The 7 Best Trail Running Races in Alberta
Alberta has some of Canada’s toughest, most beautiful trail running races. Part of what makes the province such a top-tier running destination is the sheer diversity and beauty of the terrain: bare ridges and grand views in the Rockies; open, rolling farmland and lakes in the prairies; and deep wilderness in the northern boreal forest. The running culture matches that range—Alberta produces elite, hard-nosed competitors, but its races are just as renowned for their warmth and conviviality. This article covers seven scenic, distinctive trail races across the province, with the stats, routes, history, and natural features that make each one stand out.
Sinister 7 Ultra
Photo credit: Raven Eye Photography
Distance options: 100 mi (solo or 7-member team), 50 mi, 50 km, half marathon
Elevation gain: 6,692 m (for 100 mi)
Location: Crowsnest Pass, AB
Date: Annually in July
Highlights: Vast mountain panoramas, Frank Slide
The Sinister 7 Ultra is one of Canada’s toughest, most beautiful races. The race’s name refers to the hellacious climbs and the seven cruel legs of the 100-mile course—and perhaps also to the grim resolve of the seven-member relay teams willing to take it on. However you want to think of the appellation, the course is a punishing route through classic Canadian Rockies scenery. In the first leg, runners cross the massive debris field left by the tragic Frank Slide, a jumble of boulders left by the 1903 rockslide that killed dozens of people. The route traverses diverse environments—dark evergreen forests and leafy stands of aspen at lower elevations, an otherworldly burn scar, and open tundra with superlative views of grey, towering peaks. The footing varies, including rooty single track, rocky old mining roads, creek crossings, grassy double track, and short stretches of gravel road that connect to the town roads of Crowsnest Pass.
Kirsti Dolson of Sinister Sports sums up the race: “Sinister 7 Ultra is about more than just running the distance; it is about how people come together to take it on, as a relay team, or as a solo runner backed by a team of crew and volunteers. With its seven-leg relay format winding through the rugged terrain of Crowsnest Pass, you get an incredible mix of grit, strategy, and teamwork. The energy at the aid stations, the support from the volunteers, and the ways the runners work together create something that feels alive, on course, from start to finish.”
5 Peaks Canmore
Distance options: Three distances that vary by race (e.g., 6.5 km, 13 km, and 19.3 km in September 2026)
Elevation gain: Varies based on course, roughly 175 m to around 550 m
Location: Canmore, AB
Date: Held twice each summer
Highlights: 1988 Olympic XC venue, party atmosphere, grand mountain views
The 5 Peaks Canmore races take place twice each summer at the cross-country venue built for the 1988 Winter Olympics. During the stadium start and finish, you can draw inspiration from those Olympians, a thumping DJ set, and the breathtaking mountain backdrop. On the lower flanks of Mount Rundle, the courses have some rough technical terrain, but also plenty of fast doubletrack and flowy singletrack. Racers run through a forest of lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce with clearings offering views of the broad granite peaks of Mount Peechee, Princess Margaret Mountain, and Mount Charles Stewart on the opposite side of the valley and Mount Rundle closer overhead. Your kids can tag along for the 1 km and 3 km races.
Canadian Death Race
Photo credit: Matt Westlake
Distance options: 42 km, 118 km (solo or as a 5-runner team)
Elevation gain: 1,775 m (42 km), 5,180 m (118 km)
Location: Grande Cache, AB
Date: Annually in early August
Highlights: Three mountain summits, Smoky River crossing, Western States qualifier
The Canadian Death Race, originally organized to help revitalize a fading coal town, has been held annually since 2000. The event lives up to its name: racers gain and lose over 5,000 metres crossing three different mountains through prime grizzly country, battling treacherously steep climbs, rough footing, and often muddy trails through lush undergrowth. On the final leg, at the aptly named Hell’s Gate Canyon, a cloaked figure playing Charon collects a coin from each runner (picked up on the previous leg atop Mount Hamell) before ferrying them across the Smoky River by motorboat—to enter their own personal Hades of exhaustion.
But the course isn’t all suffering. Racers experience big views from bare peaks and ridgetops, vistas over the water along Grande Cache Lake, and long stretches through beautiful northern Rockies evergreen forests. And you can even bring the kids, who can participate in the 6 km Kids’ Death Race (actually designed for kids despite a moniker that might alarm the Ministry of Children’s Services).
