Marina Bay Riveter Half Marathon
Richmond, CA
- Half Marathon, 10K, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
2020 EVENT CANCELED, offering virtual race option. *** Are you ready? Ready to test your limits, your mettle? Are you up for the challenge? A chance to break your own barriers and find your inner steel? Then sign up today for THE RIVETER! Starting and finishing at the majestic Craneway … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Jun 20):
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
| H (°F) | 76 | 63 | 66 | 76 | 81 |
| L (°F) | 57 | 54 | 53 | 58 | 57 |
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U-Turn Overdrive
This is definitely a beginner friendly race for all the first time half marathon runners. It is fast and probably the flattest course you can ever ask for a half … MORE
This is definitely a beginner friendly race for all the first time half marathon runners. It is fast and probably the flattest course you can ever ask for a half marathon. We had the perfect temperature. Perfect for first timers to get a great PR. But for a seasoned runner, I bet you the differ.
Difficulty: As i have pointed out, it is fast and flat. You can hardly go wrong with that. So you would think… but there are about 5 turnaround points in the mere 13.1miles course. That’s a sore eye for a long distance runners. You have to brake so many times in the race, which makes energy conservation extra-inefficient. I personally hated this course because of that. I prefer loop course or point-to-point course.
Scenery: The course is primarily along the shoreline of Richmond. It’s hard to beat the beauty of the ocean view while strolling down the paved trail. The only upgrade to this would be a coastal trail without all the infrastructures.
Production: The race went super smoothly. The only shortcoming I would like to make a note of is the post-race award. There’s no tent or station with a sign to tell winners to claim any awards even though it was stated on the website about award availability. You have to ask around to track down the one person who has the awards kept away in the hidden treasure chest. Unfortunately, it appears the race organizer does not think runners are interested in competing for awards at all.
Swag: For all participants, you receive a tech tee and a medal. Though the design of the medal was mediocre, the coolest takeaway item from this race is a custom-printed Buff. That’s special compared to other races.
Performance: As I mentioned, it’s a fast and easy course. But for someone has several half marathons in his belt, I did not get my PR. I blame it all to the poor course design. After all, I have never been a fan of flat course anyway.
So there you have it. If you like to make U-turns, this is the race for you 😉
Mediocre race with GREAT swag
I ran the inaugural version of this race three years ago. Compared to it, the race has gotten much better. There were no egregious issues this time (at the inaugural, … MORE
I ran the inaugural version of this race three years ago. Compared to it, the race has gotten much better. There were no egregious issues this time (at the inaugural, they had no water at the finish line; we were told the water distributor never showed up, but to me that’s not really excusable because race directors need to have back-up plans for anything that could cause medical issues like that), although things are still rough around the edges.
The good:
1) The swag is pretty good. The inaugural race shirt was dye sublimated and pretty awesome (we still wear it) but they’ve since switched to the cheapest shiny tech fabric that’s silk-screened, but it is gender-specific. However, the finisher’s medal is pretty hefty and substantial, and you get a string bag AND a neck gaiter! Not many races give you a string bag much less a neck gaiter. I don’t even think those were listed at their website so they were a very pleasant surprise.
2) If you did the 5K, 10K, or finished the half-marathon by a finish time of around 2:15 or so, there was a TON of post-race food right near the finish line area. The race director here I think did something really clever; he got a lot of food and beverage sponsors for the race, and had them set up tables to provide free samples as your post-race fuel. When I came through, they had bottles of almond milk (coffee flavored; yum), coconut water, rehydration fruity water, “hint” brand water, granola bars, oatmeal squeeze packs, “bai” brand fruit juice, samples of Tillamook ice cream, and more I don’t remember. It was essentially a smorgasbord.
The vendors were VERY liberal giving out the goodies. The only down side is that I don’t think they were setting anything aside for half-marathoners who took longer than say 2:15 or so. By the time the 2:30 folks were coming in (and that’s not a really slow pace in the big picture; that’s a 12-minute-mile pace), a lot of the vendors were running low on stuff.
That’s what happens when the vendors just load up their tables and it turns into a free-for-all. Maybe set some aside for the slower folks for next time?
3) They actually had a race announcer/emcee, which was kind of nice.
4) Ample free parking all around.
5) Tons of aid stations (every 1.5 miles?), all well-staffed and equipped with both water and power drink. Some had fuel gel packs. Some of the aid stations had porta-potties as well.
6) Pacers: They used Tri-Valley Running Club pacers for 9 finish times, and they are pretty spot-on about meeting their time. If you want to finish at a specific time, stick to a pacer and you’ll do great. This is not something all road races provide, so it’s a big plus.
The Bad (or as I call it, the “still rough around the edges”)
1) Early bib pick-up was available the day before the race, but only for a 3-hour window (10 am to 1 pm). This window was so short there was no way we could pick up our bibs in advance. Maybe in the future, have it available until late afternoon for folks who have to work, or have other obligations?
2) Day-of-race bib pick-up: The race email warned us the line may be long, so we showed up early. The pick-up table had only one person working it, and the line was incredibly slow for a couple of reasons. The table was also accepting day-of registrations, which take a while (and it looked like the person was not multi-tasking. They also did not have a paper print-out of the list of people’s names and bib numbers. Instead, they had three laptops at the table, and you were expected to type in your name and look up your bib number. If the race director just printed out multiple sheets of this information and taped it up outside, people would walk in knowing their bib numbers and it would have been a little smoother.
The person was supposed to also grab their race shirts, but the line was getting so long that they were telling us to come back after the race. However they did not note anywhere who picked up their shirts and who didn’t… could you imagine coming back and having them run out of your size?
Fortunately for us we came back after going upstairs to use the restroom, and a second helper was there distributing the shirts.
[As an aside, speaking of shirts–the volunteers all got a different shirt that was a different color. These volunteer shirts were in open boxes upstairs on the way to the restroom. The boxes were unmarked, and runners were walking by just grabbing them.]
3) There were no signs of any toilet paper in the porta potties at the starting area. I don’t know if they ran out early, but that’s just crazy. I don’t know how much extra toilet paper costs but let’s stock a ton of extra rolls.
4) The course. I’m actually listing this under the “bad” section because, while it’s generally scenic and the course is pretty flat, it has a TON of out-and-back segments, especially on the way back. There are other races along this course (including the Brazen Racing’s Victory Half) and they just extend the course out farther. Instead, you’ve got all of these dinky spurs; I suspect it’s designed that way so they don’t have to pay for extra road closures or police traffic monitors out towards Costco.
But what it means is that although this course is flat, it’s not as fast as you might expect. There were at least six places where you had to make a hard 180-degree turn around cones. At each of those, you have to slow down.
General thoughts:
I think they ironed out a lot of the issues they had since their inaugural race. I don’t think they’ve quite worked everything out, but those things to me are more minor annoyances than anything else. If you’re looking for a flat course with nice scenery, this is a nice small race with shorter distances so everyone in your group can pick their favorite distance.
The Bay Area is FULL of great races, though, so competition’s pretty tough for race organizers to put on a successful one that’s really organized well and runs really smoothly. Maybe one day they’ll get there with this race.