Sunday, May 5, 2019 • Ojai, CA • Course Map
Long stretches filled with hills — a few of them fairly big ones — abound at the Ojai Half Marathon, which makes its 5th annual running on California’s road race calendar in late April. The race is set to take runners along some long stretches on the famed Ojai Valley Trail, a 9 1/2-mile-long paved and dirt trail that stretches from the outskirts of Ojai down to Foster Park in Oak View.
Runners start the race in the Mira Monte neighborhood just outside Ojai, and from there head south along Loma Drive for a brief stretch before jumping onto the Ojai Valley Trail in the first quarter-mile of the race.
They turn left on the trail — which features both a paved section for bikers, runners and walkers as well as a dirt section, separated by a post-and-rail wood fence, for horseback riders — and head north and west toward the first turnaround near the Ojai Valley Shopping Center.
After they make the turn, runners head back south along the stretch they’ve just run, parallel to Ojai Avenue (which becomes Ventura Avenue) southwest for the next few miles all the way to Oak View, where they exit the trail and head onto Santa Ana Boulevard.
The course continues on along Santa Ana for the next 2 1/2 miles as it unfolds along the shoreline of Lake Casitas, past the Casitas Water Adventure park to Baldwin Road.
The final few miles of the race bring runners east along Baldwin Road back toward Mira Monte, including another stretch along the Ojai Valley Trail before turning onto Loma Road and then crossing the finish line back where they started.
This race is definitely a test of your hill-running skills, race organizers add — on their website they emphasize that “no whiners or cry babies need apply.”
Race Weather & Climate
Located just south of the mountains of the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California, about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles, Ojai typically sees mild and occasionally warm weather in May, a month that has brought record temperatures here as low as 36 degrees (in 1991) and as high as 105 degrees (in 1984).
On race day (May 5), the average low is 47ºF and the average high is 76ºF.
Past Results
- 2018 Ojai Half Marathon Results
- 2017 Ojai Half Marathon Results
- 2016 Ojai Half Marathon Results
- 2015 Ojai Half Marathon Results
- 2014 Ojai Half Marathon Results
- 2013 Ojai Half Marathon Results
Course Map
See the race route map for the Ojai Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
- 8:00 AM – half marathon
- 8:10 AM – 10K
- 8:15 AM – 5K
Fees
- $65 – $95 for the half marathon
- $50 – $70 for the 10K
- $35 – $45 for the 5K
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2019 running of California’s Ojai Half Marathon, 10K or 5K race, register online at the event website here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
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