Running. Road & Trails. Short & long.
South Australia is an awesome place to go for a run. With a shit tonne of different clubs, organisations and events. If you’re in town looking to go for a run, here’s some to choose from.
ROad running.
Your best bet for road runs is, not surprisingly, the SA Road Runners club. They have a full calendar of events ranging from 5s and 10s through to half and full marathons and, a bit weirdly, a trail ultra.
The state’s biggest run is the City-Bay Fun Run and usually gets 20,000 people or so. A great run with a 3km, 6km and 12km option. And sometimes a half marathon option. They all finish down at Glenelg Beach.
If you’re looking for a nice little 5km on a Saturday morning, parkrun is your thing and you can find the South Australian runs at the website. At last count there were more than 30 parkruns here, and if you’re looking for the most adventurous, it’s probably Cleland because it’s on trails, our steepest parkrun, and has nice views of the city.
TRAIL RUNNING.
Trail Running SA is probably where you want to start. They not only have their own calendar of events, but usually list most other trail events going on as well. Plus, they’re an actual not for profit club rather than a private organisation. Their winter races usually have a ‘short’ distance of 8 to 10kms with the longer courses around 20 to 25kms. Their big ultra, Five Peaks, is 58kms.
Next up we’ve got Adelaide Trail Runners and they have a bunch of races and their main claim to fame is the Summer Series which is held over, ah, summer. It’s a series of five races in various places not too far away from Adelaide.
If you’re looking for a more adventurous, possibly ridiculous set of races, check out Ultra Series SA. They have some seriously messed up events including a 200miler and a 500k stage race and what. the actual. fuck.
OTHER EVENTS.
Kangaroo Island is a pretty awesome destination, and other than the Kingscote parkrun, Run Kangaroo Island have a half and full marathon, and starting in 2021, a 30 & 60km ultra.
Down south you’ll find the Great Southern Half Marathon around Aldinga beach and Aldinga Scrub, and the McLaren Vale Marathon in the famous wine region, put on by Great Southern Runs. (Hint: The Great Southern Half is an epic event! Definitely a must do!)
The Yurrebilla Ultra, put on by SA Road Runners, is one of SA’s premier trail events and has a 28km and 56km race along the Yurrebilla Trail from Belair to Athelstone.
For a mixture of events including road running, trail running, mountain bikes and even an adventure race in conjunction with Adventurethon, check out MMI Events based on the Murray River in Murray Bridge.
A few years ago, a Five50 series of races was introduced which included TRSA’s Five Peaks, SARRC’s Yurrebilla as well as the Tower Trail Run, The Heysen and The Federation Ultra, all of which are well worth checking out.
For something that’s about as remote as remote can get, the Kanku-Breakaways Marathon in the state’s far north, just outside of Coober Pedy, might be up your alley.
Conquer the Summit in Mt Barker and the Black Hill Challenge are other notable mentions.
