This was the inaugural year for this 5K produced by Willow Running. It is located in Weedsport NY which is about an hour east of Rochester and benefits the Weedsport … MORE
This was the inaugural year for this 5K produced by Willow Running. It is located in Weedsport NY which is about an hour east of Rochester and benefits the Weedsport fire department. They choose a convenient day for the race since I was planning to actually stay home this weekend and was looking for a short race within driving distance on Saturday. There was Friday packet pick-up but it’s kind of a far drive so I got my packet the morning of the race. Like most Willow Running events, the shirt is nice. There was a choice of a tech tank top or tech tee. I got the tee. This shirt was nice quality and a nice royal blue with the race logo. For better or worse it was not as gaudy as the Earth Day or Montezuma shirt and is definitely one I will wear. This race was manually timed. While it was not a huge race and had about 100-200 runners, I do think the start was too congested for this. I ended up not crossing the start line for about 10 to 15 seconds after they said go. I understand wanting to keep costs low by manually timing especially for a charity race but I think a wider corral area would have been better. The course was very blah but also very flat. It was essentially a lollipop loop where you run the first half on the road and then turn into the canal path for a little under a mile and then converge back on the road. It was an extremely boring course but it was fine. There were trees. It was a hot day though luckily not as hot as Wednesday and the fire department was out spraying participants with water which felt nice. The course was pancake flat. The only slight difficult and what made it not a super fast course though still a fast course was the canal trail section was single track. It was very non-technical but kind of tough to pass people. If the race gets larger it may be best to just do an out and back on the road so there is less congestion on the trail. At the end there is a finish arch and you get a medal. The medal is a nice 5K medal. My time was fine. Not fast but not slow. There was a monster energy water at the end which is my second favorite recovery drink after maple water. There were no snacks directly after the race which was annoying because I was hungry. There was beer and they were working on a BBQ which would have at least had vegetarian sides but it wasn’t ready when I was finished and I had hiking plans that afternoon so I had to leave around 10am and just got food at the Dunkins nearby. I do think since the BBQ wasn’t ready they should have had some kind of snacks. Also more of a schedule would be nice to say when the BBQ would be ready so I could have planned my day better. Still this was a fine race and the swag was pretty nice. Wouldn’t go out of my way for this one but would considering doing again if I am in town during the race.
Please login to reply to this review.
Nice Swag. Not a Memorable Course
This was the inaugural year for this 5K produced by Willow Running. It is located in Weedsport NY which is about an hour east of Rochester and benefits the Weedsport … MORE
This was the inaugural year for this 5K produced by Willow Running. It is located in Weedsport NY which is about an hour east of Rochester and benefits the Weedsport fire department. They choose a convenient day for the race since I was planning to actually stay home this weekend and was looking for a short race within driving distance on Saturday. There was Friday packet pick-up but it’s kind of a far drive so I got my packet the morning of the race. Like most Willow Running events, the shirt is nice. There was a choice of a tech tank top or tech tee. I got the tee. This shirt was nice quality and a nice royal blue with the race logo. For better or worse it was not as gaudy as the Earth Day or Montezuma shirt and is definitely one I will wear. This race was manually timed. While it was not a huge race and had about 100-200 runners, I do think the start was too congested for this. I ended up not crossing the start line for about 10 to 15 seconds after they said go. I understand wanting to keep costs low by manually timing especially for a charity race but I think a wider corral area would have been better. The course was very blah but also very flat. It was essentially a lollipop loop where you run the first half on the road and then turn into the canal path for a little under a mile and then converge back on the road. It was an extremely boring course but it was fine. There were trees. It was a hot day though luckily not as hot as Wednesday and the fire department was out spraying participants with water which felt nice. The course was pancake flat. The only slight difficult and what made it not a super fast course though still a fast course was the canal trail section was single track. It was very non-technical but kind of tough to pass people. If the race gets larger it may be best to just do an out and back on the road so there is less congestion on the trail. At the end there is a finish arch and you get a medal. The medal is a nice 5K medal. My time was fine. Not fast but not slow. There was a monster energy water at the end which is my second favorite recovery drink after maple water. There were no snacks directly after the race which was annoying because I was hungry. There was beer and they were working on a BBQ which would have at least had vegetarian sides but it wasn’t ready when I was finished and I had hiking plans that afternoon so I had to leave around 10am and just got food at the Dunkins nearby. I do think since the BBQ wasn’t ready they should have had some kind of snacks. Also more of a schedule would be nice to say when the BBQ would be ready so I could have planned my day better. Still this was a fine race and the swag was pretty nice. Wouldn’t go out of my way for this one but would considering doing again if I am in town during the race.