Campbell Oktoberfest Fun Run
Campbell, CA
- 10K, 5K, Kids Run
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Begin the Oktoberfest celebration in Campbell by striding into the annual Campbell Oktoberfest weekend with this family-friendly event featuring a 10K, 5K, and the 250-yard Kids’ Dash! Come out laden in lederhosen with your family and friends, and enjoy the courses along the popular Los Gator Creek Trail. After the … MORE
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Great Community Fun Run
Event & Course Description: The Oktoberfest Fun Run benefits the City of Campbell's Parks and Recreation Department. Both distances use the Los Gatos Creek Trail, and start in Campbell Park. … MORE
Event & Course Description: The Oktoberfest Fun Run benefits the City of Campbell’s Parks and Recreation Department. Both distances use the Los Gatos Creek Trail, and start in Campbell Park. The 5K, which I walked, went about a mile and a quarter, almost to Los Gatos Creek Park, crossed the creek on a bridge, ran past Campbell Park, turned around, and ran back, crossing a bridge into Campbell park. The 5K course is like a long, very squashed oval, with a short out-and-back tail. The 10K course (which I’ve done in past years) is out-and-back along one side of the creek, with a small loop on the other side through some marshy area instead of a turn-around. Except for this loop, both courses are paved, and are flat, except for some rolling near a street under-crossing.
The creek side of the trails has an almost rural feel, but the other side of the trail has well-landscaped condo complexes and a mobile home park along it. On the other side of the creek (from the 10K and out-bound 5K courses) is a freeway. The trail is lower in elevation from the freeway, so it isn’t too noisy or visually obtrusive.
Organization & Production: Campbell’s Parks and Rec people have been doing this and a Valentine themed event for quite a few years, so it’s well done. Registration is through the city’s online “store” (= no processing fee). Aid stations were well spaced for participants who aren’t experienced/frequent runners. I didn’t partake, but I did see a table with coffee and bagels in the start-finish area before the start of the event. Timing was done by SVE Timing, a very solid outfit. Finish times were posted online by early afternoon. Parking at the start/finish park is limited (possibly not enough for volunteers), but there is a large shopping and business park a quarter of a mile away that allows parking near business buildings not used during weekends.
Bib: The bibs were very pleasant, with tree themed artwork. 5K bibs had orange coloring, while 10K bibs had green coloring.
T-Shirt: The event Tee is dark gray poly-cotton. The artwork on the front has three silhouette people running past a water tower (the city’s symbol). The year is on the tower tank. Above the tower is the event name, and below the runners, the words “Campbell Recreation”. This is all in white, with a white shield-shaped outline. Around this in orange are two abstract wheat or barley stalks and another white outline. It’s a very nice event Tee.
Finisher’s Medal: When I did this event in 2019, there was no finisher’s medal (though the finisher’s steins are very nice, 😉 ). The event was not run in 2020, because Covid, and the 2021 event I did not do had a medal. The 2022 medallion has the shield shaped T-shirt artwork, with laurel leaves added along the side, and curled ribbons across the bottom with an oak leaf in the middle of the ribbons. The ribbon is dark gray, with orange stripes along the sides. The event name and the medallion artwork are along the ribbon between the stripes. All in all, a very nice finisher’s medal.
Finish & Recovery Area: I didn’t pay much attention to the finish area. There was a volunteer just past the arch handing out bottles of water, and a table nearby with more. The finish area was on a set of basketball courts, with grassy berms on two sides (to keep balls from rolling into streets). One berm has a low concrete wall, handy for sitting and resting. I suspect there were recovery goodies, I just didn’t go looking.
My Results & Opinion of the Race: I’ve been recovering and building back up from a muscle strain, so I wasn’t particularly aggressive, but my finish time was in the range I was hoping for. Campbell’s Oktoberfest Fun Run is very well done, very family-friendly (a kids run is part of the event, and I saw lots of child-parent pairs and runners with strollers), and 10 or fewer minutes drive from my house to the parking. I’ve done it before and probably will again. The only reason I haven’t done the corresponding Valentine themed event is that another organizer has an event I enjoy around the same time.
