Dirt Cheap Trail Race Durand Eastman
Rochester, NY
- 5 Miler
- Trail (Unpaved)
- Official race website
Since 2008, this super-cool, mid-week, low-key, fun trail race series highlights different parks around Monroe County! Dirt Cheap Trail Race was a brainchild of YellowJacket Racing in 2008 right after the stock market crash. People were in tricky spots financially and we wanted to provide an economical avenue for people … MORE
Local Historical Weather (May 27):
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| H (°F) | 75 | 72 | 76 | 74 | 71 |
| L (°F) | 61 | 44 | 65 | 42 | 62 |
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No swag but veggie hot dogs
I'm happy the dirt cheap trail races are back. These are low-key, cheap mid week trail races produced by Yellow Jacket Racing that occur in various parks in the Rochester … MORE
I’m happy the dirt cheap trail races are back. These are low-key, cheap mid week trail races produced by Yellow Jacket Racing that occur in various parks in the Rochester area. The series was put on hold last year but is back this year. Unfortunately it looks like this will be the only race I will be able to do as I am moving out of Rochester the first weekend of July and my travel plans to Alaska now interfere with the next race. I have done most of the dirt cheap races 2 years ago but there were some covid modifications. This year everything is back to normal. I believe you do get a shirt or other swag item if you sign up for the series but since I am moving I did not. For individual races there is no swag but these are dirt cheap so it is fine. I got my bib the day before at the store and just came to the race after work on Wednesday. The race was well organized. It is chipped time but only at the finish. The start and finish are right next to each other. The start had some flags and the finish a dirt cheap arch. The course seemed to be backwards from last year from what I can remember. It is pretty tough and there is a lot of elevation but there are some nice, runnable sections too. The park was very scenic. I like this run as there are lovely lake views. The course was extremely well marked. Tons of flags. I don’t think there was a time I could not see a flag which is how I like trail races. I was really slow as I have not been trail running as much this year since I am still working on building up speed on the road but I had a fun time. After you cross the finish line they had hot dogs, chips and soda and I was happy they had veggie dogs. Overall this is a fun, tough series but the races are not too long and there are some walkers so even if you are slow or intimidated by trail these are fun to do. If I were staying in Rochester I would definitely continue to do this series.
Beautiful Evening Trail Run
Now that things are starting to get back to normal, Yellow Jacket Racing (YJR) is holding their Wednesday evening Dirt Cheap Trail Races. This year they have three scheduled and … MORE
Now that things are starting to get back to normal, Yellow Jacket Racing (YJR) is holding their Wednesday evening Dirt Cheap Trail Races. This year they have three scheduled and possible will add more. These are low key 5ish mile evening trail races held on Wednesday evenings. They are dirt cheap with registration under $20 but as a result no swag. In the past if you signed up for the series you got a shirt but that wasn’t the case this year probably because they haven’t confirmed the exact number of races this year. This course was the exact same as the Dirt Cheap Halloween Edition Race in Durand Eastman Park last October so I called myself a repeat runner even though the race technically had a different name. This year the races have a rolling start from 5pm to 6pm. Packet pickup is recommended the day before but also available evening of race. I got my bib at the store yesterday. A minor complaint is the website advertised a chip timed race but this ended up being manually timed. The manual timing was extremely precise and results posted very promptly so not a big deal but they should update the website. YJR has been extremely busy planning a whole bunch of races now that NY is opening up so it’s okay that they missed a detail. At this point in the pandemic, I thought the rolling start was a little lame given this was a small race with only about 100 participants. I usually critique that things aren’t safe enough but I do think now things can be a little more normal but I understand erring on safety. I did find the rolling start to be very stress free as I just left after work, did my pre race routine and went. It just was not too exciting. I did start more in the middle of the time frame so it may have been more exciting in the beginning. The race course was really nice. It was absolutely beautiful in the springtime and now things are starting to be green. The best views were by the lake where some lovely swans were swimming. I have gotten much better at trail running training for my ultra. I remember thinking this course was really tough last fall. I wouldn’t call it an easy course but it seemed much easier. I ran almost all of it except the steepest uphills and downhills. As a result I shaved 5 minutes off my time. The race seemed completely safe as I was running alone a lot. I think I saw more people on my non-race trail run yesterday. I still really enjoyed the trail and the course was very well marked. The RDs know me by now so that made the finish line a little more exciting since they cheered me on. As I said, my time was very fast for a hilly trail race. You then got your bag of snacks so I will no longer have to go hungry now that YJR is supplying my snacks again. This was an enjoyable run, I look forward to the next one.