A trail runner on a grassy ridge above a sea of clouds

HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race

The HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race is a trail and ultra weekend held in Bandera, Texas, inside the Hill Country State Natural Area, with three distances: 100K, 50K and 25K. The 100K is a Western States 100 qualifier.

Prepare for HOKA Bandera

A plan built from your answers and your race date.

trail training plan

Bandera is run in Texas, west of San Antonio, inside the Hill Country State Natural Area. The terrain is pure Hill Country: dry hills, rocky singletrack, low thorny brush and very little shade. This is not high mountain running, but the abrasive ground chews up feet and demands attention on every footfall.

Three distances are offered: 100K, 50K and 25K. The race is a Western States 100 qualifier, and finishing the 100K under 18 hours earns entry into the Western States lottery. That status makes it one of the most closely watched dates on the winter ultra calendar.

The formats

3 formats on the program.

Format	Distance
100K	62 mi
50K	31 mi
25K	16 mi

Organizer information, checked on September 21, 2026 · tejastrails.com

When to start

At this distance, a build usually runs 12 to 24 weeks. The 2027 date is not published, so counting back from January puts the start around July 27, 2026.

These ranges are working conventions, not a research finding — no trial has compared plan lengths against each other. What matters more is that the plan was built for the weeks you actually have, rather than shrunk down from a longer one.

How to choose your start date

When to start

July 27, 2026

→ October 19, 2026

Worth reading before you enter

Races and distances Trail distances: what changes off the road Distance stops being the useful number. What decides a trail race is how long you are out, how much you climb, and how much the descents have wrecked your legs by the end. Read Training Eating and drinking: what’s proven, what isn’t This is where confident advice most often runs ahead of the evidence. Some of it is well tested. Some is opinion wearing a number. And one common habit can kill you. Read Races and distances When to start preparing your race Most plans fail before the first session, because the block started too late and everything had to be squeezed. Counting back from the date is the dullest and most useful thing you will do. Read

Questions

What is the date of HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race in 2027?

The organizer has not published the 2027 date for HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race yet. The race is usually held in January, in Bandera.

Is the Bandera 100K a Western States qualifier?

Yes. The HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Race is a Western States 100 qualifying event, and finishing the 100K in under 18 hours earns a place in the lottery for the California race.

What distances does Bandera offer?

Three distances are on the program: a 100K over 100 km, a 50K over 50 km and a 25K over 25 km. All of them run on the trails of the Hill Country State Natural Area in Texas.

Other races

This list keeps growing; it draws no line. A race that is missing is prepared for in exactly the same way.

Honolulu · United StatesUltra HURT 100 Jan 16 Its five-loop, 20-mile-per-lap format carries a famously high drop-out rate. Moab · United StatesUltra Moab 240 Endurance Run January 7 km ultramarathon with 9,620 m of vertical gain, run as one continuous loop out of Moab, Utah. It is par Mayer / Black Canyon City · United StatesUltra Black Canyon Ultras Feb 13 The 100K is a Golden Ticket race for the Western States 100. Your race is not here? Tell us about your race You can prepare for it all the same. Any race, anywhere, and even a goal without a race.

Your race is on the calendar. Your plan should be too.

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