Written by Jeff Lisson, the original CDTR race director.

I started the Crazy Desert Trail Race in 2012. I wanted to give back to the trail-running community; provide a high-quality, runner-focused event in West Texas; and raise money for charity.

Over the five years I directed the CDTR, we grew from 130 finishers to nearly 300 in all events in 2016 (50k, marathon, half marathon, and 10k). We hosted runners from across Texas, more than a dozen states, and two foreign countries. We raised thousands of dollars for the Concho Valley Community Action Agency, and exposed hundreds to the beauty of the San Angelo State Park. We also developed innovations that now are standard in races across the country, including free race photos and cupless water stations.

A race of the size and complexity of the CDTR takes a lot of work. Adam and Marie Parker were invaluable as assistant race directors. We had consistent volunteers from the Texas State Guard, San Angelo Bicycle Association, Goodfellow Air Force Base, and Texas Challenge Academy.

As much as I enjoyed putting on the race, after five years, the burden was too much, and I gave the race to Rob Goyen of Trail Racing Over Texas. Rob puts on great races, but it’s his business, and a remote race like ours just couldn’t attract enough people to make it economically viable as a profit-making enterprise. So, Rob gave the Crazy Desert to the San Angelo Road Lizards. Dennis Hall has taken over as race director.

During my five years, we only had one injury that required a runner to be evacuated by ATV. We had years with mud, cold, and blazing fast times (Todd Euston of Austin ran the 50k in 3:56:43). We had longhorns eat our course markings. And one year, an entire squad of runners in the 10k missed a turn, finished in about 18 minutes, and thought they’d won. But in the end, we had a lot of happy trail runners, many of whom I hope will be back in 2021. 

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After Jeff wrote this in 2021, we reached our participant cap of 200 runners at the 2021 race and 300 in the 2022 race, and a huge 422 in 2023! We're looking forward to the future years and seeing many miles from happy runners!