Santa Cruz Island Eco Extreme Half Marathon

Santa Cruz Island Eco Extreme Half Marathon is held out of Ventura, California, on October 24, 2026. A single trail half marathon is offered, 13.1 miles, and it starts early at 6:00 a.m. The race takes its name from Santa Cruz Island, off the Southern California coast, and the event is run as a trail event rather than a road half.

Treat this as a trail race and your expectations will be in the right place: finishing times on trail run well behind road times for the same distance, and effort, not pace, is the number to run by. Build toward it with long runs on unpaved ground, practice walking steep sections efficiently, and carry your own fluids so you are not dependent on aid spacing. If you have run road halves and want a harder version of the distance, this is the kind of step up that teaches you something.