This was my first trail race ever so it will always have a special place in my heart. The race is kept to about 200-300 people and there was only … MORE
This was my first trail race ever so it will always have a special place in my heart. The race is kept to about 200-300 people and there was only a total of 80 people doing the 5K so the course was pretty spacious. Bib & shirt pick-up was super quick and there seemed to be enough parking to accommodate almost everyone.
The 5K course consists mostly of flat ground with one large steep hill near the halfway point of the course. The ribbons are fairly easy to follow and you get a high five from the Sasquatch at the end of race. Once you catch your breath, you can sign up for a massage, enjoy great tasting beer from Standard Deviant Brewing Co, and indulge in a bunch of snacks as you cheer on the other finishers.
The medal and t-shirt are great quality and there are also wooden medallions you can find on the trail to trade in for prizes. Looking forward to continuing running the Sasquatch races in the future.
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Fun Low Key Race
This was my first trail race ever so it will always have a special place in my heart. The race is kept to about 200-300 people and there was only … MORE
This was my first trail race ever so it will always have a special place in my heart. The race is kept to about 200-300 people and there was only a total of 80 people doing the 5K so the course was pretty spacious. Bib & shirt pick-up was super quick and there seemed to be enough parking to accommodate almost everyone.
The 5K course consists mostly of flat ground with one large steep hill near the halfway point of the course. The ribbons are fairly easy to follow and you get a high five from the Sasquatch at the end of race. Once you catch your breath, you can sign up for a massage, enjoy great tasting beer from Standard Deviant Brewing Co, and indulge in a bunch of snacks as you cheer on the other finishers.
The medal and t-shirt are great quality and there are also wooden medallions you can find on the trail to trade in for prizes. Looking forward to continuing running the Sasquatch races in the future.
Beautiful run and fun
This race took place at Redwood Park in the Oakland Hills. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery. This was a small race with about 200 people across … MORE
This race took place at Redwood Park in the Oakland Hills. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery. This was a small race with about 200 people across the 5k/10k/half marathon. There were 65 people that participated in the half marathon. The course measure about 13.7 miles with about 2500 ft of elevation. There is a lot of storm damage at this park from all the heavy rains that we had the first few months of this year. We had to climb over a couple of downed trees. There were some technical parts with a lot of exposed roots and rocks and some minor water. I don’t think I got my feet wet at all. There was A LOT of poison oak, that, luckily, I was able to avoid touching.
There course was well marked in some sections, but the middle section of the course had very few ribbons. We think that someone either vandalized them or took them down because they thought they were garbage. I thought I was lost at one point until I saw a hiker and asked if he had seen ribbons ahead and he had, so I knew i was heading in the correct direction.
There were three aid stations on course that were stocked with sports drink, water, Gu, potato chips, and fruit. There were also course monitors that were placed at confusing intersections. That was a huge plus.
A fun thing that Sasquatch Racing does it to have a treasure hunt. They place silver woodallions on the course and if you see one, you bring it back to the finish and you get to pick out a prize by reaching into a bag. I found two and got some peanuts and candy. Previously, I won a $25 gift certificate, so there are some good prizes.
At the finish, I got a really awesome medallion. It can function as a screw driver, has a 4″ ruler, and the Sasquatch emblem spins. We also got a lunch sack filled with some really great full size samples. There was a DJ and beer. All racers get a technical gender specific tee.
This was my fourth Sasquatch race. They are very well organized. The volunteers are great. I am already signed up for the Tick Trailblazer and the Honey Badger. If you’re looking for a small race in the great outdoors on some beautiful trails in the Bay Area, give Sasquatch a look. You won’t be disappointed.
Awesome views, great shwag!
This is my first Sasquatch Racing event, and it was smaller race, and had fewer aid stations and items at the aid station. They don't have chip times for the … MORE
This is my first Sasquatch Racing event, and it was smaller race, and had fewer aid stations and items at the aid station.
They don’t have chip times for the start, but they do for the finish. Not sure why that’s the case, so just be sure you are in the lead.. Then again, you have 13.1 + to catch up and pass.
Not only do you get a medal and a tech shirt, but they have these Woodallions lying on the course. Should you find one, you get get a special prize at the end. I found 4 and one of the prizes i got was a free race for Tick (guess i will e running that one too).
The other differences with this organization is that they do have beer at the end, and instead of getting a goody bag in the beginning, you get a paper lunch type bag full of goodies.
That said, if they added one more AS earlier on, that would have been a help, but i came well prepared and didn’t really need it much.
I used Strava and Fitbit to record my race and it registered 14.1 miles, and 2497 feet for Strava, and 13.7 miles and 2504 feet, so it varied of course. There is a little mismatch on what they say the distance and elevation is, but for me i don’t pay much attention to that..
This was a beautiful course and awesome views of far off mountains.. I was impressed. It had remnants of Double Dipsea with the switchbacks and dodging the roots, and feelings of Trailquake.
