Big Bend 50 Trail Run Updates

Just prior to the new year it was officially announced, an ultramarathon is coming back to Big Bend National Park in Texas. That was about all we knew at the time.

Well within the last week, the Big Bend 50 website has been filled with some useful information about the January 16, 2011 trail running event.

A couple items worth checking out:

Race Maps
- The 50 km and 25 km races are point-to-point (same start and finish area).
- The 10 km is an out-and-back.
- Both the 50 km and 25 km races are essentially downhill runs with 1480 feet of drop.
Photo Gallery
- By looking at past pics, the running surface looks excellent.
- The running scenery is obviously very nice.

Questions:

I wonder about the transportation logistics of the point-to-point courses. Will race organizers bus runners to the start?
On the 50 km map, I see a 50 km turnaround marking about 1/4 the way along the course. I wonder what is this about? Maybe I am not understanding the route.

Be active – Feel the buzz!

David – EnduranceBuzz.com

2 Responses to “Big Bend 50 Trail Run Updates”

on 26 Jan 2010 at 9:44 pm 1Greg Luffey

David,

I ran this in 2006 and they shuttled us by school bus from Rio Grande Village Campground to the start. As people finished they shuttled them back to the staging area in vans. One flaw of this race is families aren’t allowed to drive to the finish. However, my family surprised me and made the drive in their truck to the finish. The short out and back is to make the course 50K I would guess. This is a beautiful race. See you on the trail. -Greg

on 27 Jan 2010 at 8:32 am 2David Hanenburg

Hey Greg – Interesting. No family/friends at the finish is kind of a bummer. Hopefully some of that will change.

Comparing the elevation profile with the map, a short out and back still doesn’t make sense. Maybe the elevation profile map for the 50 km is wrong. The elevation profiles for both the 25k and 50k look basically the same in the early miles. I would think, an out-and-back section for the 50 k would make them look a bit different due to the early grade changes.

We shall see…