St. Pete Beach Classic Half Marathon

The half marathon is set to take runners on an out-and-back tour of the island known as St. Pete Beach, which lies just off the west coast of the St. Petersburg-Tampa metropolitan area, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Part of a chain of islands that stretches all the way from Clearwater at its northern end to Tierra Verde and Fort de Soto County Park at its southern end, the island and beach here offers plenty of fast, flat terrain and abundant sunshine, as the area sees an average of roughly 360 sunny days each year. Runners start the half marathon on Sunday — the 5K and 10K races will be run on Saturday — just south of the intersection of Gulf Boulevard and 55th Avenue, near Bahia Shores and just north of both the Bella Vista and Vina del Mar island subdivisions. From there, runners start off the race by heading south along Gulf Boulevard into the historic district known as Pass-A-Grille, whose history dates all the way back to the 1500s and which today is home to the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum, home to a collection of photos that documents the St. Pete Beach island history going back 100 years. Water will never be far from the race route as runners head south all the way to the southernmost point of the island, and then reach the turn at 2nd Avenue and start heading north again along Pass-A-Grille Way. With the Gulf of Mexico on their right side for the first three miles, runners then head north toward Little McPherson Bayou, and head through the residential subdivision known as Vina del Mar, whose peninsula-like fingers extend out from the main island with homes crowded onto each one. The out-and-back stretch along Vina del Mar Boulevard is followed by a run back across the bridge and then a right turn onto Sunset Way, which brings runners back north into St. Pete Beach. That’s followed by a long, straightaway stretch along Gulf Boulevard that runs through the island’s commercial district, and then a stretch that keeps going north through the residential neighborhoods near the northern end of the island (known as North Beach), almost all the way to Blind Pass Road, which leads over to Treasure Island.