Saturday, September 12, 2020 • San Jose, CA • Course Map
Note: The 2020 race has been cancelled.
Spanning some 9,500 acres near the base of Mount Hamilton just to the east of downtown San Jose, Joseph D. Grant Park is one of the largest public parks in the Santa Clara County area, with more than 50 miles of trails that runners will use at the Trail Hog Half Marathon, 10K & 5K, which makes its 9th annual running this year as summer is giving way to fall.
The race is part of a series of more than a dozen trail races staged around the San Jose and San Francisco area by Brazen Racing, a locally-based race management company that also hosts San Leandro’s Summer Breeze Half Marathon in August as well as the Drag-N-Fly Trail Half Marathon in nearby Antioch in September, all of which culminate in a half marathon championship race that takes place in the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness near San Ramon in late October.
Runners at the Trail Hog races — whose name is inspired by the park’s abundant wildlife, which includes wild pigs as well as tarantulas that mate in the late summer and early fall — follow an out-and-back course for the half marathon that starts and finishes near the parking area just off Mount Hamilton Road, named for the nearby 4,100-ft.-high mountain that looks out over Silicon Valley.
From there, the course heads out on the looping trails that branch out south from the parking area, taking runners along trails with names like the Dutch Flat Trail, Dairy Trail, Brush Trail, Eagle Trail, Felipe Trail, Barn Trail, Hotel Trail, the Bass Lake Trail and the Canada de Pala Trail, which merges back in with the San Felipe Trail as runners are making their way north along the last couple of miles of the half marathon route.
Along the way, the course offers gorgeous scenery, from the hilltop meadows filled with grasslands and dotted by oak trees that tower over the landscape, as well as wildflowers along the trails.
Runners will be trekking across trails used by hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders, so expect plenty of loose rocks and dirt, sticks, and plenty of hills — between the low point of about 1,440 feet in the first mile to the race’s peak elevation of just over 1,970 feet between miles 2 and 3, there are definitely some very challenging hills on these trails.
The race is open to runners as well as walkers and hikers, and participants should plan to bring their own water bottles with them out on the course.
Race Weather & Climate
Located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, San Jose typically sees very dry and warm weather in September, which has brought record temperatures here as low as 42°F (in 1950) and as high as 104°F (in 1971).
On race day (Sept. 12), the average low is 56ºF and the average high is 82ºF.
Past Results
- 2019 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2018 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2017 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2016 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2015 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2014 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2013 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2012 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
- 2011 Trail Hog Half Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Trail Hog Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
- 7:30 AM – hikers’ start
- 8:00 AM – half marathon
- 8:15 AM – 10K
- 8:30 AM – 5K
Fees
- $76 – $91 for the half marathon
- $57 – $72 for the 10K
- $51 – $66 for the 5K
- runners may save $5 on registration by skipping the t-shirt
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2020 running of San Jose’s Trail Hog Half Marathon, 10K or 5K race, register online at RaceRoster.com here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
Ever run in the Trail Hog Half Marathon? Share your impressions here, or post your review in the Comments below.
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