Leg 1 of 7 · All legs

Trail Run

Leg 1 of 7. Your team's day starts with you. Run the marked trail course, stay on the tread, and hand the timing bracelet to your mountain biker. Route plate and distance: /events/durango/maps.

Venue names are the 2025 locations, expected again. 2027 locations are confirmed after permits. Exchanges

Bracelet

Timing bracelet. You carry it from the start and hand it on at the exchange. Only the athlete racing wears it.

The hand-off

You finish at Santa Rita Whitewater Park and hand the timing bracelet to your mountain biker, who starts the Mountain Bike leg. Your mountain biker is at the exchange, ready, before you arrive. The race does not move athletes between exchanges. Only the two of you and race officials go in the hand-off box. Wingmates and friends cheer from outside it. The bracelet changes hands only inside the marked exchange, across the timing line, or in front of an official. Exchange locations and parking: /events/durango/exchanges.

Full vs Sprint

The Full and the Sprint each have their own trail route. The hand-off works the same way on both. See both route plates on /events/durango/maps.

Minimum age

12 on race day. Provisional: these ages are under review by our counsel and insurer; if they change, every registered captain will be told directly. Any team with an athlete under 18 must have a captain who is 18 or over, and each athlete under 18 needs guardian consent and a named supervising adult present for their leg.

What to bring

  • Bib, worn where it can be seen.
  • Timing bracelet, worn by you for the whole leg.
  • Lighting and reflective gear: rule to be published.

Leg rules

  • Trail passing: the overtaking athlete calls, the overtaken athlete yields at the first safe point. Neither leaves the marked tread to pass.
  • Stay on the marked route. No cutting switchbacks. It damages the trail systems the event depends on and is also a course-integrity violation.
  • No devices covering both ears at any road crossing. Bone-conduction and single-ear devices are fine everywhere.
  • Pass every checkpoint and timing point on your leg.

Rules on every leg

  • Stay on the marked course. No shortcuts and no cutting corners, including when passing. (VLK-05.01)
  • Help anyone in danger. Athletes must assist, or summon assistance for, any person in danger on the course. Time lost giving genuine assistance is credited on application to the Race Director. (VLK-05.04)
  • Audio. Devices covering both ears are prohibited on the Road Cycling and Road Run legs and at every road crossing. Bone-conduction and single-ear devices are permitted everywhere. (VLK-05.07)
  • Ride right, pass left. On any shared or open-road segment, travel on the right and move left only to complete a pass. (VLK-05.08)
  • Centreline. On open-road segments, athletes may not cross the centreline. Details by segment are in the Athlete Guide. (VLK-05.09)
  • Outside help, one rule for all seven legs. Help from anyone not on your roster, like food, drink, gear or moving your equipment, is allowed only inside a published support zone. Mechanical help (a pump, a tool, a spare part, a hand with a repair) can come from anyone, anywhere it is safe and does not block the course. No pacing. No towing, pushing or drafting behind a non-competing vehicle, rider or craft. Help from an official or safety staff is always allowed and is recorded. (VLK-05.10)
  • Report a withdrawal. If you stop, report it to an official, at a transition, or to Race Command. An unreported withdrawal starts a missing-athlete response and is a violation. (VLK-22.04)
  • Carry your mandatory gear for your whole leg. Broken mandatory gear must be replaced before you go beyond the next transition. (VLK-24.01, VLK-24.02)

Penalties. Penalties are a documented warning, a 15-minute time penalty added to official time, or disqualification (VLK-25.04). The graded outcomes run warning, then 15 minutes, then Unranked, then disqualification, and each rule's repeat consequence is set in the penalty table. Some breaks are an immediate stop and disqualification, including no PFD, no helmet, a missed water check-in, dangerous road conduct or refusing an official (PEN-12). Deliberate course-cutting is a disqualification (PEN-08). A Wingmate or vehicle violation counts against the team (PEN-14). Time penalties are shown separately in results (VLK-16.07), and Race Command may stop any participant immediately for safety (VLK-25.02). The values are reviewed with counsel before the rule freeze, and any change goes out as a bulletin. The full penalty table is in the Race Bible at /rules.

Cutoffs. Cutoffs come from the moment an authority takes the course back, such as a road reopening or a venue closing, minus a clearance buffer for the sweep. They are never set from a guess at athlete pace (VLK-22.01). If an athlete has not reached the exchange by the hard cutoff, they stop and follow the sweep. The next leg starts under a cutoff override and, where the team can still safely complete the remaining legs, it continues as Unranked: recorded as a finisher, listed below the ranked teams, and not eligible for awards (VLK-22.02, VLK-23.02). Officials can also release a leg early for safety, venue or permit reasons. That is a safety override: no penalty, and the team stays ranked (VLK-23.02). An override start is not a penalty and is not protestable (VLK-23.04). Cutoff and override times are published later, with the course hours.

The full rules: the Race Bible.

Published later

Coming before race day, and emailed to every captain: course hours, cutoffs, exchange maps and diagrams, race briefing, course conditions, lighting and reflective gear rule.