Santa Cruz Half Marathon & 10K in Santa Cruz, CA

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Santa Cruz Half Marathon & 10K
Santa Cruz, CA

Date

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Event Details

A 13.1-mile run/walk race along Santa Cruz's West Cliff Drive, the event takes participants past beautiful vistas along the Pacific coastline, through the surrounding neighborhoods and along a paved path through strawberry fields and nearby historic farm buildings to nearby Wilder Ranch Sate Park. Next is the loop on the unpaved Old Cove Landing Trail with views of the ocean bluffs. The finish line is at Cowell's Beach, just a stone's throw from the start line.

Race Weather & Climate

Situated along Northern California's scenic coastline just south of San Francisco, Santa Cruz enjoys a year-round mild climate. On the day of the race in late April, temperatures in the city average between 44°F and 69°F.

Fees

$45 if registered by February 17, 2007
$50 between Feb. 18 - April 18
$60 on the day of the race

Registration

You can register online for the event by clicking here.

Website

http://www.firstwave-events.com/sc_half

Map

EXTENT

Race Start & Finish:
Near Cowell's Beach
At Beach & Main Streets
Santa Cruz, CA

One Runner's Impressions

From HalfMarathons.Net reader Brian H. in California:

This is a wonderfully picturesque run and am very happy that I ran it. An out and back course that follows the coast line and takes you on some trails that you would never find in your car. Course difficulty wasn't too hard, only a few spots with some hills. The first hill is literally right at the beginning of the race, and then another about half way through is a killer in steepness, luckily not too long.

There weren't too many spectators, and the water stations were spread out. Their website said we had to be there on time because they were going to start promptly, but they ended up starting 25 minutes late.

The only part that wasn't too great was the finish line. You finish, after 13.1 miles and exhaustion setting in, on sand! Your legs are already heavy and you have to trudge through sand to get to the finish line. Then you finish and you look for water and find it, moving off to the right. Then you want some food and you have to look around and it is completely on the opposite side of the water with no easy access.

So to sum up, great run course, bad finish line setup. Ultimately I would run again, I just wish that next year the finish line and refreshments would be setup a little bit better for the runners.

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