Desert RATS Trail Running Festival

The Desert RATS Trailrunning Festival features a weekend of fun and running on the beautiful trails near Fruita, Colorado. The weekend includes a pasta dinner, Trail Marathon, 50K and Double Marathon races on Saturday, awards party and 10K and half marathon races on Sunday.

These are challenging courses. The Marathon will be a single loop connecting the desert trails of Kokopelli and adjacent trails. The course rolls between elevations of 4,500 and 5,400 feet with over 3.400 feet of climbing per loop. We will have five aid stations located throughout the course, at approximately five-mile intervals (one gap is 7 miles).

The 50K will be the marathon course plus additional trails with six aid stations. The Double Marathon course will repeat the Marathon course in the opposite direction, and runners will have a total of nine aid stations.

Aid Stations will be stocked with Hammer Gel, potato chips, peanut butter and jelly, chocolate, bananas, ice water and sports drink on Saturday and will be stocked with candy, potato chips, Hammer Gels, ice water and Hammer Heed on Sunday. Additional food will be available at the turnaround/finish line (if racers need additional food on the course, they are advised to carry it with them). In addition, a certified Emergency Medical Technician will be in attendance.

Runners registered for the Double Marathon must complete the first Marathon loop in six and a half hours in order to continue the second half of the race. If a Double Marathoner or drops out at the Marathon turnaround they will receive an official Marathon time. Runners have until 7:30 p.m. to complete all courses; there will be additional official cut off times given at the start line designed to help runners to the finish line by the 7:30 p.m. cutoff.

Entry fees include: place winner awards, shirts (or other race memento), aid station goodies, a finisher’s memento and post-race refreshments.