Trail Running Festival Desert Rats by UTMB®

Far from Europe’s forests and snowy peaks, trail running here takes on a Western vibe 🤠. Based in Fruita, a small town in southern Colorado, USA, the Desert RATS Trail Running Festival by UTMB transforms the American high desert into a gigantic playground every April. Its name already hints at the atmosphere: “RATS” for Race Across The Sand, in other words the sand-crossing race 🐀. Three days of celebration, four distances, and a spot on the UTMB World Series calendar make it more than just a competition: a real tribe weekend in the North American heartland 🌎. Experienced runners and whole families descend into the valley to experience the event from start to finish.

Four events take turns over the weekend, from the sand sprint to the desert’s big eight. The “100 km” and its 2 050 mD+ take the spotlight, reserved for ultra runners ready to string together mesas and cliff edges for long hours 🥵. Completing it in under 20 hours even earns a coveted ultra badge. The “50 km” (48 km) in long trail and the 1 050 mD+) in long trail and the 21 km (700 mD+) in short trail offer more digestible formats, while the “10 km” (9 km, 200 mD+) in discovery trail welcomes newcomers 👟. The longer distances start on Saturday, the shorter on Sunday, and a free kids’ race completes the lineup so no one is left on the sidelines 👶. On the prize side, the “100 km” brings 3 Running Stones, the “50 km” two, the “21 km” one, all good for the UTMB final lottery 🪨.

The setting is worth a visit 🏜. Fruita rules as the Monotrail valley paradise, and its winding singletracks, usually stormed by mountain bikers, translate perfectly to running. The courses thread a singletrack that is fluid and playful on the red rock, climb to the tops of mesas, and skim the edge of the cliffs, the Colorado River winding far below 😬. In places you’re essentially running along the edge of a drop, between slickrock, ochre buttes, and vast wild stretches of the Colorado Plateau. The terrain alternates between technical sections and long rolling stretches, with few trees to shade you, under a relentless sun ☀️. Pure desert spirit, with the spectacular Colorado National Monument and its sandstone canyons 🧱.

The adventure, however, is far from new. Born more than twenty years ago by organizer Gemini Adventures, the event already drew the local community long before the era of global bibs, back when the Race Across The Sand stretched over multiple days of stages in the desert. In 2023, the Desert RATS joined the UTMB World Series and moved to another dimension 📈. Better yet: the race takes on a double badge, both a qualifier for the iconic Western States and a provider of Running Stones toward the final UTMB at Mont-Blanc 🎟.

Beyond performance, the Desert RATS is lived as a grand festival 🏕. Three days of racing, a basecamp that never sleeps, a kids’ race, and activities for the whole family give the event the feel of a desert festival more than a simple timer. The charity bibs, worn by the IRONMAN Foundation, donate half of their price to a local association and fund trail maintenance, a charitable effort dear to the organization 🤝. A keen runner also contends with a capricious climate: hot, dry days, cool nights, and a plateaus’ wind that rises without warning 🌬. Still, the signature moments remain, those sunsets that set the red rocks ablaze and firmly stamp the runner, no matter how spent 🌅.

To unwind, panorama lovers head to the Rim Rock Drive, a winding road through the Colorado National Monument that overlooks the canyons, or hop on a bike on the nearby trails 🚲. Nearby, Grand Junction and the orchards of Palisade reward hungry appetites with juicy peaches and plateau wines 🍑.

Red dust in your shoes and sun in your eyes, the Desert RATS remind us that a desert rat is fast, climbs hard, and bites hard 🐀.