Wild Hare Trail Race

The Wild Hare Trail Race runs on the mountain-bike trails of Bluff Creek Ranch, a privately owned ranch and adventure park outside Warda, between Austin and Houston. The course is a 7.8-mile loop: the 50K covers it four times, and the 50 mile opens with a modified first lap of about eleven miles before repeating the full loop five more times. Everything finishes at the big barn, and the field camps out around it.

Every distance runs on one Saturday in mid-November. The 50 mile starts at 6:30 a.m. and the 50K at 7:30, both closing when the course does at 9:30 p.m., which gives the 50 mile fifteen hours and the 50K fourteen. A 25K and a 10K start behind them. The loops and the flat, fast ground make it a race people come to for a first ultra or a fast one.

A 7.8-mile loop on the mountain-bike trail network at Bluff Creek Ranch, run four times by the 50K. The 50 mile takes a modified opening lap of about eleven miles and then five full loops. Aid is at the Barn start-finish and at a Midway station on each lap, so runners cross the timing mat every loop. The organiser publishes no elevation figure for the course: the profile on its race page is captioned as an old one, kept to show the lay of the land rather than this year's course.

Entry is first-come sign-up on RunSignUp, with no lottery, no qualifying standard and no published field cap or closing date. The 50 mile is $125 and the 50K $115. Bluff Creek Ranch charges a $10 park entrance fee per person, collected in cash on site on race day.