The second edition brings three trail-running distances to a new course across woodland, riverbanks, grassland, Gobi gravel and shifting sand in Inner Mongolia.
The XTERRA Alxa Trail Run returns on Sep 12-13, 2026, with three ways to enter one of China’s most sparsely populated regions on foot. Athlete check-in takes place Saturday afternoon before the 15K, 35K and 50K races begin Sunday morning from a new venue at Weilat Tribe in Barunbieli Town.
Alxa League is the name of the region, not a competition. It covers approximately 270,000 square kilometers along the western edge of Inner Mongolia, with fewer than one resident per square kilometer. Desert, Gobi and arid grassland each occupy roughly one third of its territory.
Runners move through woodland and riverbanks before reaching grazing land, Gobi gravel plains and the shifting sand of the Tengger Desert. The 15K course covers 215M of climbing and a four-hour cutoff. The middle distance is listed as 35K, with 310M of climbing and a 10-hour cutoff. The 50K extends the challenge with 690M of climbing and a 13-hour cutoff.
A heightened level of care has a longer history in Alxa. Since 2020, a portion of XTERRA China race entries has supported desert-adapted tree planting through the China Green Foundation’s Million Forest Program. By last year’s inaugural race, participants had funded 25,634 seedlings, with 13,976 already planted.
Nearly 500 runners attended the debut in 2025, including participants from China, France, the United States and several other countries.
“The setting and weather were close to perfect. Desert, grassland and lake came together, and it was tremendous fun to run.”
— Ding Bingning (CHN)
“I run to be in nature. Results don’t matter. Experience comes first.”
— Hsin Lin (USA)
“Alxa gives people a way into a part of the world most would struggle to reach on their own,” says Landry Benoit, XTERRA Asia-Pacific Technical Director. “You can arrive alone, move at your own pace and finish among people you now know. The desert asks for humility, so the experience has to begin with respect for the land and those who live on it.”
Both events sit outside XTERRA’s World Tour and Trail Run World Series. Instead, they give people an organized way into unfamiliar terrain without requiring championship ambitions. Runners can compete at the front, use the full cutoff or simply take the day as it comes.