Kirsti Dolson of Sinister Sports describes the race: “The Canadian Death Race has an iconic presence to it. The energy is felt by the racers and volunteers as soon as they arrive in Grande Cache, Alberta. It’s a 118 km journey through some of the most demanding terrain. What really sets this race apart is the tradition and myths that have told the Canadian Death Race stories for over 25 years. From climbing Mount Hamell, to the traditional boat ride at the river crossing, to trying to find Split Rock in the dark, each part of the race has meaning. This is a race that people carry with them as a lifetime experience whether they finish it or not.”
Saddle Hills Ultra
Photo credit: multisportscanada.com
Distance options: 60 km (solo or 3-runner team), 40 km (solo or 2-runner team), 20 km, 10 km
Elevation gain: 531 m (60 km), 354 m (40 km), 177 m (20 km)
Location: Saddle Hills County
Date: Annually in October
Highlights: Boreal forest, remote northern setting, grassroots atmosphere
The Saddle Hills Ultra offers a chance to race in the remote boreal forest of northern Alberta, a wild landscape abounding in moose and elk. The course is a 20-kilometre loop on horse trails through thick woods of spruce, alders, and pine. Meadows afford views over the rolling foothills. It’s a smaller, quieter event than others on this list, a chance to soak in some grassroots energy and solitude.
Lost Soul Ultra
Photo credit: Dean Johnson
Distance options: 100 mi, 100 km, 50 km
Elevation gain: 1,200 m (per 50 km loop)
Location: Lethbridge, AB
Date: Annually in mid-September
Highlights: Steep river valley, coulees, Western States qualifier
The Lost Soul Ultra loops along the Oldman River’s eastern coulees—steep, V-shaped valleys carved into southern Alberta by retreating glaciers and centuries of wind and water. This dramatic topography makes for a scenic, challenging race. Each 50-kilometre lap packs in roughly 1,200 metres of elevation gain on sixteen punchy hills. The route runs through grasslands with open views over the river and surrounding prairie. Along some stretches, cottonwood groves shade runners from the sun. Much of the course is narrow singletrack, including sections along knife-edge ridges atop the coulees.
Racers enjoy easy crew access with aid stations at public facilities. Finishers earn a painted rock, and those running the 100 km and 100 mi races can qualify for Western States if they complete the course in the requisite time. If you want to run this one, sign up fast because the race usually sells out within two weeks.
Black Lung Ultra
Photo credit: Black Lung Ultra
Distance options: 62 km (3 legs), solo or team
Elevation gain: 2,300 m
Location: Nordegg, AB
Date: Annually in September
Highlights: Coal-mining history, Coliseum Mountain climb, mountain ridges and vistas, historic national site
The Black Lung Ultra takes place in Nordegg—once a bustling coal town, now a National Historic Site and one of Canada’s best-preserved examples of early-twentieth-century coal mining. Leg 1 climbs counterclockwise up the back side of Coliseum Mountain, crosses a creek and ascends switchbacks in the forest before hitting a gradually climbing ridgeline with huge rock formations, scree, and mountain views. Leg 2, “For the 29 in the Mine,” honours the 29 miners killed in a 1941 explosion at the Brazeau Collieries. The leg climbs to Eagle Mountain through dark evergreen forests and open meadows, descends, and returns to town along an old rail trail. The final leg, “Collieries Closer,” runs directly past the historic mine buildings before finishing back in town. The day after, kids 15 and under run their own short race through the same historic collieries.
The Black Lung Ultra is a genuine grassroots operation, with just five organizers from central Alberta running it alongside their day jobs. As race co-director Michael Williams puts it: “A large portion of the local community supports the race, and that small-town vibe brings a welcoming, supportive, and fun atmosphere that’s hard to match.”
Hinton’s Run in the Rockies
Distance options: 1 km (kids’ fun run), 5 km, 10 km, Half-marathon
Elevation gain: 85 m (5 km), 113 m (10 km), 428 m (half-marathon)
Location: Hinton, AB
Date: Annually in September
Highlights: Frontier-town vibe, historic $1 log chalet, mountain lookouts, accessible distances
Head to Hinton’s Run in the Rockies for an accessible race in a remote, small mountain town with a frontier vibe. The volunteer-organized race is held on the trails of the Hinton Nordic Centre. The routes take racers through spruce, pine, and aspen forests high above the Athabasca River Valley. The half-marathon and 10 km races include lookouts with capacious views over the surrounding mountain wilderness. Racers start and finish at the Hinton Nordic Centre’s log chalet. Bought for only one dollar in the 1980s, it’s well worth checking out as a piece of Rockies history, having served as the original lodge at the Columbia Icefields.
