Cape Ann TripleThreat Half Marathon

This is race produced by YukanRun a race company that hold many half marathons and some shorter races in Northeast Massachusetts generally near the coast. This race takes place in Rockport right on the tip that sticks out northeast of Boston. It is a pretty close race for me and a little over an hour drive so this was very convenient for me but my feelings on the race were mixed. I agree with the review below about most of the negatives but the race company did fix a few of them so they seem open to feedback which is great. In terms of communication, they sent emails that basically said refer to the website but the website was very updated and helpful so that is fine. They seemed to fix the parking situation by having runners park at a park and ride and providing a shuttle. The park and ride is about 1.5 miles from the race start so you could use it as a warm up but the shuttles were very convenient. The race starts at a school. There is also parking at the school but it was packed by the time I arrived and I would only use it if you are doing the earlier races and arriving very early. There is only race day packet pick-up at the school. One annoying thing about this is there is no bag check so if you do the park and ride, you have to either take your swag with you or you have to put your swag down somewhere and hope no one accidentally takes it. Swag included a tech shirt. It was a bit plain but nice material and I did like the color this year. It was a nice light blue. You also got a drawstring bag with a collapsible water bottle and an energy gel. The swag was adequate and pretty average but not so nice that I would be really upset if someone accidently swiped mine so I left it behind a rock and did not take it with me during the race(don’t worry it was there when I returned). There seemed to be enough porta potties this year. I didn’t have any long wait. Probably the biggest issue with this race is how late it starts for the summer. This is called “triple threat” because there is a three race challenge where you run the 1 miler, the 5K and the half marathon consecutively. While the challenge sounds fun I did not opt for this challenge mostly because of the chance of hot weather. I did not think I could finish the challenge if it were 85 degrees and it was so I’m glad I didn’t do it. As a result of the challenge the half marathon starts at 9:15 which is way too late for the summer (although I won’t lie after my 4am wake-up yesterday I didn’t mind the extra sleep). Race day was a beautiful, sunny day and if the race started at 7am most of it would be in lovely weather and only the end would be hot but at 9:15 it was already hot and by noon it was very, very, very hot. I believe the challenge is designed as a training run for people doing fall marathons but I really wish this race was swapped with another race to the fall so it could be in cooler weather or that there could be an early start option for those doing the half marathon not doing the challenge (perhaps make it not awards eligible to be fair to those starting at the usual later time). The start was okay but it was just the runners line up and go. I stood at what seemed to be the back but a bunch of runners lined up behind me last minute so I ended up being a little closer to the front than I meant to be since there were no signs indicating where to sign up. One thing I loved about this race was the scenery. This is one of the most scenic courses I have done in New England. The majority of it was right along the beach and through beautiful neighborhoods. This was the beach I was expecting in Maine. The course is mostly an out and back with two small loops at either end so kind of dumbbell shaped. The other big issue with this race besides the late start time is it is open to traffic. The first about 3 miles were fine on quiet beach streets. I occasionally used the sidewalk but didn’t really have to. There is one small dirt section here that is mentioned in the course description the rest is paved. However around miles 4 to 6 you are on a rather busy roads most of which did not have sidewalks. To make matters worse many middle of the packers were coming back as I was going out which made it very cramped. The runners coming back were going with traffic. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to cross the street but it didn’t feel safe to run with traffic when most vehicles would be paying attention to the large herd of runners and may miss the lone slow poke. Another slower runner caught up with me and told me she switched sides as she almost got hit by a car running with traffic. Then there is a nice, beachy loop around mile 6 with less traffic then back to the traffic road, then finally back to the quiet street. The end is a loop through town. There is medium traffic but there were sidewalks here. The rest of the race production was fine but rather barebones. I’m guessing it was hard to get a ton of volunteers so some of the course is just marked with signs. I was always able to follow the signs and did get lost and there were volunteers at the most confusing sections but not everywhere so it’s a definitely a race someone could get lost on. I would recommend downloading the racejoy app if you are prone to getting lost as it will let you know if your off course. I also did see race officials patrolling the course keeping track of the runners so they did as much as they could to keep it safe in these conditions. Aid stations were good. They were located every 2 miles. I’d prefer more in the heat but usually that is plenty and the race instructions did recommend carrying water. Aid stations had water (in larger cups this year than described below), gatorade and gels. There is a 3 hour time limit. I did see finishing times of over 4 hours last year so I wasn’t overly concerned as I thought as long as it wasn’t really hot I’d at least be close but it was really hot and I was not very close to the time limit. Don’t worry they did let me finish and they did not take down any direction signs. The last aid station was packed away since I was over the time limit but it was very smart what they did. The volunteers left but the table was there with most of the supplies packed in boxes but a few water jugs and cups left out for slower runners still on course and the gels were boxed up but accessible. While I’d love for the aid stations to be 100% open I was over the time limit and I understand volunteer safety and time constraints so this seemed very fair. The finish line was like this as well. I ended up finishing well over 3 hours but just under 3:30 and the last finisher was about 3:50 so don’t worry too much about the time limit. I laughed because the race did almost exactly what I said the Yankee Homecoming race should do for slow runners in that review as a compromise although luckily this race did not run out of medals. The medal was fine but a bit generic. I think they use the same medal for most races but the ribbon is race specific. It has the shape of Massachusetts on it so it’s not the worst 50 state medal. At the finish line most of it was packed up and it wasn’t too exciting but a few people were there to cheer and congratulate me. The snacks were mostly packed up but they left some water bottles out and left the boxes on the table so you could open them and take some snacks. This was not the most back of the pack friendly race or the most exciting finish but as a compromise between runners needs and volunteer/staff needs this all seemed a fair compromise and I was slower than the stated time limited. But as a result I would not recommend this race to back of the packers if you are looking for a race with more fanfare such as your first half marathon, 50th state, 100th half marathon etc. As a back of the packer looking to check off another race to get closer to 100 I was fine with this. Overall I thought this race was fine. It was a beautiful course and a convenient location for me. I do wish it was earlier, had closed roads or at least was on less busy roads and had a longer time limit. I’ve heard similar feedback about other Yukan races. Since I am close by I’d do this race or another Yukan race again if there aren’t many other options within driving distance. But this wouldn’t be my first choice for 50 staters or a race I’d recommend traveling several hours for unless you are looking for a double with Beach to Beacon as that race is worth a trek.