Several hundred runners turn out each year for all three races combined at the annual Nitro Trail Half Marathon, 10K & 5K, for a race that marks its 14th annual running this year and takes runners through Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Park, in San Francisco’s East Bay.
The race takes runners on the fire trails and biking & walking paths that wind through the park in the area known as the East Bay of San Francisco, whose plentiful eucalyptus tree groves, bluffs and sandy beaches point out into the San Pablo Bay, just a stone’s throw from the nearby Bay Area cities of San Pablo, Pinole and Richmond.
With the exception of a few brief stretches along the park’s paved walking paths, most of the race takes runners along the natural surface fire trails through the park, and the out-and-back course features ample views of the shoreline as well as the waters of San Pablo Bay, on which sailboats and ships of all varieties are a common sight.