About the Race

The famous Monkey Butt Hill is a steep hill with 100 feet of climbing in only 1/10 of a mile (20% grade) and is located only a tenth of a mile from the Juniper Point West trailhead on the Cross Timbers Hiking Trail. The hill allegedly got its name many years ago when a boy scout troop was out hiking the trail along the shoreline and after a long hike, as they were getting close to the trail, there was only the one big hill left to climb. One of the boy scouts exclaimed, "I would rather kiss a monkey's butt than climb that hill!"

This event originated from a 2021 fun spin we did on our annual Cross Timbers Trail Run! And that spin came up because back in 2017, the Race Director was training for a race but wouldn't have time for a long run the weekend of producing Cross Timbers. In response, her coach told her to go run the hill at the start of the Cross Timbers race course 10 times throughout the race day. Each loop was only a 1/3 of a mile and would take her away for only a couple minutes each time. BUT the famous Monkey Butt Hill was on the loop which is a tenth of a mile and 100 feet of climbing (20% grade hill). The Race Director declared the goal beforehand on social media, and participants all day were checking on how many loops she had completed to keep her accountable. At the end of the day, between working all day plus the loops, it was a great workout. 1,000 feet of gain in a 5K? Awesome!

For this event, we offer two timed options of hill repeats on Monkey Butt Hill: 3 hours and 6 hours. The course record for the 6 Hour event is 73 repeats (by Markdavid Basco). That's 24 miles and 7,300 feet of elevation gain! For those wanting less hills, we offer a 5-mile out-and-back route on single track trail along the shore of Lake Texoma. Beautiful and challenging, and you see more of the trails than the hill repeat course.

Enjoy a day amongst your fellow members of the trail community! With the opportunity to have a crewing setup you see every 1/3-mile, you can try out different things and have everything you need right there, and your family can spectate and enjoy being setup just 100 feet from the water's edge.

Distance

Choose Distance or Choose Time. “3 Hours of Monkey Butt”, “6 Hours of Monkey Butt”, or “5 Miler”.

3 or 6 Hours of Monkey Butt – Monkey Butt Hill is a short, incredibly steep hill of just about 0.1 miles long BUT climbs 100 feet and has roots and boulders to maneuver in that climb. It’s part of a 1/3 mile loop from our start line. So the race will be a timed format of how many loops can you get done in the time of either 3 Hours or 6 Hours. The race will be run going counter-clockwise which means you will only be going UP Monkey Butt Hill and then the descent of 100 feet is much more gradual and less technicality.

5 Miler – this is the same 5 mile course we traditionally have at Cross Timbers Trail Run. Some rocks, some roots, some steep hills, and you get to climb the infamous Monkey Butt Hill once right before you finish.

More Details

More Details Available on our Website (Website link is in a black bar at the bottom of the header pic, right below the green Register button.

Event's current local time: 4:45 AM CT