Event & Course Description: The Big Bunny 5K benefits City of Cupertino Recreation department, and is run in the neighborhood of the City Hall. The start is on the street … MORE
Event & Course Description: The Big Bunny 5K benefits City of Cupertino Recreation department, and is run in the neighborhood of the City Hall. The start is on the street in front of City Hall and runs along the street and turns toward neighborhood streets, Runners do a loop around and through neighborhoods and then return down the street on which they started, to where they started.
Organization & Production: The event website has complete information – course map, schedule, where to park, packet pick-up time and location, etc.. There were numerous course marshals and some police or sheriff’s officers at key intersections.
Bib: The bib has two (almost electric) blue stripes bordering a broad (very) pink stripe, which has the bib number and the event date. The upper blue stripe had the race name in pink, with a bunny for the “U” in “BUNNY”.
T-Shirt: The race Tee is light blue poly-cotton with the race name in large, (very) pink block letters. The “U” in “BUNNY” is an open Easter egg with a bunny popping up out of it. On the back, in white, is the logo for the City of Cupertino. Nothing fancy, but cute.
Finisher’s Medal: The finisher’s medallion is a rectangle, with the race logo described above on a light blue background. The ribbon has the race name, including a bunny, but what is eye-catching is that the color ombre-fades along its length from pink to light blue. The ribbon also has, lightly, eggs, flowers, and tree branches. Definitely very nice for a medium-sized (367 finishers) community fun run.
Finish & Recovery Area: The finish and recovery area was the Civic Center Plaza beside City Hall. The recovery area has quite a few benches for seating. A first aid station was in the area, as well as tables with water and half a billion bananas (would you believe I counted them?). Finisher’s medals were given out at a table rather than at the finishing arch.
My Results & Opinion of the Race: I pushed myself a bit more than a couple of weeks ago, and was quite happy with my finish time (a fairly flat course and an unobstructed finishing arch helped). This was the third time I’ve done this event, though not since 2018. It’s not a destination or must-do event, but it’s a well run community event and I may do it again in the future.
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The Bunny is Back!
Event & Course Description: The Big Bunny 5K benefits City of Cupertino Recreation department, and is run in the neighborhood of the City Hall. The start is on the street … MORE
Event & Course Description: The Big Bunny 5K benefits City of Cupertino Recreation department, and is run in the neighborhood of the City Hall. The start is on the street in front of City Hall and runs along the street and turns toward neighborhood streets, Runners do a loop around and through neighborhoods and then return down the street on which they started, to where they started.
Organization & Production: The event website has complete information – course map, schedule, where to park, packet pick-up time and location, etc.. There were numerous course marshals and some police or sheriff’s officers at key intersections.
Bib: The bib has two (almost electric) blue stripes bordering a broad (very) pink stripe, which has the bib number and the event date. The upper blue stripe had the race name in pink, with a bunny for the “U” in “BUNNY”.
T-Shirt: The race Tee is light blue poly-cotton with the race name in large, (very) pink block letters. The “U” in “BUNNY” is an open Easter egg with a bunny popping up out of it. On the back, in white, is the logo for the City of Cupertino. Nothing fancy, but cute.
Finisher’s Medal: The finisher’s medallion is a rectangle, with the race logo described above on a light blue background. The ribbon has the race name, including a bunny, but what is eye-catching is that the color ombre-fades along its length from pink to light blue. The ribbon also has, lightly, eggs, flowers, and tree branches. Definitely very nice for a medium-sized (367 finishers) community fun run.
Finish & Recovery Area: The finish and recovery area was the Civic Center Plaza beside City Hall. The recovery area has quite a few benches for seating. A first aid station was in the area, as well as tables with water and half a billion bananas (would you believe I counted them?). Finisher’s medals were given out at a table rather than at the finishing arch.
My Results & Opinion of the Race: I pushed myself a bit more than a couple of weeks ago, and was quite happy with my finish time (a fairly flat course and an unobstructed finishing arch helped). This was the third time I’ve done this event, though not since 2018. It’s not a destination or must-do event, but it’s a well run community event and I may do it again in the future.
Well Done No-Frills Hop Thru Appletino
Event & Course Description: The 2018 Big Bunny 5K course was much the same as in 2016. My 2016 Rave describes it well. It's a ”lollipop” with an eccentric loop … MORE
Event & Course Description: The 2018 Big Bunny 5K course was much the same as in 2016. My 2016 Rave describes it well. It’s a ”lollipop” with an eccentric loop and a bent start and finish stick. The neighborhood is reasonably pleasant, but the most interesting/unusual thing I saw was a faux-woody Ford Pinto station wagon. 2018’s race was a fundraiser for a charity that digs wells for towns and villages in nations outside of the US that do not have a safe source of water.
Organization & Production: As I stated in my headline, this was a no frills race, but done well. There were police and volunteers all along the course. Going off course was almost not an option. As in 2016 there was a single water-only aid station at about mile 2. First aid was also available at the aid station. There were signs marking miles 1, 2, and 3.
Swag & Goodies: Immediately on finishing one went past a first aid table, where bottles of cool water were available. Rather than giving out finisher’s medals in the finish chute they are given out at an easily spotted table in the recovery area. One of the sponsors was handing out snacks before the race, and presumably after. I didn’t see – but did not look for – other recovery goodies. The recovery area was a spacious lawn between the Cupertino Community Center building and the street where the start/finish arch was located. There was some seating.