There is only one real complaint i have. First, there was one section that it was hard to know if you take a left or a right, so put the flags right after the correct route, rather than at the intersection to the direction you should not go. There was a large area in the redwood switchback section where there was no flags and a bunch of us thought we were lost until we asked a guy if he saw any red flags which he said he had.. Had he not come down with his dogs, we might have turned around. It’ts my belief that the this section probably was marked but probably someone removed the flags, so maybe the day of, have someone go once more through making sure they are still there especially if you know this is a problem areas as i heard one of your people say.
All this said, i highly recommend doing one of their races yourself. They do well.
Lost in the Wood while Treasure Hunting
It's not a beginner course, that's for sure. You have steep inclines throughout the first half of the race. Like other sasquatch racing event, there's treasure hunting component to it … MORE
It’s not a beginner course, that’s for sure. You have steep inclines throughout the first half of the race. Like other sasquatch racing event, there’s treasure hunting component to it which makes it fun. Since it’s a trail race, aid stations are far apart. The course is shorter than 13.1miles, but it surely felt long. Unfortunately, due to a crucial course marshall bailed out last minute, this left a main intersection un-monitored. Along with someone tempering with some course markings, many got lost or ran part of the course twice.
It is MANDATORY to take a course cheatsheet with you and look up the course map beforehand. The race director is super responsive to all suggestions and try to avoid same issue happens again. It’s just unfortunate when the unexpected happened.
As for my performance, I was handicapped by running part of the course twice. Luckily, I realized it sooner than later, and corrected myself before I went too far into the unending loop. The first runner got lost and disappeared from the radar for an hour, allowing myself unofficially to come in the top.
In the end, everyone made it back to the start despite everyone ran extra long on the course than planned. To put it optimistically, at least the course is well shaded in a beautiful mixed evergreen-deciduous forest at Redwood Regional Park. The plus for my adventure is that I won a Salomon cap from the raffle. Perfect for myself, I would say 🙂
Fun in the Redwoods
Great location, nice small race (300 people max). Sells out, so get spot early. Nice stretching exercises before race, friendly runners, great after party with beer, massages, samples, and raffles! MORE
Great location, nice small race (300 people max). Sells out, so get spot early. Nice stretching exercises before race, friendly runners, great after party with beer, massages, samples, and raffles!
Beautiful trail run w/ a laid back vibe
If you're looking for something with a laid back vibe, small crowds and beautiful trails, try one of the races sponsored by Sasquatch Racing. They only registered 300 runners and … MORE
If you’re looking for something with a laid back vibe, small crowds and beautiful trails, try one of the races sponsored by Sasquatch Racing. They only registered 300 runners and they were split between 5k/10k/Half Marathon. The post race free massage by Psoas Massage + Bodywork was on point, they really focus on your trouble areas. The free beer and lively entertainment wasn’t bad either. The scavenger hunt along the trail was a nice touch although I don’t think the 5K route had any. Guess I’ll have to run the 10K next year!
Beautiful Day & Course
Course Description: The Sasquatch Scramble half marathon course was sort of a double-lobed loop on the trails of Redwood Regional Park in the hills above Oakland. The course features very … MORE
Course Description:
The Sasquatch Scramble half marathon course was sort of a double-lobed loop on the trails of Redwood Regional Park in the hills above Oakland. The course features very long gradual hills, shorter steep hills, and lots of rutted trails with exposed tree roots. About 2/3 of the course is shaded by gorgeous redwood and other trees, though I didn’t experience miles 7.8-9.2 or miles 9.7-11.3. More about that later.
Organization & Production:
I’m going to be brief about a lot of important details because of one somewhat complicated aspect. Signing up, the website information, check-in, start/finish area, restrooms, and more than pops into my mind – all the myriad things that get runners to the starting line and take care of them as they finish – were all well done.
Now for the one aspect of the half marathon that did not go well. Putting it succinctly, many/most half runners got lost. Backing up a bit, park trail races usually use selected trails from a larger network of trails in the park. Sasquatch Racing informs its runners about their courses in several ways. The website links to a map that includes the elevation profile. Sasquatch makes available near check-in a detailed course description (and I did grab one, and looked it over). These were fine. Some one following them would not have gotten lost
Because of being more focused on the trail and their running/walking, runners tend to rely on course markings and course marshals. Based on my experience earlier this year at the Rattlesnake Ramble, Sasquatch normally does both very well, with fairly short distances between marking flags. At about Mile 8 in the Scramble, I missed a turn, went straight forward on a wrong trail, and something weird happened. Part of this was due to the fact that the course marshal who would have been there was a no-show (why, I don’t know). The RD sent some one to cover, but being unfamiliar with the trails, (s)he got lost.
The weird part is that for a mile or two on the wrong trail I saw and followed flags of the same color and pattern code as that used by Sasquatch. I even doubled and tripled back over a half to full mile section when I encountered a longish gap in the flags. And then, on satisfying myself that was was on-course, I found several flags beyond the gap that had puzzled me. Finally, after 2 or 3 miles along this wrong trail I realized that I was, in fact, off-course. Fortunately, at about that time I had cell reception, was able to find where I was on the Google Maps app, and got to the finish area having covered about the same distance as I would have had I stayed on-course.
