Great Springs Trail Race - San Marcos
Race: 10K, 13.1 miles
When: October 11, 2025
Where: Purgatory Creek Natural Area
2116 Hunter Rd, San Marcos, TX 78666
Closest cities: San Marcos, Kyle, Buda
Closest bigger cities: Austin, San Antonio
This is a trail party you won’t want to miss. Right in the heart of beautiful San Marcos, this race is a neighborhood race that feels like the middle of nowhere in the thick of the trail system. It’s an amazing course that will deliver single track trails, rolling hills, rocks, fast sections, and the Tejas Trails spirit.
This race is made possible by the great work of Great Springs Project. Don’t know what that is yet? Check out the link below or just come to the race and learn how the Edwards Aquifer under these trails is critical to sustainable clean water for our growing cities. We are incredibly proud to support their grandiose efforts, alongside the city of San Marcos via this trail race!
We are also extremely thankful to the San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance that carefully maintains the awesome trails of the Purgatory Creek Natural Area. Without their hard work, these beautiful trails in the heart of San Marcos would not be available to us. If you live anywhere near San Marcos, we encourage you to find a time to volunteer and help with their efforts.
Race Schedule
EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT THE RACE SITE
THURSDAY
Course Marking and Race Hub Setup: Sun up to sun down pretty much. Come out to help if you want to a course preview.
FRIDAY
5:30pm-7:00pm: Packet Pickup
6:30pm-7:00pm: Pre Race Briefing and Q&A w/ drinks and snacks provided by Tejas Trails (not mandatory)
SATURDAY
Packet Pickup 7:00am-8:15am: (for all Distances) at Lower Purgatory Trailhead
Start
8:00am: 13.1 mi Mass / Competitive Start
8:30am: 10 K Mass / Competitive Start
Final Cutoff: 1:00pm (course closed)
Aid Station Cutoffs: See Aid Station Chart below
Teardown: Saturday morning to afternoon (Yes, we always need help and you can earn free races!)
Course Information
RACE DISTANCES: 10K, 13.1 mi
ROUTE DETAILS:
The race features a gorgeous and well marked 13.1 mile loop. For those running the 10K you will turn around at the first aid station (Dreamers) and follow the course markings to the finish line. Once you hear the music and get back to the party at the Start/Finish line you are done!
The Purgatory Creek Natural Area has beautiful single track trails, wider speedy sections and some challenging rocky limestone sections. The route is designed to give you a taste of all of it. And for those who want to race hard at the end, it finishes with a slight downhill where you can close that gap.
Check out some cool videos and park info!
These beautiful trails would not be available to us without the hard work of the San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance. The SMGA is a group that works hard for the creation of interconnected parks and natural areas. You will get to see their handiwork first hand as you enjoy the trails. And this is our chance to help by making sure we the leave trails better than we found them.
Course Markings
We go above and beyond on our course markings, and have become known around the world for it. We will have orange Tejas Trails caution tape blocking off any open intersections; yellow arrows stapled to stakes, signposts, fences, and trees; and hundreds of confidence markers between. You never have to navigate or use a map.
Course markings are not color-coded per distance. When you get to an intersection where a shorter distance breaks off from the longer main loop, there will be signs with distances on them pointing the appropriate ways. Simply follow the signs with your distance on them. If you don’t see your distance, you just missed your turn. Don’t ever cross caution tape. It usually is required that we keep the caution tape on the ground, but it’s always obvious, and will act as a guardrail for you at open intersections.
Now of course, you can get off course… So if you’re new to trail running, you have to train your brain to keep looking up; and especially don’t trust the person in front of you. We have a special “Lemming Award” for those who blindly follow someone else off course and then get mad at us.
Aid Stations
We will provide a lot of aid station support for you.
There will be 3 on course aid stations plus one at the start/finish line. The Flow Aid Station is accessible to crew at the Upper Purgatory Trailhead. There is limited parking there and the course is on the dirt road. Please carpool and watch for runners.
All aid stations will have water and tailwind at minimum.
The main start/finish aid station + the on course aid station a little past the halfway mark will also have some other grab n go snacks, fruit, different types of drinks, and a few different various other sweet and salty goodies if you need more than a quick water refill.
Drop Bags
Drop bags are allowed at the Flow aid station which is accessible from the upper Purgatory Trailhead. There will be access points for spectators at mile 6.9 at the upper Purgatory Trailhead. Please do not leave any personal bags or belongings on the course.
Volunteering
We fully recognize we could not (and would not want to) put on any of these events without your help. Volunteers breathe life into these events. You make them personal for people. We no doubt need you and love this component to our business. So, know that we will always do everything we can afford to do to help you enjoy your time out there in the trenches helping those runners achieve their goals and dreams.
As a volunteer, you get:
Park entry fees and Camping fees paid for (if your role requires you to sleep at the park)
Food brought to you while you are volunteering
Shirt, hat, race swag, etc.
Loads of good memories
All the gear you need to successfully accomplish your task
Volunteer hours exchanged for future race entries
We can always use help, specifically for: course marking, packet pickup, aid stations, course sweeping, teardown, and more!
