History & Land Acknowledgement
Celebrating Tucson's Aniversary
Tucson 250+ is a year-long celebration honoring over 4,000 years of history, heritage, and culture in Tucson and Pima County. This milestone commemorates the 250th anniversary of Presidio San Agustín del Tucson in 1775 and recognizes how its foundation shaped Tucson’s trajectory and how that influence continues today. The plus (+) honors the Indigenous people and diverse communities that shaped the region long before and after its founding.
This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the intersection of hope, resilience, and human endeavor—both among those who sought to establish a new frontier and those whose lives were deeply tied to the land. Tucson 250+ includes events throughout 2025, leading up to a major celebration on August 23, 2025, at the Presidio Museum—the birthplace of modern Tucson. This website is a place to find event details.
The Tucson 250+ website is made possible through a collaboration between the City of Tucson, Pima County, the Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission, the Arizona Historical Society, Los Descendientes de Tucson, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Presidio Museum, the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum, and the Vail Preservation Society.
Join us in celebrating the rich history and diverse culture of Tucson and the surrounding region!
Event History
In 2025, we are returning to the A-Mountain location for the third time.
In the 1980's, 1990's and early 2000's, SAR produced a 10-mile race called the Special Olympic Benefit Run, staged at Sabino High School in the northeast corner of the Tucson region. The race fell into disrepair for a few years, then was revived as the 10 Mile Cruise Against Cancer with Randy Accetta as race director.
In 2005 and 2006 a 10-mile iteration of this event was a cross-city race, initially begun with the efforts of Jannie Cox, then with Carondelet, who wanted to celebrate the Carondelet 125th Anniversary by racing from St. Joseph's to St. Mary's. See the wayback machine link here: https://web.archive.org/web/20061008195156/http://www.azroadrunners.org/events/cruise.html
From 2007- 20019, the race held in Downtown, either at the Convention Center or at Jacome Plaza, with various routes throughout the Downtown areas. In 2020, the race was virtual, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the COVID years in 2021 and 2022 the race partnered with the iconic Biosphere 2 to hold a 15k and 5k in Oracle at the Biosphere 2.
We've been thrilled to bring the race back to Downtown Tucsonin 2023, 2024, and now 2025, working with TMC, Rio Nuevo, and the Mercado Annex.
Land History and Acknowledgement
Our running events take place throughout Arizona, including in Southern Arizona at Saguaro National Park, Old Tucson Studios west of the Tucson Mountain, the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, and at the base of A-Mountain and in Downtown Tucson. We also produce a trail race near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, along what is known as the Kaibab Plateau.
We respectfully acknowledge that these lands have been peopled for thousands of years. In Southern Arizona, according to the Tucson Indian Center, "The Tucson area has long been the traditional site for Indian settlements. From the Archaic and Hohokam Indians, to the Tohono O’odham and Yaqui, the waters of the Santa Cruz River and the surrounding fertile land attracted desert dwelling tribes" (https://www.ticenter.org/history, retrieved January 1, 2023).
Of course, this beautiful desert has long been a sought-after landscape, with the Spanish first arriving in the 1530's, raids by Apache and Comanche throughout the 1700's and 1800's, and even the Confederate army fighting battles in the desert during the American Civil War.
For additional information, we refer to the Friends of Saguaro National Park website (https://www.friendsofsaguaro.org/nativepeoples, retrieved January 1, 2023): Human habitation in the Tucson Basin dates back approximately 12,500 years -- to the Pleistocene Age. The first people were likely descended from those who migrated across a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska; bands of hunters were roaming the desert grasslands of southern Arizona by about 10,000 BC. Archeologists have concluded that sites found in the Tucson Basin, along the Santa Cruz River, likely represent the oldest, continuously inhabited area in the United States. About 2,300 years ago, a group we now call the Hohokam had settled in southern Arizona -- including the Santa Cruz valley. By AD 700, they had a well-developed agricultural economy including extensive irrigation systems.
Archeological finds in the Rincon Mountain District of Saguaro National Park show that Hohokam villages existed there for about 600 years -- along Rincon Creek and its tributary washes. Then, during the 15th century, the Hohokam culture simply vanished. For additional information, see https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/
Contemporary native peoples that would constitute the ethnographic history of the Park include:
Akimel O'odham (also known as Pima)
Apache
Hopi
Maricopa
Yaqui
Tohono O'odham ("Desert People")
Yavapai
Zuni
For those interested, The Desert Museum offers insights on the Spanish and Mexican contact in the region here: https://www.desertmuseum.org/members/sonorensis/week9.php.
For additional information about local tribal lands, see http://www.tonation-nsn.gov/ and https://itcaonline.com/member-tribes/pascua-yaqui-tribe/ and https://heard.org/education/arizona-indian-communities/.
For those interested in making the running community more accessible, inclusive, and visible for all, you may wish to read about the Running on Native Lands Initiative at https://www.risinghearts.org/nativelands. You can also visit https://native-land.ca, the source for the image on this page. For additional materials, perhaps see the recommended books here: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/10/09/honoring-indigenous-peoples-recommended-reads.
