I’ve seen some posts over time regarding Ragnar trail races and thought I’d give an overview of my experience! My team and I just finished the Ragnar Trail relay race outside of Zion National Park this past weekend. This was my first Ragnar. Warning: this post is going to be very long.
Basic Race Overview: Ragnar trails are relay races in which a team of 8 (or 4, if you want to do double the amount of loops with half the time of breaks in between) runs from a central campsite through a series of loops. After start, one runner is always out on the course until everyone has done all of their loops.
For Ragnar Zion, we each ran 15 miles (for a team total of 120 miles). Each one of us had to run three loops: - Green Loop: 4 miles, ~300 ft gain - Yellow Loop: 4 miles, ~650 ft gain - Red Loop: 7 miles, ~ 950 ft gain
Each loop begins from same location which is close to the campsite.
Preparation : Full disclosure, I was not team captain so I don’t have specific logistics of the sign up process. 8 of us signed up January. We had members from 3 different states and 1 from Canada. Some of us were avid runners, others ran a few 5ks before the race. I am a frequent runner and was running 15-20 miles per week mostly on trails. I didn’t do any specific training plan, but I never have even when prepping for a half marathon, etc. I don’t consider myself very competitive and all of us really just wanted to finish and have fun.
Getting there/setting up: for this race Ragnar rented out Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. The race begins on Friday morning, but the campsite opened at noon Thursday. Our car got there around 4:30pm Thursday which I’m very thankful for: there were very few campsites left in the trees. There was also a “field” area without shade coverage at the ranch but we wanted the more authentic camping experience in the trees.
You dropped your stuff off and were able to load it into a carriage of sorts (meant for horses) to pull up to your campsite while the driver took the car to the parking lot and took a shuttle back. I will say this process was EXTREMELY streamlined and easy, which was a definite theme the entire time during this race.
I should note there was also a “glamping” option in which there was already tents set up for you with electricity, etc. but our group didn’t go for that as most of us were very happy to be camping.
The Resort: Zion Ponderosa Ranch was beautiful and extremely well maintained. There was a pool and a hottub available for use and neither were ever very crowded. There was a couple actual restroom facilities that were extremely well maintained, both near each area to camp. Showers were in the same buildings and warm and free. It was advertised that there was rock climbing but nobody appeared to be doing it all weekend.
There were a multitude of food options; we tried the Mexican food truck and it was legitimately the worst Mexican food I’ve had in my life, but had burgers that were being grilled outside and they were decent. My friends had the pizza inside the lodge once and it took forever to get to them but it was also good. Beer was available from the lodge and also they had a brewery with a stand with draught beer that was awesome, but I forget the name.
The Expo: Tons of awesomeness here! Lots of free swag including nutrition, insole demos, physical therapy assessments and free taping, massages, chirp wheels, hot water and coffee, s’mores…live music, movies. The village was small but definitely effective. There wasn’t campfires allowed in campgrounds however there were bonfires scattered around the resort. Unfortunately no show demos this race though I’ve heard at others there are. Also a store selling Ragnar swag and Zion stuff available to purchase at the lodge.
Race Logistics: And now to the good stuff!! In order to get an accurate estimate of time, the team submitted our 10k road race paces. We ranged from 7:00 to 11:30 miles, most of us clustered around 10:00. Ragnar calculates that pace, bumped up due to trail conditions, to give you a start time for runner #1 and about when each consecutive runner will start. I will say we ended an hour and 45 minutes early so we had to actively estimate when to be ready ourselves! We started at 10:30 AM but the slowest teams started around 6:30 AM I believe and the fastest at 5:00 PM!
When your team’s current runner is a quarter mile from the end of the loop, your team name will be displayed on a screen near the start line to alert you to send your next runner to the transition tent to exchange the bib and belt. This was a very streamlined process also.
The Course: The course was made up of 3 loops. I was assigned as runner #6 of 8, because I wanted to do red-yellow-green. All three loops zigzagged through rocks, sand, and dirt with a couple road crossings. No water crossings. Mostly rocky not a lot of roots, but some. EXTREMELY well marked even in the dark. The trails never felt congested though you always saw other runners. Single tracks in spots, dirt roads in others. Everyone was extremely polite and encouraging. There were photographers posted during the daytime in spots.

• Green Loop: 4 miles, ~300 ft gain. I ran this one last at 9:30 AM. Finished 47:17 for a 11:54mi average pace. Grassy and very nice rolling hills! This was my second favorite loop but I was very tired by then.
  
• Yellow Loop: 4 miles, ~650 ft gain. I ran this one at 11:30PM, and I was the lucky runner who got poured on. Finished 56:55 for a 14:20mi average pace. I was tired and cold so I walked a lot in the dark. This route was very sandy and very very steep in sections but once over the major hill was extremely fun. It was cool to see headlamps in the distance on the red loop too. My teammates said it has nice views!
  
• Red Loop: 7 miles, ~ 950 ft gain. I ran this one first at 3:30PM. Finished 1:27:07 for a 12:05mi average pace. Man, I loved this loop. Hilly at first but once I got past that it was a trail runner’s paradise. Very cool sweeping views of Zion vistas as you run along a ridge. Fabulous.
  

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the scenery. It was pretty but mostly grass and light shrubbery with distance views of canyons. If you haven’t been to Zion, it did not even close to compare to what scenery is around. However I liked the routes themselves from a runner’s perspective, except yellow, but it was wet and sandy and steep AND dark.
The Finish Line: This part was cute. Most teams ducked into the course at the last moment to finish with their last runner. The medals they gave were wooden plaques and pretty cool, and the backs of them lined up together among your team to say “120 ish miles together, a relay good time”. We also got cotton tshirts included that had a cool Ragnar Zion graphic. A bit bummed we didn’t get athletic shirts as my captain had said she got at a different race before. I was able to exchange my small shirt for a larger one.
Overall Impression: I mean, I LOVED doing this. The vibes were absolutely immaculate; it was truly an all-ages, all-sobrieties, all-abilities type event. The grounds were kept extremely clean and everyone was respectful at camp, and super friendly out on trail. It truly was a well oiled machine, you can tell Ragnar has the experience to put on this type of event successfully. It was exhausting and exhilarating. The only cons were how cold it was, particularly at night (around 40 degrees) and I wish the scenery reflected the beauty of the area a bit more. I would 10/10 do another Ragnar Trail, but I don’t think I’d do this one again (generally not a repeat course runner though).
If you read all that hopefully you got some good information! Feel free to ask any questions!

I think this is either a free 3d model available for download o a website or it is made by some artist. Can anyone help me find where it is from? It would be a really great help! Thanks in advance!