In this edition of Get to Know Your Running Clubs we chatted with Karl Manly about San Diego’s South Bay YMCA Trail Runners. You’ll often find them hitting the trails of Chula Vista and south San Diego, or doing the occasional run in north and east county.

Want to learn more about them? Read on!

Hi Karl! Who are you? Give us your one line bio

I’m a trail runner, adventure seeker, husband, father, and coach.

Tell us a bit about the club history

We started about 7 years ago with a handful of people wanting to get in shape. Since that time our group has grown to about 40 plus runners who enjoy the trails as much as that handful we started with.

Nice! Tell us a bit about your members

We have all types in our club. We have high level athletes to those barely able to run 3 miles and everything in-between. What we cater to is any type of runner who will enjoy the trails as much as we do and have fun doing it.  

Where/when do you usually meet and run?

Tuesday night 6pm usually in front of the South Bay YMCA. You do not need to be a YMCA member to run with us.

You can check out the run group’s Website or Facebook page to get the most up to date information about group meet up locations and times!

Any cost to be a member/join?

The only cost is a good attitude, a smile and a sense of adventure

Are you affiliated with any events?

The Giving Run series, New Years day run, Pre-Pig out Thanksgiving morning 5k

Where are your favourite spots to run in/around the city?

Three areas that I highly recommend are:

• Goat Canyon/Carizzo Gorge: A completely unique run with large tunnels, history and wooden bridges.
• Steel Bridge: Everything that a trail runner would love; open spaces, big hills, technical single track trails.
• Spider Jungle: Beautiful scenery, s curve single tracks, half way point is the beach

Do you have any favourite races? Outside of anything that you’re affiliated with :)

Noble Canyon, and the Dirt Devil Series

Anything else that we should know?

We are more than a group, we have become family! Also we are primarily a fun run trail running group only so we rarely run on roads :)

Want to learn more?

Want to connect with the South Bay YMCA Trail Runners, or just learn a bit more about them? Check out their information below:

Website | Facebook

Find more runs around San Diego

Looking for runs in and around San Diego? The RunGuides San Diego race calendar can help you find upcoming runs and running races in the area - www.runguides.com/san-diego/runs