Six laps of the 16.7 mile main loop, starting at 6 AM on the Saturday and finishing whenever you get there before the line closes at 2 PM on Sunday. Finish inside 32 hours and you have a Western States lottery ticket. Aid comes round every three to six miles, and every lap brings you back through Elm Lake, where your own gear, your people and the food trucks are.
Flat and fast. The course is 99.9% flat and the only hill is a ten foot rise over a tenth of a mile. Underfoot it moves from hard crushed rock to soft hiking trail under tree canopy to smooth horse trail, wide and with good footing. Most runners choose a road shoe when it is dry; some sections turn muddy when it is wet, and the race avoids the parts of the park known to get too messy. December in this part of Texas is usually between 40 and 70 degrees. Brazos Bend State Park is known for its birds and its American alligators, and there has never been an incident with one in the park's fifty year history.
Brazos Bend 100 is run in a state park an hour south-west of Houston, on laps of a flat 16.7 mile loop past lakes full of alligators and under live oaks hung with Spanish moss. Four distances share one start line and one 2 PM Sunday finish: the 100 mile, the 100 kilometre, a marathon and a half marathon. The 100 mile is a Western States Endurance Run qualifier at 32 hours, and it is the biggest trail race in Texas. Aid comes round every three to six miles, and between loops runners come back through Elm Lake Pavilion, where families and clubs put up canopies for the weekend.
The race is run by Trail Racing Over Texas, the Needville-based company Cal and Rachel Neff built out of the first unofficial TROT event in 2013. There are two Brazos Bend weekends now: 50 kilometre and 50 mile distances in April, and the 100 mile and 100 kilometre in December. Finishing one of each in the same calendar year earns the Brazos Bend Challenge Coin.
| Mile | Station | Cutoff | Crew access | Bag | Pacer | Med | To next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | Elm Lake | ? | ● | ● | ● | ? | 3.10 |
| 3.10 | 40 Acre | ? | ● | · | ● | ? | 2.80 |
| 5.90 | Nature Center | ? | ● | · | ● | ? | 0.60 |
| 6.50 | Big Creek | ? | ? | · | ? | ? | 2.50 |
| 9.00 | Big Creek | ? | ? | · | ? | ? | 3.30 |
| 12.30 | Sawmill | ? | ● | · | ● | ? | 3.20 |
| 15.50 | Big Creek | ? | ? | · | ? | ? | 0.80 |
| 16.30 | Nature Center | ? | ● | · | ? | ? | 0.40 |
| 16.70 | Elm Lake | 2:00pm | ● | ● | ? | ? | ? |
Parking. 40 Acre Lot: left after entry, 3.2 mi from Elm Lake. Near restrooms, crew access, shuttle pickup. About a 2 mi walk to Elm Lake.
Parking. Nature Center: the main event car park, half a mile from Elm Lake on the trail.
10 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.
+ 2 more.
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