Xterra Boney Mt. Half Marathon – Race Review – by Coach Steve Mackel

I’ll let the video do the talking but I love this race. In fact, I think it may be the premier trail half marathon in Southern California. Located in Newbury Park, these trails offer challenging climbs, steep decents and beautiful views. It has some technical parts but most of the trail is straight forward.

It starts out in the base of the parking lots with bathrooms. Once you get running you go about a 1/2 mile until you hit “Concrete Hill” which is straight down for 3/4 of a mile. From there it is a single track until mile 5. At the water station you open up onto a fire road down to the ranch. It flattens out here. There are porta-potties and an aid station.

After taking gel head up toward Boney Mt. The next 4 miles are straight up at a gain of about 500 feet per mile. At mile 10 you reach the top and you hit a fast down hill section. At mile 11.5 there is one more real hill with an aid station at the top. Then it’s back home.

The trails are on National Park Service land and the race is managed by Generic Events. This race, as with most the Xterra races brings out strong runners and people who love the trails. This was my second year running this race, plus I did the preview training run two-weeks before. I can’t recommend this race enough but be warned, It Is Tough.

Put this race on your schedule for 2014. Below are my Garmin stats. When reviewing my stats, please remember I ran the New Year’s Night Half Marathon the night before so I kinda fell apart around mile 9.

Train Focused, Steve Mackel – Founder MarathonTraining.TV

January 23, 2013 | Filed Under Trail Runs 

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