This is a 5K at Fulkerson winery in the Fingerlakes region. It is produced by Confluence Running who have a few stores in Southern NY (Corning, Binghamton, etc.). This was … MORE
This is a 5K at Fulkerson winery in the Fingerlakes region. It is produced by Confluence Running who have a few stores in Southern NY (Corning, Binghamton, etc.). This was an inaugural race. Overall it was a much, much better experience than my last wine themed race (Virginia Wine County “Half Marathon” – the worst race ever!), but this race had a few things to work on. This year you signed up for waves of 50 every half hour from 10am to 11:30 am. This race is located about an hour and fifteen minutes from Rochester. I signed up for the last time slot so I could round first before the race since I was working this weekend. Rounding first was nice but the late start meant the race was very hot. It was 90 degrees and sunny today and the start time (even 10am) was way too late. I’m not sure much could be done about this since the winery opens at 10am. The RD though was very nice and let people from later waves start early given the heat which was great since I arrived about 45 minutes early. Packet pickup was right before the race. Swag included a nice tech material tank top and a wine tumbler. The tank top is bright pink and nice quality. It seems to be a nice material for running in but it seems a little weird for me to wear a shirt that says “Will Run for Wine” when I don’t drink alcohol. Oh well I do enjoy irony. The Tumbler is nice and has the correct race name. The area was absolutely beautiful. This is the scenery I was hoping to see in Virginia last week. The race was chipped timed and they let runners just go as a rolling start if they wanted to start before their waves. This made the start a little anti-climatic but I’m glad I wasn’t running during the heat of the day at 11:30. The course was gorgeous but harder than I expected. It is trail but not particularly technical but very hilly. You don’t need trail shoes. A lot of it is on grass weaving around the vineyard. Grass isn’t my favorite surface but this wasn’t bad grass to run on and it was neat to run through the vineyard. However there was no shade so I definitely walked most of the hills. There was also a smaller section in the forest which was more shaded. At some parts there were absolutely gorgeous views of Seneca Lake. My biggest complaint of the course and the race was I didn’t think it was very well marked. The markings were mostly just drawn on the ground and there were occasional flags. It would have been easy to get lost if you weren’t paying attention. There definitely should have been signs and volunteers. I’m also pretty sure one intersection wasn’t marked originally since I saw some of the early wave runners go off course running on the main road while driving into the winery which wasn’t part of the course and heard the RD mention it. To be fair, they did fix the mistake and by the time I got to the intersection you could not go the wrong way as there was a car and cones blocking it off. The RD cheered on all the runners at the finish. I did laugh that my Garmin showed the course to be just a tad short (3.0 miles vs 3.1 miles) but it is within normal error and not off by a mile and I’m not as concerned about the distance of 5Ks. There was only water at the finish line. I think it should be mandatory for every race to have some kind of granola bar at the end. I was super, super slow but is was super, super hot and there was about 300 feet of elevation gain. When I looked at the final results though I was in the middle of my age group and the overall winner was over 20 minutes so I think everyone was really slow today. There was also free wine tasting which is another perk over the Virginia Wine Country disaster but I obviously didn’t do the wine tasting. I thought this was a good race with a lot of potential. If they decide to hold this race again they need to do a better job with marking the course. I would also look into an earlier start but that may be out of the race company’s control. While there were some flaws, this was a much better wine race with beautiful scenery and nice swag. This is also a nice area for a day trip. If you are a wine drinker, there are lots of wineries to explore. If you are more of a hiker/outdoorsy person like me, Watkins Glen State Park is very close by along with other hikes in the Finger Lakes. I had to go home to catch up on some work right after the race but really enjoyed the views on the ride down and stopped in downtown Geneva on the way home for lunch. If this race is held again I’d be open to giving it another try if I’m in town.
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A lot less to "wine" about
This is a 5K at Fulkerson winery in the Fingerlakes region. It is produced by Confluence Running who have a few stores in Southern NY (Corning, Binghamton, etc.). This was … MORE
This is a 5K at Fulkerson winery in the Fingerlakes region. It is produced by Confluence Running who have a few stores in Southern NY (Corning, Binghamton, etc.). This was an inaugural race. Overall it was a much, much better experience than my last wine themed race (Virginia Wine County “Half Marathon” – the worst race ever!), but this race had a few things to work on. This year you signed up for waves of 50 every half hour from 10am to 11:30 am. This race is located about an hour and fifteen minutes from Rochester. I signed up for the last time slot so I could round first before the race since I was working this weekend. Rounding first was nice but the late start meant the race was very hot. It was 90 degrees and sunny today and the start time (even 10am) was way too late. I’m not sure much could be done about this since the winery opens at 10am. The RD though was very nice and let people from later waves start early given the heat which was great since I arrived about 45 minutes early. Packet pickup was right before the race. Swag included a nice tech material tank top and a wine tumbler. The tank top is bright pink and nice quality. It seems to be a nice material for running in but it seems a little weird for me to wear a shirt that says “Will Run for Wine” when I don’t drink alcohol. Oh well I do enjoy irony. The Tumbler is nice and has the correct race name. The area was absolutely beautiful. This is the scenery I was hoping to see in Virginia last week. The race was chipped timed and they let runners just go as a rolling start if they wanted to start before their waves. This made the start a little anti-climatic but I’m glad I wasn’t running during the heat of the day at 11:30. The course was gorgeous but harder than I expected. It is trail but not particularly technical but very hilly. You don’t need trail shoes. A lot of it is on grass weaving around the vineyard. Grass isn’t my favorite surface but this wasn’t bad grass to run on and it was neat to run through the vineyard. However there was no shade so I definitely walked most of the hills. There was also a smaller section in the forest which was more shaded. At some parts there were absolutely gorgeous views of Seneca Lake. My biggest complaint of the course and the race was I didn’t think it was very well marked. The markings were mostly just drawn on the ground and there were occasional flags. It would have been easy to get lost if you weren’t paying attention. There definitely should have been signs and volunteers. I’m also pretty sure one intersection wasn’t marked originally since I saw some of the early wave runners go off course running on the main road while driving into the winery which wasn’t part of the course and heard the RD mention it. To be fair, they did fix the mistake and by the time I got to the intersection you could not go the wrong way as there was a car and cones blocking it off. The RD cheered on all the runners at the finish. I did laugh that my Garmin showed the course to be just a tad short (3.0 miles vs 3.1 miles) but it is within normal error and not off by a mile and I’m not as concerned about the distance of 5Ks. There was only water at the finish line. I think it should be mandatory for every race to have some kind of granola bar at the end. I was super, super slow but is was super, super hot and there was about 300 feet of elevation gain. When I looked at the final results though I was in the middle of my age group and the overall winner was over 20 minutes so I think everyone was really slow today. There was also free wine tasting which is another perk over the Virginia Wine Country disaster but I obviously didn’t do the wine tasting. I thought this was a good race with a lot of potential. If they decide to hold this race again they need to do a better job with marking the course. I would also look into an earlier start but that may be out of the race company’s control. While there were some flaws, this was a much better wine race with beautiful scenery and nice swag. This is also a nice area for a day trip. If you are a wine drinker, there are lots of wineries to explore. If you are more of a hiker/outdoorsy person like me, Watkins Glen State Park is very close by along with other hikes in the Finger Lakes. I had to go home to catch up on some work right after the race but really enjoyed the views on the ride down and stopped in downtown Geneva on the way home for lunch. If this race is held again I’d be open to giving it another try if I’m in town.