I ran this race April 22, 2023. This is a very small, local race organized by the UCC church in Dover: there were only about 40 runners. It was well-organized … MORE
I ran this race April 22, 2023. This is a very small, local race organized by the UCC church in Dover: there were only about 40 runners. It was well-organized with minimal, but clear, instructions via email and on the website ahead of race day, and easy packet pick up on the morning of the race. I love the tshirt (I’m wearing right now, in fact); it’s one of my favorite race shirts in my adventures so far. Neither the tshirt or the medal have the date or year on them, I figure that it is because it’s such a small race, this saves some production costs (no big deal for me; I record in sharpie the race details on the back of my medals anyway). The post-race snacks were lovely: homemade chili, cookies, local pizza, and more, all hosted by church members. I got to meet Lorraine, who made the chili. 🙂 My only complaint with this race was the course: the route had runners running **with traffic** on the right-hand side of the road, on roads that were totally open to vehicles. If I were running in my neighborhood at home, I would have worn bright colors and been running safely on the left side, facing traffic. By contrast, this course felt unsafe. Trucks passed by us with barely an elbow’s length of space, and our backs were to oncoming traffic. Because the race was so small, runners were spread out and cars probably didn’t even know a race was taking place. The course was a major concern, and I’ll email the race director to let them know. Things would have been so much safer if they had directed runners to run against traffic on the left side (and giving us a heads up to wear brightly colored running gear would have been a good idea, too), but aid stations and volunteers were all located on the right-hand side, directing runners to stay to that side. Yikes. Other than this issue, the route was fine; nothing gorgeous or exciting, but a generally nice route through some town and country roads, crossing the Cochecho River twice. The course was mostly flat or rolling hills on paved roads, with the exception of a short trail section leading to a footbridge and one long hill at mile 8. We stayed in nearby Portsmouth, NH for the weekend, which I recommend. Overall, I probably wouldn’t run this race again, but did enjoy the overall low-key and friendly nature of the event.
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Small Local Race
I ran this race April 22, 2023. This is a very small, local race organized by the UCC church in Dover: there were only about 40 runners. It was well-organized … MORE
I ran this race April 22, 2023. This is a very small, local race organized by the UCC church in Dover: there were only about 40 runners. It was well-organized with minimal, but clear, instructions via email and on the website ahead of race day, and easy packet pick up on the morning of the race. I love the tshirt (I’m wearing right now, in fact); it’s one of my favorite race shirts in my adventures so far. Neither the tshirt or the medal have the date or year on them, I figure that it is because it’s such a small race, this saves some production costs (no big deal for me; I record in sharpie the race details on the back of my medals anyway). The post-race snacks were lovely: homemade chili, cookies, local pizza, and more, all hosted by church members. I got to meet Lorraine, who made the chili. 🙂 My only complaint with this race was the course: the route had runners running **with traffic** on the right-hand side of the road, on roads that were totally open to vehicles. If I were running in my neighborhood at home, I would have worn bright colors and been running safely on the left side, facing traffic. By contrast, this course felt unsafe. Trucks passed by us with barely an elbow’s length of space, and our backs were to oncoming traffic. Because the race was so small, runners were spread out and cars probably didn’t even know a race was taking place. The course was a major concern, and I’ll email the race director to let them know. Things would have been so much safer if they had directed runners to run against traffic on the left side (and giving us a heads up to wear brightly colored running gear would have been a good idea, too), but aid stations and volunteers were all located on the right-hand side, directing runners to stay to that side. Yikes. Other than this issue, the route was fine; nothing gorgeous or exciting, but a generally nice route through some town and country roads, crossing the Cochecho River twice. The course was mostly flat or rolling hills on paved roads, with the exception of a short trail section leading to a footbridge and one long hill at mile 8. We stayed in nearby Portsmouth, NH for the weekend, which I recommend. Overall, I probably wouldn’t run this race again, but did enjoy the overall low-key and friendly nature of the event.