently flat section. The hills are short (compared to mountains) but they’re steep. They will take you to some gorgeous Hill Country vistas, amazing sunrises, sunsets and starry skies; as well as some fun bomber downhill dashes. All in all, this is a technical course and loads of fun!
The 100km is a standalone race on Saturday. Still with a 25 hr cutoff. The non-competitive 50k is on Saturday; limited number of spots available. 50km and 25km will start Sunday morning, and end Sunday night at the latest. The main loop is 50km. 100km is 2 full laps. 50km is 1 full lap. 25km starts the same as other races and has a cutover after Equestrian A.S., then rejoins the full course before YaYa A.S., then finishes all the same. All laps are counterclockwise.
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Bandera’s evil sister!!!
Overall Rating: She don’t love you, but she’s going to make sure you remember her name... Before the review: I am thoroughly impressed with this organization. On Monday before the … MORE
Overall Rating: She don’t love you, but she’s going to make sure you remember her name…
Before the review:
I am thoroughly impressed with this organization. On Monday before the event, the venue where the race was to be held cancelled, saying they could not allow this event to happen due to the recent rains. Instead of cancelling, this team went to work, found a different venue (Camp Eagle), cleared and marked trails, and made a plan. As an out of stater, I cannot express my gratitude that Tejas Trails did this. Outstanding!
This Rave is for the Camp Eagle location, as I did not run any at the Texas Hill Country State Park.
Course Difficulty: Really hard. Don’t underestimate this course. Very few runnable sections, lots of steep climbs, and rocks…oh, the rocks. On a scale of 1-10, I give this one an 8, to be a ten I would have had to cross a mountain and a river. I am thankful it was only an 8.
Course Scenery: Really good. Great high views of the Texas Hill country, several dry creek crossings, and lots of white limestone single track. As a bonus, on my 100k I was able to see sunrise, high noon, and sunset…lol.
Race Production: Volunteers were off the charts good, started on time (delayed an hour for the venue change, but well publicized), aid station were well stocked and right where they should be, course markings were outstanding. I have one complaint, but it’s minor; there was no service to deliver drop bags back to the start…for those of us that needed to get on the road, that was an issue. I muled my second one after the last time at that aid station, and packed them both back with me for the last 5.5 mile segment, which did keep me from running, it’s a minor complaint, but that’s why the 4 stars instead of 5, all else was great.
Race Swag: Good, solid 100k buckle and nice short sleeve tee.
My Performance: This was my first 100k, so I didn’t really have expectations; I thought maybe 14-16 hours. When I walked across the finish line at nearly 17 hours, I was really just happy I hadn’t quit…it was that hard. Needless to say, I am happy with my performance, simply being able to finish something that 3 years ago would have been impossible. Oh, and I beat the Western States qualifying time…so, there’s that.
Final notes: This race is a beast. Plan for it, train hard, and don’t underestimate it, the marketing definitely doesn’t do the difficulty justice. If you’re looking to test your mettle, give this girl a whirl; she’ll make you laugh, cry, and laugh at yourself for crying…then she’ll hand you a shiny new buckle and make you want to do it all over again.