The point-to-point course of the Humboldt Bay Half Marathon in Arcata, California is a perfect opportunity for a summer PR. Located 280 miles north of San Francisco, this northern California college town is known for beautiful year-round weather.
Come to Arcata for relief from the summer heat and a beautiful course that offers stunning views of Arcata Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Runners will finish in Eureka, California, a city of 25,000 and the largest hub between San Francisco and Portland.
Runners will take a shuttle bus from the finish line to the south side of Arcata Plaza between G and H streets. The course starts down 8th Street and makes a quick right on J Street. A left on 10th Street and a right on Q Street all happens within the first mile. At the first mile marker, runners will take a left on 17th Street and then onwards to Foster Avenue where they will begin to exit downtown Arcata.
The course runs out-and-back on Seidel Road and then runners will continue along Jackson Ranch Road until mile marker 6. After making a right on Samoa Boulevard, the course will travel over Humboldt Bay before the runs turns into New Navy Base Road.
The Bay will be to the right and the Pacific Ocean to the left as runners make their way through the middle section of the race.
Once they reach mile marker 10, runners will turn on 255 where they encounter a series of bridges and slight elevation changes as they make their way over the water.