It’s time again for the annual Fremont 50K. Mike Palmer, Catra Corbett, Jerry Roninger, and Chihping Fu, are inviting anyone who wants to come out and have a lot of fun. It will be the same basic course as prior years – inside Quarry Lakes, on Alameda Creek Trail, and …
MORE
It’s time again for the annual Fremont 50K. Mike Palmer, Catra Corbett, Jerry Roninger, and Chihping Fu, are inviting anyone who wants to come out and have a lot of fun. It will be the same basic course as prior years – inside Quarry Lakes, on Alameda Creek Trail, and inside Coyote Hills Park. You should carry at least 1 bottle and snacks. There is one aid station you pass twice and two mobile aid stations. It’s just a fun run, so no whining. There are places to get water about every 3-5 miles. Dogs, on leash, are welcome to run. We will provide detailed maps made by Jerry Roninger at the start.
The run begins and ends at Quarry Lakes, an East Bay Regional Park in Fremont. We’ll start from the Quarry Lakes parking area near the Ensenada Picnic Area (turn RIGHT immediately after you pass through the park entrance). The parking fee is $5.00; the parking lot at Quarry Lakes is the size of the lot for a major Big Box Retail shopping center so everyone will be accommodated. There are restrooms and drinking fountains near the large pagoda covered picnic areas.
If you don’t want to pay the park entrance fee, you may be able to park at the Isherwood Staging Area – although this place tends to fill up if the weather is nice.
LESS
Low-key 50K is FREE!
Oh my goodness, how can you beat free? This 50K (also known as the "Fremont Fat Ass 50K") is sponsored by Mike Palmer, Catra Corbett, Jerry Roninger, and Chihping Fu, … MORE
Oh my goodness, how can you beat free? This 50K (also known as the “Fremont Fat Ass 50K”) is sponsored by Mike Palmer, Catra Corbett, Jerry Roninger, and Chihping Fu, four veteran ultra runners who offer this race every year as a way to give back to the ultra running community.
The race is as bare bones as they get. There’s no timing chip, finisher’s arch, race shirt, race medal, or race pint glass. But who the heck cares? This race is FREE! You heard right; no dinero. Zilcho. Nada. Zero. The sponsors pay for the cost of putting on this race out of their own generous wallets.
And before you say “Well what kinds of costs do you have when you don’t give away any swag?” remember that this is an official race. You register for it at UltraSignup. They even upload the results to UltraSignup so your results are official. They pay for and go through the red tape to acquire the necessary permits from East Bay Regional Parks. And there are a few aid stations out there, where you get to meet the sponsors in person to thank them, and feast on real aid station food.
If you’re on a budget and can’t afford the $100+ that many ultra races charge for, want to participate as a way to say thank-you to the sponsors, need to put time on your feet for training for ultra races, or want to add a relatively “easy” 50k in your portfolio (elevation gains are on the lower end for a trail 50k), this is the way to do it!
The course starts at Quarry Lakes in Fremont, and takes you along the Alameda Creek Trail all the way over to Coyote Hills. There, you hit some elevation as you run around the trails there (although they are all paved) before you loop back around to the Alameda Creek Trail and run back to Quarry Lakes.