Swag & Stuff
Your race entry comes with a bunch of good stuff! You’ll get the comfort of our world-renowned course markings so you don’t have to worry about getting lost. You’ll get our notorious staff and volunteer support (and probably leave with new friends you met at an aid station or the finish line)! We will offer a plethora of aid station food and drink options, as well as finish line drinks. There will be a relaxing race hub area with backyard games and toys for kids to play with for your spectators, friends, and family. We also typically have a food truck at the finish line serving a variety of good food and drink options, including an accommodating menu of most food allergies and vegan options.
You can also expect awesome gear you’ll actually want to wear, and a truly unique medal that you’ll be proud to have. Those who sign up before the shirt cutoff (when we actually have to put the shirt order in) will receive a nice shirt. Sometimes long sleeve, short sleeve, sleeveless, tank top, or something else we find that’s cool and different from the year before. Those who register after that date will receive a cool non-size specific item, such as a hat, beanie, arm warmers, scarf, drink ware, or something else we find.
If you don’t like the swag item you received, you may swap your item after the final Packet Pickup is over (when we have ensured everyone got the item they signed up for). You can also purchase the other item(s) if you like all of them. This will all happen from the Tejas Trails merchandise tent when it’s onsite, and otherwise will be made available at the Packet Pickup Tent or the Finish Line Tent.
Please note, we don’t always get the shirt color we had planned these days, as things are goofy with shipping and fulfilling. If the shirt color changes, sometimes we have to change the design colors too. But you can count on a quality item.
Timing & DNF
Chip Timing
All races will be chip timed. Chips will be attached to an ankle strap, picked up on RACE MORNING ONLY at the event venue, and must be worn on your ankle during the race. Chips are likely to not work if worn anywhere other than your ankle.
Once you finish, we will have a bin for you to place your chip into. Our head timer will take care of it from there.
Please reference the “Start Options” section above for exact details of how we are utilizing “Gun Time” vs “Chip Time”.
Check Out
If you leave the race for any reason before completing the full race distance, you must turn in your timing chip. If we have your Chip, then we know you have left the course & we won't go looking for you all day & night.
DNF (Did Not Finish)
If you decide to not finish the distance you registered for, you may get a finisher medal to commemorate the miles you did finish if you completed a shorter race distance; but you will be a DNF in the results. You will not be in contention for awards for the shorter distance category.
Split Time Collection
Some races may have mid-point reads to help us track progress during the race. If you see a timing mat on the course, make sure you run over it.
Pacers
Pacers are not allowed for this event.
Overall Awards
We love celebrating our top finishers! However, we don’t have awards ceremonies at most of our events. But all the top finishers will receive some really great stuff!
We will have some fun, special, handmade overall awards to hand out when you cross the finish line. Volunteers will check results as you cross, but sometimes there’s a delay since our events are mostly remote. So, if you think you may be in contention for one, please ask before leaving.
Please note, we do not mail awards to anyone who leaves without their earned award. If there is any signal, you can also look up how you did on the results page (found in the pre-race email and at the top of this event webpage).
For this race, we award the Top 3 Overall + Top 1 Masters (50 & Older).
There are special awards handed out uniquely for the Tejas 250, Tejas 300, and Tejas 400.
For anyone who completes 500, 1000, 1500km or miles at the same event, we give away special fleeces for you to make others jealous with.
Families & Youth Run
Capacity for this event is very limited, so we won’t have our usual Youth One Mile Race. This is the only event we can’t do this at, so we hope to see your little ones at the next race!
Tejas Trails is for families! We have a few things going on to help everyone have fun on race weekend.
For you runners who are trying to figure out how to train and race while trying to be a good friend, partner, spouse, or grandparent.
For you family members and friends who are trying to support your runner, but get bored out of your minds trying to keep your young ones safe and busy.
Our goal is for the runner’s family and friends to have fun things to do, enjoy hanging out, exercise, play in the woods, and create great life-long memories together. Bottom line, we want families to grow closer together because of Tejas Trails events. So, we will provide things like family discounts, yard games, practically free youth races, and a family-friendly environment.
Getting Here
Everything happens at Purgatory Creek Natural Area with the race hub at the lower trailhead.
Parking
Parking at the lower trail head where the race starts will be non-existent. We will set aside a small space for a runner drop off and turn around.
The Hays County Election Office has generously offered the use of their parking lot, conveniently located near the Lower Purgatory Trailhead, where the race starts and finishes. Additionally, parking will be available down the street at Hernandez Elementary School. As the Hays Elections Office parking lot is likely to fill up, we encourage supporters who can drop you off and walk a bit to use the Hernandez Elementary School parking instead.
Hernandez Elementary Parking
Hays County Elections Office Parking
Camping & Lodging
There is not camping at this event. But the good news is that the race course is right in the middle of San Marcos, which has more than ample options.
History, Records & Registered Runners
Rain Out Plan
The vast majority of Tejas Trails races are ‘rain or shine’, but this event is an exception. It is in a sensitive natural area, and we have agreed with the City of San Marcos to not hold our event should we happen into a really wet weekend. If this happens, here’s what you can expect:
- We will communicate via email and on the FB event as soon as the city makes their call. This will be the city’s call and will be out of our control.
- We have a back up date of Oct. 21 if needed.
- If you can’t make Oct 21, we can’t offer a refund. So we recommend blocking that date off on your calendar.
Thank You To Our Amazing Sponsors & Partners
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