Labor Day Trail Challenge 50-Mile • 50K • Marathon • Half Marathon & Ruck • 8-Hour • Last Runner Standing

 McKinney Roughs Nature Park, Cedar Creek TX

8-HOUR RELAY · HALF MARATHON & RUCK · MARATHON · 50K · 50-MILE 

GAUNTLET: LAST RUNNER STANDING

 

TRAILS

Single-Track & Fire Roads

ECOSYSTEMS

4 Unique Biomes

SETTING

Colorado River

Trade the bullpen for the box canyons. Return of the Bull

You’ve been penned up all year. It’s time to break the fences. Kick off your Labor Day weekend with an unforgettable trail running experience at McKinney Roughs Nature Park, a stunning 1,140-acre preserve just 13 miles east of Austin along the Colorado River. Choose from seven events that wind through the park's rolling box canyons, wildflower meadows, and towering loblolly pine forests.

This is Central Texas trail running at its finest. You'll traverse four distinct ecosystems. Post Oak Savannah, Blackland Prairie, East Texas Piney Woods, and a lush riparian corridor, all in a single race. Expect technical single-track, scenic river overlooks, and the kind of terrain that makes every mile an adventure.

 

THE RIO COLORADO 250

The river you run above on Saturday is the one the series is named for.

Two hundred fifty kilometers with Fit Foundation in a calendar year earns the Rio Colorado 250 buckle. Not instead of your race hardware. On top of it. Every kilometer counts, including the ones you cover in the timed events.

That last part matters. The 8-Hour Solo doesn't credit you a fixed distance. It credits you what you actually walk, run, and grind out between seven in the morning and three in the afternoon. Some of you will put more on the board in one day than a 50K would give you.

Here is the calendar. Autumn Harvest on October 10. Fields of Gold on October 24. The Colorado River Run on November 27. Star of Texas on December 13.

Four events in nine weeks. September is the last quiet place to start.

The count begins at McKinney Roughs.

Return of the Bull marks the second chapter of the Rodeo Trail Run Series, following the inaugural Austin's Rodeo Trail Run at Grelle Recreation Area. All half-marathon, marathon, and 50K finishers receive a custom rodeo-style belt buckle and event shirt, the signature swag of the series.

Unleash the grit. Master the Roughs. Run Free.

Choose Your Distance

 
   

Beat September.
Own October.

Labor Day weekend is summer taking its last swing at Texas, and this is the stop where you swing back. One 2 mile loop, all race. From the 10 AM bell you run it once an hour. Twice from 6 PM. Three times from 2 AM. At 10 AM Sunday it locks there: three laps, 6 miles, on the hour, for as long as anyone keeps answering the bell.

The first eight hours are deliberately generous, and in September that is the whole idea. One lap an hour is walkable in the worst heat of the day, which means the field is still intact when the sun goes down and the race actually starts. Everyone gets to the interesting part. What happens after that is up to you.

Heat is the one variable an entire field feels at the same time, so nobody out here is having an easier day than you are. The corral becomes shade tents and ice and crews trading tricks between bells, and a loop that felt like a fight at four in the afternoon turns into a different loop entirely once the sun drops. Run the hot hours patiently and the night belongs to you.

Runners heading for the season finale treat Labor Day as the proving ground. It is the last data point before Fields of Gold and the one that tells you the most about what you will have left in October. Everything Labor Day teaches you, you get about six weeks to act on.

Same loop every hour. One more lap of it every eight.

Hours Loop Pace On the clock Total 1 to 8 1 lap / 2.0 mi 30:00 10 AM to 6 PM 16 mi 9 to 16 2 laps / 4.0 mi 15:00 6 PM to 2 AM 48 mi 17 to 24 3 laps / 6.0 mi 10:00 2 AM to 10 AM 96 mi 25+ 3 laps / 6.0 mi 10:00 10 AM Sun onward +6 every hour Eight hours of one lap an hour is the most recovery time you will ever get in a Gauntlet. Walk it, eat properly, stay ahead on fluids, and arrive at hour 9 with something in the tank instead of a heat debt. The step to two laps comes at 6 PM, with dark arriving a couple of bells later. That is the block where the race sorts itself, and it rewards whoever was most disciplined during the heat. Ice, fluids, salt and a chair in the shade have to be ready before you get to the corral, not assembled while you stand over them. Whatever you save in the hour is yours to rest with.

