Sunday, August 12, 2023 • Martinez, CA • Course Map
Featuring a course filled with challenging uphill and downhill stretches through the rolling grasslands and tree-shaded canyons of Briones Regional Park, a 6,117-acre park just a short drive from San Francisco here in the Bay Area, the Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon takes runners along an out-and-back loop course that starts and finishes near the park entrance off Bear Creek Road.
Open to runners, walkers and hikers, the race takes runners on a clockwise loop route through Briones, along a combination of dirt roads and trails.
The course for the half marathon offers a wide variety of the park’s gorgeous natural beauty, from wide-open grassy fields to wooded trails shaded in canopies of trees, along which runners can expect to see plenty of wildlife, including black-tailed deer, red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures and many other varieties of birds, as the park is known for its ample bird-watching opportunities.
Runners (as well as walkers and hikers who enter the race) should be ready to “get your feet dirty,” race organizers add, as the course takes place entirely on natural surface roads and trails, and features many changes in elevation over the course of the race.
From the start/finish area, where runners begin the race at roughly 700 feet above sea level, the course rises to a peak of nearly 1,400 feet around the mile 3 marker, followed by a descent back to around 450 feet by the time runners make their way to the mile 5 marker.
There are a few more small hills after that, followed by another big uphill stretch between miles 6 and 8, another downhill between 8 and 9 and then a final uphill around the mile 10 marker, after which the race is mostly downhill into the finish line.
Runners will have 4 1/2 hours to finish the half marathon (participants who choose to hike the course will have 5 1/2 hours to complete it).
Race Weather & Climate
Located in the San Francisco Bay area, just northwest of the city and south of Suisun Bay, the town of Martinez typically experiences warm to occasionally mild weather conditions in the late summer, and is usually very dry in the summer, with little to no rainfall.
- August 12 average low temp: 58ºF
- August 12 average high temp: 81ºF
Past Results
- 2022 Results
- 2021 Bear Creek Half Marathon results
- 2019 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2018 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2017 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2016 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2015 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2014 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2013 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2012 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
- 2011 Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
- 7:00 AM – half marathon hikers
- 8:00 AM – half marathon
- 8:15 AM – 10K
- 8:30 AM – 5K
Fees
- $85 and up – half marathon
- $67 and up – 10K
- $58 and up – 5K
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2023 running of Martinez’s Bear Creek Trail Half Marathon, 10K or 5K race, register online at RaceRoster.com here.
Official Race Website
Comments
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