Your Basic Well-Done Community Run
Event & Course Description: Campbell’s Oktoberfest 10K & 5K Fun Run/Walk starts and finishes in Campbell Park near downtown Campbell, with the Los Gatos Creek Trail as a course. The … MORE
Event & Course Description: Campbell’s Oktoberfest 10K & 5K Fun Run/Walk starts and finishes in Campbell Park near downtown Campbell, with the Los Gatos Creek Trail as a course. The race is, as the name suggests, part of downtown Campbell’s Oktoberfest celebration as well as benefiting Campbell’s Parks & Rec Department. The 10K course, which I did, is an out-and-back with a ~1 1/4 mile loop added to the return leg. The 5K is an out-and-back.
Both distances started from the same point, 10 minutes apart. Just before going under San Tomas Expressway (STE), 5K runners crossed Los Gatos Creek on a bridge, returned toward the start (but on the other side of the creek), and crossed the creek again to run into Campbell Park. 10K runners kept going, under STE, past Los Gatos Creek Park, turning around just before reaching the Highway 85 freeway. About a third of the way back runners crossed the creek on a bridge, did a loop around a couple of ponds, and then crossed back to the trail back to the finish.
This part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail is almost all paved, wide enough and marked for two-way traffic, and close to flat. The weather in 2019 was near perfect, cool without being cold and mostly overcast. The 10K course is about 40%-50% shade.
Organization & Production: This event is what I call register-and-run. The website information is basically complete, registration is easy, and parking is readily available. A runner just needs to “worry” about getting there and doing their race. The course was well marked with orange arrows plus course marshals at a couple of key turns. There were two water-only aid stations, one about midway in the 5K course and another at the 10K turn-around. 10K runners would go through the first aid station twice. I was the last 10K finisher, and that aid station had no volunteers present when I passed it, though there was plenty of water.
Bib: The top of the bib is white, with the race logo in the left corner and the distance to the right. The middle has the bib number on a color-coded stripe, green for 10K and orange for 5K. Across the bottom is a narrow white stripe with the Campbell Parks & Rec Department url.
T-Shirt: The race T-shirt is olive green poly-cotton blend, very comfortable. The front has what looks like a running shoe footprint in white, though it has runners, a tree, and a wheat stalk worked into it. Toward the top of the shoe is the year in white and the name of the race in orange. Toward the bottom is a water tower, a symbol of the City of Campbell. On the back in white are sponsors’ logos.
Finisher’s Medal: Because of the Oktoberfest theme and festival nearby, adult finishers over age 21 received off-white ceramic beer steins. One side of the stein has the race logo, which includes the race name, runners, a tree (“The Orchard City” is the city’s nickname), and a water tower. On the other side is a guy with a head like the water tower wearing lederhosen with a stein of beer in one hand, and on the other arm carrying all sorts of edibles (including wurst!).
Children and adults under age 21 received a medal. The medallion is off-the-shelf, fairly simple, and black. In the center is a custom-printed sticker with the race logo on a brown background and surrounded by leaves in fall colors. I’m spoiled and tend to dislike this kind of finisher’s medal, but the black medallion makes the very colorful sticker the “star”, and the overall effect is very nice. The ribbon has a black and an orange stripe along its length.
Finish & Recovery Area: By the time I finished, just under two hours, the finish area was mostly packed up and some exhibitors were gone already. There was plenty of water available and helpful volunteers (I received two steins and a finisher’s medal, which was a bit of consolation as well as a convenience to the race people – less stuff to pack up). The finish area was a set of basketball courts, but there were places people could sit down to rest if they wanted.
My Results & Opinion of the Race: I was OK with my finish time, possibly a bit better than I deserved. I was a bit concerned that the volunteers were no longer at the last aid station when I passed through. It suggested that no one was keeping track of whether any runners were still on the course, a possible safety issue. However it was located at a park, where the volunteers and other people might have been nearby (I did go by a family who were there to use the dog park). Other than that concern, this was a very well organized family oriented event. Would I do this even again? I did it before in 2015 and the parking area I used was 5-10 minutes from my home. I certainly would consider it in the future, and the City of Campbell has a Valentines Day themed event in February that I also consider when I plan out what races I do.
Beer Me!