What happened? Whence the flags that fooled me? Redwood Regional Park is a popular venue for trail races, and evidently one such race a week or two or ?? previously had not thoroughly cleared their course of course marking flags. Without those wrong flags I would have realized within a quarter mile that I was off-course, turned back, and gotten back on-course.
There’s just no way Sasquatch could have anticipated another race’s flags being present on a wrong trail, close to a turn in the Sasquatch course. Because of this and because the website map and course description would have kept me on-course had I followed them, I’ll take much of the blame, attributing just a small part of the blame to the missing course marshal.
When I arrived at the finish area the RD explained that many half marathoners had gotten lost, and about the missing course marshal. All in all, this did not, in my opinion mar an otherwise really well done race. The RD and his people did the best they could, and some days … well … best laid plans of mice and RDs.
Swag & Goodies:
Bib: The background of the bib has a sort of forested look (appropriately!) . The name of the race is at the top with the distances, the bib number is in the center, and the sponsors’ logos are across the bottom. Around all this information are silhouettes of Sassy scrambling all over the bib. Very nice.
T-Shirt: The race T-shirt is a nice bright medium blue tech T, with the silhouette of Sassy in the center, formed of words and phrases related to the race. Above Sassy are the race name, distances, and “2016”. On the back are the sponsors’ logos.
Finisher’s Medal: The medallion for the half marathon features a scrambling Sassy, the name of the race, and the year. Along an arc on the right of the medal is “Scrambled 13.1”, The medallion also has a bottle opener, plus Phillips and straight-blade screwdriver tips. Simple to describe, but very nice.
While Sasquatch Racing’s races are small in size, their finish area goodies are far from skimpy. That I remember, among other things: two flavors of Hint Water; two varieties of beer from a local craft brewery; several flavors of Crunch Culture Yogurt; oranges and bananas; Kettle Brand chips (I had Sriracha flavor); Perfect Bars; miscellaneous candies. Aid stations had water, SOS Rehydrate sports drink, oranges, and bananas.
My Results & Opinion of the Race:
I assume there are some who participated in the half marathon who are upset at the way things turned out, but I’m not one. It probably made an unfortunate impression on any half runners doing a Sasquatch race for the first time. As best I know, there were no glitches at all encountered by 10K or 5K runners. Only half marathoners were affected.
My personal view is that 2 of the four course information sources were right; one of the sources that runners rely on more, the course marshal for one turn, was not there; there were flags (the fourth course information source) from another race on the wrong trail that would mislead some one who went off-course (me!). So of the two fails, one was despite a second volunteer being sent (who got lost), and the other was something the RD could not anticipate. Had I followed the map and/or course description I would not have gone off-course, so I won’t dump all the blame on the RD. As for the missing course marshal and false flags, RDs are humans, not deities. Things happen that are beyond their ability to fix on-the-spot (and the RD did try!).
As things turned out (and with some backing and forthing on one section of trail), I covered about the same distance as the correct course, and the wrong trails I was on may have been a little more challenging than the right ones. All in all I’m very happy with my time. As another reviewer said, it was a really beautiful day, on a very beautiful set of trails.
Just breath in all that fresh air
Run among the Redwood trees and as you huff and puff up the hills take in that fresh and woodsy O2 made special by the surrounding forest. Sasquatch Racing is … MORE
Run among the Redwood trees and as you huff and puff up the hills take in that fresh and woodsy O2 made special by the surrounding forest. Sasquatch Racing is a smaller production of about 300 runners, snacks after the race are limited but the two quality beers makes up for it. This course was very pretty and felt like a Sunday morning very well spent. Had an ascent of 691ft I believe, so it felt more like a hike at a couple of points.
Great Trail Race!
I can't remember how I found about this race, but I'm glad that I did. Sasquatch Racing (the company that puts on this race and three others), is just two … MORE
I can’t remember how I found about this race, but I’m glad that I did. Sasquatch Racing (the company that puts on this race and three others), is just two guys in the Bay Area that want to expand trail running. I think they’re doing a great job because the 10K and 5K runners are a good mix of experienced and new runners.
The Sasquatch Scramble is in Redwood Regional and the 10K runs along Stream Trail up to Skyline Gate, back along West or East Ridge, and then back down to Stream. All their races are challenging. This 10K was a huge climb up to Skyline Gate that had me walking!! They’re good about flagging the course, and also almost always have someone on the course in a big gorilla costume.
About the swag and after-party. They have been giving out Brooks tech tees for their races, and there is always post-run beers. As a volunteer at one event, I even ended up with a case of beer that ended up being an ‘extra’. They also have a great relationship with a local sport massage place, and there are usually free massages post race.
All in all, these guys make a great course, give you lots of perks, and everyone is pretty chill.