Belmont Water Dog Run
Belmont, CA
- 10K, 5K, Kids Run
- Road (Paved), Trail (Unpaved)
- Official race website
The Belmont Water Dog Run is a non-profit community run & walk that supports awareness and increases funding for local education. Run or walk with family and friends knowing that your participation benefits students and teachers.
Local Historical Weather (Sep 27):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 73 | 84 | 74 | 67 | 71 |
| L (°F) | 59 | 57 | 60 | 56 | 57 |
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Very Nice Community Charity Run
Event & Course Description: The Belmont Water Dog Run has two distances, 5K and 10K (which I did). It's run in the city of Belmont, and part of the 10K … MORE
Event & Course Description: The Belmont Water Dog Run has two distances, 5K and 10K (which I did). It’s run in the city of Belmont, and part of the 10K course goes through Water Dog Lake Park.
Both courses are out-and-back, with the two distances sharing the 5K course. The start and finish are in an area behind the Belmont City Hall. Runners follow Ralston Avenue to a shopping center just before Avenida de las Pulgas (love that name!) and do a loop through it. 5K runners turn left onto the Avenida, turn left onto El Verano Way, left onto Ladera Way, merge onto Maywood Drive, and then take Ralston back to the finish. The 5K is entirely on city streets.
10K runners turn right from the shopping center onto the Avenida and go back to Ralston. Ralston Avenue is then followed to Lyall Way, and then to the Water Dog Lake Trailhead. Lake Road Trail winds through Water Dog Lake Park, goes past the lake, and runners turn around near where they meet the John Brooks Trail. They then retrace their steps back to Avenida de las Pulgas, turn right, and then follow the route starting with El Verano that 5K runners took to the finish.
So about half of the 10K and all of the 5K are on city streets. Boring? Not really. Even though Ralston Avenue is a main artery, the course went mainly through a residential area, with homes I’d guess were built in the 1930s or 1940s. More to the point, there were lots of mature evergreens, nice visually and nice for shade. The part of the 10K course that 5K runners didn’t do was an unpaved trail with lots of close trees (more shade!). Except near the entrance to Water Dog Lake Park, few buildings were visible from the trail, other than some homes in the distance. Whether on streets or in Water Dog Lake Park, this was a pretty scenic event for both distances. What surprised me a bit, being less than well prepared mentally (I’m usually very mental!), was that the first half was almost entirely uphill. It wasn’t super steep, but the sort of uphill grade that slows and wears. On the other hand, except for a very brief steep hill, the inbound course was mostly downhill.
Organization & Production: I’m going to say up front, some of what follows has to be taken with a Covid-sized and -shaped block of salt, and keeping in mind that this was a small-medium sized charity event. That’s a convoluted way of saying that there were some information/communication things that could have been done better, and probably would have, had this been a normal year.
Because the event had to be put together very quickly, some things weren’t nailed down until within a few weeks of the event. As a result, the website couldn’t be updated, and much important information was communicated in mass emails a couple of weeks before the event (being a first-timer and a bit of a Nervous Nellie, I exchanged several emails with the Race Director (RD), who was VERY helpful). Assuming, as seems reasonable from what I saw, there will be a next year, I’m sure communication will be much improved.
Now, race day. Because Covid, officially there was no race day packet pick-up. One of the things I was able to set up with the RD was for me to be able to do that anyway. I doubt I was the only one. So I showed up I bit before 6:30 AM (free parking, 3 or 4 blocks from the event), and my bib and shirt were there.
Event timing was done by SVETiming, so the start/finish area was appropriately situated and set up. The course was well marked with chalk, coned off areas on streets, signs, and course marshal volunteers plus police officers. Once on the park trail, there were few possible wrong turns, and these were coned off. Pay attention to arrows and signs, don’t wander into car traffic, and a runner would have no problems following the course.
For 10K runners, there were 3 aid stations, reasonably located and spaced. All were well staffed with friendly volunteers and offered both water and electrolyte drink. What a runner saw and experienced in starting and on course was as well done as any running event.
Bib: Bibs were not personalized (I’m fine with that, personalized bibs cost more $$). The bibs were color-coded, green background for 10K and blue for 5K. The green background surrounds a white rectangle that has the bib number. The background has several “B” logos, the letter partly formed with a dog’s head and neck silhouette, along both sides of the white space. Across the top in distance colors was the distance, and across the bottom the race name and the date. Only the bib has the event date.
T-Shirt: The race T-shirt is gray, tech type. The front has “BMT WTR DOG RUN”, groups of three white block-letters arranged vertically. The “B” is the dog’s neck and head logo. The back is is plain.
Finisher’s Medal: The medallion has the letter “B” logo in blue, surrounded by a silver metal ring. Around the top half of the ring are “COMMUNITY * AWARENESS * EDUCATION” and around the bottom are the several distances and special events (a children’s fun run and a “Fido Mile”). The top and bottom legends are separated by little white doggie bones. The ribbon has a sky blue center, with gray, darker blue, and gray stripes along both borders. The center has little education-oriented drawings, and along the center section are the event name and the distances and special events. Definitely a nicer medal than I would expect at a charity event!
Finish & Recovery Area: The finish area and the surrounding area are an open space between the Belmont City Hall and the Belmont Historical Society building. Finishers went through the arch, received their medal, and received a baggie with some fruit and a snack. There wasn’t any seating, but that’s the nature of the area. There were also a good number of portacans in the area.
My Results & Opinion of the Race: My finish time was around my optimistic goal finish time and on a course that was a bit tougher than I expected. So I’m very happy with that.
I do not judge hugemongous national organization’s, local organizers’, and charity races the same way. What I expect is proportioned to the nature of the event. That said, while my overall experience might have been less than what normally had been done (this was the 4th running), because Covid, I will definitely consider doing the Belmont Water Dog Run next year. My bottom line is that the 2021 Belmont Water Dog Run was a really well done family-friendly community charity event.