The Brazos Bend 100 (BB100) 2026 is a late-year annual event that qualifies for the prestigious the Western States 100 and in the past, the UTMB World Series as well. The sellout event offers 4-course options to 900 lucky registrants: 100-mile, 100k, 26.2-mile marathon, and 13.1-mile half-marathon. What makes this event truly distinctive, however, isn’t just the terrain—it’s the wildlife. Sharing the trail with the park’s resident American Alligators adds a touch of exhilarating wilderness to the race. The event is produced by Trail Racing Over Texas and is considered one of the Best Trail Running Events in the South Central region.

The flat BB100 course through Brazos Bend State Park has a variety of terrain, between hard crushed rock, soft trails under the canopy, and horse trails. Only one hill is 10 feet, so it moves fast, and the three longest races are UTMB qualifiers. This year, the course has been optimized with a new connection from Elm Lake to the Nature Center, minimizing two-way traffic and road crossings, enhancing safety, and ensuring a more accurate race distance. Given the time of year, participants are invited to wear holiday costumes, and the top 3 best costumes receive comped entry to any future solo race on the schedule.

As dawn breaks on Saturday, the Brazos Bend 100-mile contenders will toe the line at 6:00 AM, embarking on a journey of 6 loops, each spanning 16.7 miles, through varied landscapes. Runners of the 100-kilometer race, starting at 6:45 AM, will tackle a 5-mile loop followed by four 14.2-mile loops, bypassing the Hale Lake segment that the 100-milers face. Marathoners and half-marathoners, with their races kicking off on Sunday, will navigate a 13.1-mile loop that focuses on the picturesque settings of 40 Acre Lake and Sawmill without venturing into Horseshoe Lake or Hale Lake territory.

Four fully stocked aid stations, strategically placed throughout the course, offer everything from hydration to energizing eats and medical supplies—self-sufficiency in hydration is a must, though, as there are no cups provided. The aid stations serve as oases of support, spaced roughly every 3 to 6 miles apart, depending on your chosen race distance.

Pacers are allowed for the longest races and can begin after 50% of the course has been completed for those aiming to complete the 100 miles, buckles await, while medals will be the reward for a half marathon and marathon finishers. And for every runner at Brazos Bend 100 (BB 100), the race against the clock is paramount, with the final cutoff for all races on Sunday at 3:00 PM—33 hours for the 100-mile, 32 hours and 15 minutes for the 100k, 8 hours for the marathon, and 7 hours and 15 minutes for the half marathon.