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How To Find Trail Running Routes

18 January 2021
How To Find Trail Running Routes

Finding new trail running routes can sometimes seem a bit of tricky task, especially if you live in a big town or city where it seems that there are no trails at all. However, with some of these handy tips, you can discover fresh trails to run wherever you are located.

OS Maps

An Ordnance Survey map of your local area is a really helpful tool in finding trails near to you and should be your first stop in route discovery. You will be amazed at how many trails there are local to you, even in urban areas. Look out for rights of ways, footpaths, bridleways and recreational paths. Following waterways is also a great way of finding trails without getting lost, so look out for nearby canals and rivers which often have great trails running alongside them or nearby.

With most new OS Maps, you now also get a download of the map for your mobile device, allowing you to easily plot and save routes.

Running Trail

Komoot

There are plenty of online mapping tools out there, but Komoot is becoming one of the most popular and can be used in a number of ways to find new trails near you.

As a mapping tool, you can enter your sport as running and select your fitness level before plotting a route (which can be a round trip or one way). It will then automatically choose quiet roads and paths based on your fitness level, and can quickly lead to plenty of discoveries.

If you are looking for pure trail and sometimes tough terrain, then select MTB as your sport. Komoot will then focus even more on finding off-the-beaten-track trails, which whilst aimed at mountain bikers, are usually perfect for trail running too (just be aware of other trail users whilst running).

Komoot also shows you other users routes in your area along with collections of popular routes local to you, giving you a great insight into where to head.

Running Clubs

Reaching out to local running clubs is invaluable thanks to the wealth of knowledge its members will have about trails in your area. You can sometimes find specific fell and trail running clubs, but any running club should be able to point you in the direction of some local trails to explore.

Running Trail

Strava Segments

Strava is another really useful tool. You can use it to plot routes in a similar way to Komoot with Strava showing you a ‘heatmap’ of the most popular routes local runners take, ensuring you stumble across some great trails.

Strava can also be used as a broader search tool. By looking for Strava ‘Segments’ you can quickly find trail hotspots, pointing you in the right direction for further discovery. Linking together segments is a great way to quickly create some fantastic routes for discovery.

Local Running store

Having a conversation with your local running store is another good way to get knowledge on which trails to head out to. You can get in touch with any of our stores across England and Scotland, and our running experts will be able to share their favourite routes with you.

Search for Trail Races

Searching for trail running races can also help find fresh routes. You can either follow routes from previous years or do your own search around the location of the event, as they are usually located in trail rich areas.

Local Parkruns (which are unfortunately not currently operating due to Covid) are also a great way to meet other runners from your area, giving you the chance to share knowledge on local routes.


Huw Saunders

About the Author:

Huw Saunders - Outdoor Expert

Growing up in rural Wales, Huw has been immersed in the outdoors for as long as he can remember. If not surfing the Welsh coast, he can now usually be found either running or hiking in the Peak District and through the winter, tries to get out to Europe to ski as much as possible.


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