Pony Express Trail Run

The Pony Express Trail Run is a beautiful 14+ mile trail run around Rampart Reservoir with the trees starting to show their fall colors. The scenery alone on this race will blow you away. By design, this race is small and is a best kept secret, as there is not enough parking or other infrastructure to make this a large race.

The course is on a single-track dirt trail that runs around the perimeter of Rampart Reservoir. In some places, the trail is rocky with exposed tree roots. The elevation is around 9,000 feet, with some rolling ups and downs. Runners proceed clockwise around the reservoir, and will also run across the dam on the east end of the reservoir.

There are 3 water stops on the trail. You are encouraged to carry additional fluids. The race normally gets about 100+ participants. If you get lost easily, then this is not the course for you, as there are places where you can make wrong turns. The rule of thumb is to keep the reservoir on your right shoulder. If you are straying far away from the reservoir, then you’ve made a wrong turn.

No park fees are needed, unless you plan on driving into the park.

Cutoff times: WS2—2 hours, WS3—2 hours and 15 minutes. Out of respect to our volunteers, should a participant not meet these cutoff times, they will be pulled by the course marshals and driven back to the start/finish.

The Pony Express Trail Run originated quite a few years ago, as far back as 1977. The initial PPRR newsletter of April of 1977 shows the Pony Express scheduled for October 15th. At that time, the race was run from Woodland Park to Monument. At one time, it was run on the Section 16 trails in SW Colorado Springs. It has been at the Rampart Reservoir location for at least 10 years, if not more.

The event has always made an effort to celebrate all of the runners. Thus overall and age-group awards are not given. Instead, every finisher is given a unique award each year.