Out of 2006’s conversations about all the great places we could be running – if only there were more events – we decided to do something about it. The Trail Running Association of Queensland was born, followed by this website.

We’ve still working to gain access to more quality trails. So far our program has included new trail runs at Woodford, Wild Horse Mountain, Lake Manchester, Mount Glorious and Dayboro-Woodford. We’re working on others - including Mapleton Great Walk, Toowoomba Range, Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach – and we’ll announce these as we get permit approvals.

The Runtrails.org website holds a wide range of trails information, and anyone entering an event will go on the e-mailing list for the monthly newsletter. In the long run what we can deliver is up to you. The more people that join and help out, the more events we can offer.

Why  TRAQ?
Some people asked us why we need a trail-running association when we already have an ultra-running association, a mountain-running association, and the CoolRunning website and calendar. Good question! The short answer is there just aren’t enough trail events, and an organisation gives us a base to make things happen – to draw in new volunteers, to plan new events, to turn talk into reality.

What makes trail running different to other, more established branches of running? First we want to organise runs on the best off-road trails we can. We’re less concerned with really challenging up and down gradients, or really long races, more on the lookout for quality trail experiences.

Permits for good trails have been hard to get in recent years, so we need to put in a lot of work with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to convince them runners and walkers can co-exist.

We also want to provide introductory runs to draw in new runners, and walking options where possible. Off-road running is growing in popularity with good reason. Its great to leave our busy working lives behind, get out of the city and into nature. There’s more to life than all those fun runs on hard roads and concrete footpaths.

TRAQ Aims:
To promote trail running, support trail runners and trail events;
To promote active use of Queensland’s trails and natural evironment;
To coordinate a state-wide trail running series and calendar which complements existing races and provides events throughout the year;
To pursue improved arrangements for approving access to quality trails for events;
To arrange overall trailrunning sponsorship and support sponsorship for individual events;
To create and maintain a website which supports the association’s objectives above.