Bib: The bib is similar to 2016. The background is white. Across the top is a hot pink stripe with the race name, except the “U” is a smiling pink bunny’s face. Across the bottom are several sponsors’ logos. In the middle are the bib number, in blue, and the runner’s name, in pink … well … . A funny thing happened at the printer. Many, but not all, bibs got the wrong person’s name printed on it. The timing stuff on the back had the correct number and name, but the bib front got the wrong name. I assume that by the time the race organizer people realized what had happened bibs could not be redone. Best laid plans of mice and bunnies …
T-Shirt: As in 2016 the race T-shirt is cotton, bright sky blue. At the front, where a pocket might be is printed a pink square filled with rows of little white bunny faces. An interesting idea, but the effect might have been better were the square and bunnies 10%-20% larger. But it’s a nice T-shirt.
Finisher’s Medal: I do not know what the 2017 finisher’s medal looked like, but the 2018 medal is a very nice step up from 2016. 2016’s medal was a standard medallion with a nice race-specific sticker in the middle. The 2018 medal is larger and looks custom made. It’s a sky blue Easter egg with pink stripes and small white polka dots. On the egg is the race name in white, with the bunny face “U”. At the top of the Easter egg are pink and white bunny ears. In contrast to 2016’s plain royal blue ribbon, the 2018 ribbon is hot pink, with the race name twice (with the bunny face “U”) and several white bunny faces in between. It’s going to be among my favorites!
My Results & Opinion of the Race: People with a very wide range of abilities ran the Big Bunny 5K. The first 12 finishers had times under 20 minutes, and the first 4 were under 18. On the other hand, as slow as I am (just under 51 minutes) 120 people finished after I did. The race has a very family oriented feel, in the start and finish area, as well as parent-child pairs and entire families running the race together.
The Big Bunny 5K is a race for a charity. So if it’s a little Spartan that means a bit more money goes to the charity. That aside, everything is well organized from the website to registering to doing the race. It’s a get there, run, and go home race with zero complications or unpleasant surprises. I’d hop on by the Big Bunny 5K again.
A Well-Organized Hop Thru Cupertino
Course Description: The Big Bunny Fun Run starts and finishes at the Cupertino Civic Center. It starts and ends on the same streets, and loops around some nice residential neighborhoods … MORE
Course Description:
The Big Bunny Fun Run starts and finishes at the Cupertino Civic Center. It starts and ends on the same streets, and loops around some nice residential neighborhoods and next to two parks. The surface is city street, pretty much flat, with a water station near mile 2.
Organization & Production:
The race information on the website is useful and complete. Signing up online was easy. I went to the Friday pre-race packet pick-up, and they had started early – the process was simple and smooth. Race day parking was free, and even an hour and a half before start time there were signs directing participants to the parking garage.
Both the start and finish were timed. I self-corralled mid-pack (there were 4 signs with average paces to help the process). The start/finish arch seemed a bit narrow to me, but it didn’t end up being much of a bottleneck.
The course was well-marked, with numerous volunteers, sheriff’s deputies, barricades, and cones all along the course. The course was pretty well isolated from vehicles, except for residents of the streets along the course (who were not a problem). Course maps were provided, but one would have had to try very hard to go off-course.
The finish area was the civic center plaza, and there were pavilions for the various sponsors. There was bottled water a bit past the finish arch, and I remember seeing oranges, bananas, and some snack bars. One of the sponsors was a coffee company, who had coffee available before, during, and after the race. Part of every race bib was a tear-off ticket for a finisher’s medal, and these were distributed at a table 10 or 20 yards from the finish arch. When I finished, the line seemed long, but it only took 2 or 3 minutes. The volunteers were fast!
Swag & Goodies:
Bib: The bib has a broad light blue center stripe, with white upper and lower borders. On the upper border is “2016 BIG BUNNY 5K” in pink, with blue bunnies on either side. On the blue stripe are the bib number and the runner’s family name in white characters. Across the bottom are the logos of the sponsors, the City of Cupertino, and the charity beneficiary.
T-Shirt: The race T-shirt is very bright pink cotton, has a drawing of a bunny’s face, is very bright pink, has “2016 BIG BUNNY 5K” below the bunny, and is very bright pink. Oh! Did I mention … the T-shirt is very bright pink? It’s very bright pink. Seriously, this very bright pink T-shirt is pretty nice … and …
Finisher’s Medal: The finisher’s medal is a semi-custom off-the-shelf. The medallion is gold colored, round, with stars around the edge. In the center is a printed sticker with a smiling bunny, the race name above the bunny, the distance between the bunny’s ears, and “2016” below the bunny, all on a bright light blue background. The ribbon is bright medium blue. For a local charity race, it’s a very attractive medal.
My Results & Opinion of the Race:
My finish time was a PR. I think this was my third timed 5K, but my previous PR time was from a race just 4 months ago, so I’m pretty happy with how I did. All in all, the Big Bunny Fun Run was a really well done local charity race. The organizational details were pretty much flawless. The race also attracted some pretty fast runners, so only the mascot was fluffy. Very family friendly! I would definitely consider running the Big Bunny again.