One stop left after this one. Everything Labor Day teaches you, Fields of Gold gives you the chance to spend.

Enter The Gauntlet →

Course Highlights

Lost Pines Forest Run through towering loblolly pines and eastern red cedars, an isolated pocket of East Texas ecology   River Overlooks Scenic bluff-top views of the Colorado River from the Ridge and Bluff Overlook trails   Rolling Elevation Up to 469 ft of elevation gain on technical single-track through box canyons and ridgelines   Aid Stations Fully stocked with water, electrolytes, snacks, and encouragement. Our main aid station at the start/finish hub is fully stocked with hot food, fruit, pickle juice, cold drinks, and more. This is your primary fueling point each loop. On-course aid stations provide water and light supplies to keep you moving between loops. Plan to refuel at the hub each time you come through.   Wildlife Corridor Four ecosystems converge here, home to 250+ bird species and diverse Central Texas wildlife   Rodeo Series Buckle Every half-marathon, marathon, and 50K finisher earns a custom rodeo-style belt buckle from the Rodeo Trail Run Series

WHAT EVERY FINISHER TAKES HOME

Rodeo Series Buckle

Custom belt buckle, signature of the Rodeo Trail Run Series. Every half-marathon, marathon, 50K & 50 miles finisher.

Event T-Shirt

with rodeo series branding

Finisher Medal

Custom design for all finishers

Awards

Overall Winners

Plaque award for top finisher in each distance event

  FINISHER RODEO TRAIL RUN SERIES

All Finishers

Every half-marathon, marathon, and 50K runner who crosses the finish line within cutoff earns a Rodeo Trail Run Series buckle. Medals for other distances.

 

Race Details

    Day Labor Day Weekend (Saturday) Start Time 7:15 AM for ultra distances and 8-Hour; 8:00 AM Half-Marathon & Ruck; Last Runner Standing 10:00 AM Location McKinney Roughs Nature Park Address 1884 State Hwy 71 West, Cedar Creek, TX 78612 Surface Dirt / Single-Track Trail Chip Timed Yes Stroller Friendly No (Trail course)

Rucking is covering ground with a loaded pack. Same course as the half marathon, same start, same finish line, same cutoff. The only difference is what you are carrying and who you are racing.

Ruckers are scored as their own division with their own results and their own awards. You are not competing against the runners and they are not competing against you.

• Weigh in before the start. Bring your pack to the start area at least 30 minutes before your wave. We weigh it, we tag it, you go.
• Water does not count. Your hydration, food, phone and layers are on top of the minimum. The weight is dry weight.
• Any weight is fine. Ruck plates, bricks, sand, books, dumbbells. It has to be secure and it has to stay in the pack for the whole course.
• You finish with what you started with. Weight is checked again at the finish. Anything under the minimum moves you out of the ruck division.
• Carry it yourself. No handing your pack off, no dragging, no wheels.
• Run, walk, or anything between. There is no rule about how you move, only about what you carry.
• Rucking counts toward your Run the River mileage exactly the same as running. Thirteen point one miles is thirteen point one miles.

A loaded pack on a trail is harder than the same distance on your feet, and most people go out too quick. A few things that help:

• Train with the weight before race day. Even two or three loaded walks makes a difference to your shoulders.
• Get the load high and tight against your back. Weight that sits low and swings will wreck you by mile six.
• Wear the socks and shoes you have already tested. Rucking changes how your feet hit the ground.
• Pack the weight so it cannot shift. Movement inside the pack is the most common reason people stop.