This was my first race since I'd started actually running again back in June, so I was a bit nervous. I went out too fast, but managed to reign it … MORE
This was my first race since I’d started actually running again back in June, so I was a bit nervous. I went out too fast, but managed to reign it in within the first mile or so. The second mile felt pretty good and while I was starting to feel it a bit in the third, I pushed as hard as I could.
I’d hoped to get under a 30 minute 5k (something I didn’t think possible even a month or so previous), so I was really happy with this result.
This was a fun race with great participation and a fun vibe. My biggest complaint is that the beer steins promised to participants ran out immediately and I didn’t get one. That did not prevent me from enjoying a post-run beer downtown.
Very Pleasant & Relaxed Local Race
Campbell's Oktoberfest 10K & 5K Fun Run/Walk starts and finishes in Campbell Park near downtown Campbell, with the Los Gatos Creek Trail as a course. The race is, as the … MORE
Campbell’s Oktoberfest 10K & 5K Fun Run/Walk starts and finishes in Campbell Park near downtown Campbell, with the Los Gatos Creek Trail as a course. The race is, as the name suggests, part of downtown Campbell’s Oktoberfest celebration. Both the 5K and the 10K are out-and-back courses.
The 5K course proceeds upstream on the Winchester Blvd. side of the creek, crosses to the Highway 17 side of the Creek just before the Camden Ave. undercrossing, goes past Campbell Park, turns around near Creekside Wy, and returns to Campbell Park. There is an aid station just after crossing to the Highway 17 side of the Creek.
The 10K course proceeds upstream on the Winchester Blvd. side of the creek, passes through Los Gatos Creek Park, goes under Highway 85, and turns around near Lark Ave.. From the turn-around, the course goes under Highway 85 again, crosses the creek near Los Gatos Creek Park for a short loop, crosses again, passing through that park again, and returns to Campbell Park. The aid stations are in the Los Gatos Creek Park and just before the Lark Ave. turn-around.
The course is fairly flat, with some some gentle ups and downs and a couple of “hills” where the trail passes under Camden Ave. and Highway 85. It is generally uphill as one goes upstream, and is paved and fairly wide. The ~1/4 mile loop in the 10K course was mostly unpaved. The course has a fair amount of shade, especially on the Winchester side of the creek. The Los Gatos Creek Trail is not knock-your-eyes-out beautiful, but it’s a very pleasant suburban greenway trail.
Organization & Production:
* Easy, well organized pre-race packet pick-up at Campbell Sports Basement.
* Free parking about 1/3 mile from the the start area, at The Pruneyard.
* Pleasant, well organized start/finish area; sponsor Whole Foods had goodies available before the race; Whole Foods and Buffalo Wild Wings had food available for finishers.
* The start corral area for the 10K was a bit crowded.
* Easy to see mile markers at every mile. Volunteers directing traffic at every turn.
* Water-only aid stations. Plenty of volunteers at the stations.
* Bottled water – not cold, but pleasantly cool – available in the finish area, even late in the race, as well as goodies from sponsors.
Swag & Goodies:
* Black tech type short-sleeved T-shirt with lime green inset stripes at the sides and along the top of the shoulders; nice color race logo and date on the front; race name, symbols of the City of Campbell and logos of sponsors on the back. Very. Nice!
* The bib has the race logo (no date), the distance in numbers & letters and color-coded in the background of the bib number.
* No finisher’s medal.
My Results & Opinion of the Race:
I was very satisfied with my finish time, and found the race generally pleasant. The Los Gatos Creek Trail is my “home” trail, and after using to for nearly 2 years I’m not tired of it. I finished fairly late, and both Whole Foods and Buffalo Wild Wings still had plenty of food available.
In some ways, Campbell’s Oktoberfest 10K & 5K Fun Run/Walk is very basic – water-only aid stations, no finisher’s medal. In other ways it’s better than average. It’s definitely well organized and family friendly. The race benefited the Los Gatos Creek Trail and the restoration/upkeep of the par course along the trail. The atmosphere in the start/finish area was very relaxed and pleasant. I generally reserve 5-shoe reviews for races that have fairly amazing courses and organization, so giving this race a 4-shoe review means I thought it’s a very nice and well done race. I am considering doing Campbell’s Oktoberfest 10K & 5K again in 2016, and am also considering doing Campbell’s corresponding Valentine’s race.