"The hillsides are saturated, and there could be rockslides at any moment." Marco Antonio Gutiérrez de la Rosa, director of the SICT office in Baja California Sur, said this on September 29 at a session of the State Civil Protection Council. His crews had left at 4:30 that morning to check the transpeninsular highway from Loreto to Santa Rosalía and from Loreto to Ciudad Insurgentes after Hurricane Polo passed through.
Four days later, SCORE International released the official course for the 59th SCORE Baja 1000. It uses both of those highways, and it uses the road up to San Javier.
For people who live in Loreto, the coming weeks are shaped less by race day than by the stretch before it. Racers will cross the malecón once, at a controlled speed. Starting October 24, teams will be learning the mountain roads that ranchers, delivery trucks and weekend visitors to the mission already rely on, and those roads have been through a hard year.
The Route Down From the Sierra de la Giganta
This year's race is the first in the event's history held entirely within Baja California Sur. It is a 964.66-mile loop that starts and finishes on Avenida Centenario in San José del Cabo. Race week runs November 9 through 15. Motorcycles take the green flag at 1 a.m. PT on Friday, November 13, and cars, trucks and UTVs follow at 9 a.m. PT. Every finisher has to complete the course within 40 hours.
SCORE's description of the Loreto section is detailed. Coming out of Comondú, the course crosses the highway between Ciudad Insurgentes and Loreto near Ejido Ley Federal de Aguas No. 1, climbs into the Sierra de la Giganta and runs through San Javier. It then comes down Arroyo Las Parras to the malecón, where racers are held to 37 mph, and heads north through town toward Arroyo Guá. From there it picks up the highway between Loreto and Santa Rosalía and goes back onto dirt at Rancho El 47, continuing toward El Bombedor, Canipole and San José de Comondú.
Loreto has no checkpoint of its own. The closest physical checkpoints are No. 2 at Ejido Ley Federal No. 2, at race mile 405.39, and No. 3 at Ejido Francisco Villa, at race mile 604.07. Loreto falls somewhere between the two. SCORE says more than 250 teams from Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas will run the course. At the route presentation, Peninsular Digital reported about 300 preregistered teams from more than 20 countries.
Nearly Three Weeks of Pre-Running Before One Green Flag
The race is a single event, but practice on the course is not. SCORE's published schedule shows the course reaching the public in stages:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Thursday, October 22, about 6 p.m. | Race information, pre-run stipulations and GPS files posted on the SCORE website |
| Saturday, October 24, 8 a.m. | Pre-running opens |
| Friday, October 30, 5 p.m. | Last day to register in person at SCORE's Ensenada office. Later registrations are handled on-site in San José del Cabo |
| November 9 to 15 | Race week, with all SCORE events based in San José del Cabo |
| Friday, November 13 | Green flag on Avenida Centenario |
From October 24 to the start on November 13, teams can drive the course whenever they like, and the Loreto section includes ranch roads, washes and two highways. SCORE's own instructions to pre-runners show what that traffic involves. Teams are told to obey all traffic laws, close gates, keep to pre-running speeds instead of race speeds, follow the GPS, stay on course, and "watch out especially for difficult-to-see moto/quads." The instruction about closing gates is aimed at ranch country, which is exactly the terrain between San Javier and Arroyo Las Parras.
SCORE also says the posted map is preliminary and could change before the race. The GPS files released on October 22 will be the first reliable picture of where pre-runners will actually drive.
A Road Already Repaired Once This Year
The San Javier road enters pre-run season after two rounds of damage in 2026.
The first came from racing. In May, the XI Ayuntamiento de Loreto's Rural Roads Directorate began conservation work on the main route between San Javier and Palo Blanco. According to Vértigos, Directorate head Alfredo Osuna said the work covered roughly 35 to 40 kilometers that had been damaged when the NORRA 1000 came through. He described that road as a link from ranching families and communities to both Comondú and the town of Loreto.
The second came from Hurricane Polo. These were the conditions officials reported on September 29:
- San Javier road, kilometer 12: Mayor Paz Ochoa Amador reported an arroyo running across the road, passable only by high-clearance vehicles.
- Ciudad Insurgentes–Loreto highway: a rockslide at kilometer 100, earth, vegetation and rock piled up at kilometer 102, and a temporary closure to small vehicles at kilometer 92 that had since reopened.
- Loreto–Santa Rosalía highway: another rockslide at kilometer 88, with crews clearing the material.
The same report said conditions at these crossings could change as the water dropped and the roads were inspected. That makes the September 29 status a snapshot, not a forecast. SCORE's course release points the same way. It expects several washes around San José de Comondú, just past the Loreto section, to be carrying significant water after recent rains, and it plans a controlled-speed zone in part of that area.
The race uses both highways where SICT reported slides and the road with the kilometer 12 crossing. These are the same roads that will carry pre-run traffic from October 24.
What the Malecón Pass Does and Does Not Include
In town, the race will be brief and tightly managed. Peninsular Digital described it as a regulated pass along the malecón. El Sudcaliforniano's October 3 route story presented the malecón as one of the course's attractions and said racers would travel at a controlled speed for safety.
Loreto has seen this before, though only once. During the 2023 race, which ran 1,310.94 miles north from La Paz to Ensenada, SCORE's course notes put Mission San Javier at race mile 277.46 and the Loreto malecón at race mile 300.05. They said it was the first time in SCORE history the course went through the malecón. The 2017 race also went up to Mission San Javier and had a checkpoint near Loreto. This year the order is reversed. Racers reach Loreto from the south and Comondú, cross the malecón, and leave heading north before turning back toward the Pacific side.
When the course was unveiled on October 3, SCORE had not yet named spectator areas, and it asks fans to stay at least 100 feet from the course. At the route presentation, municipal authorities asked spectators to stay behind the marked course and follow safety measures, but the coverage does not say which municipality made the request or name any viewing areas in Loreto. The forecast of $35 million to $40 million in direct economic impact covers the whole event, not Loreto. SCORE has not said when racers are expected to reach town, and with a 40-hour limit and staggered starts, the field will spread out over a long window.
Pre-Run Opening Day Falls on Founding Weekend
The race also lands on a busy town calendar. October 2026 is the 329th anniversary of Loreto's founding as the first capital of the Californias. The XI Ayuntamiento marked it with the Torneo de Fundación on October 2 and 3, which opened the 2026–2027 sportfishing tournament season and the Copa Loreto "Mar de Campeones." The tournament had a guaranteed purse of 230,000 pesos based on 40 teams, with 100,000 pesos for first place in dorado and 50,000 pesos for the largest marlin.
The founding date itself is October 25, 1697. SECTUR's general destination profile places Foundation festivities between October 18 and 25, with parades and cultural events. Last year's Latin American Cultural Festival ran October 22 to 25 at the Explanada Plaza Salvatierra and the Museo de las Misiones Jesuitas. If 2026 follows a similar schedule, the GPS files go public on October 22, the course opens to pre-runners on the 24th, and the anniversary falls on the 25th, all in one week.
Loreto's fifth Triatlón Sprint, organized by the municipal sports directorate with promotion from the tourism office, is set for November 7. That is two weeks into pre-running and six days before the green flag in San José del Cabo.
Before October 24, two things are worth checking: the San Javier road at kilometer 12 and whatever course details SCORE posts on October 22.
If the race calendar is affecting when you plan to be in Loreto this fall, or when you would like to see property in the area, Apex Real Estate Los Cabos can help you schedule around the San Javier road and race week. Schedule a private consultation.
