USR Uniformed Services Run
St. John's, Canada
- Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, 3K, Kids Run
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The oldest marathon in Canada, the third-oldest in North America (after New York and Boston), and the twelfth-oldest in the world is set for this September. The Nautilus Running Club organized this event for 30 years, branded it the “Huffin’ Puffin” in 2010 with introduction of the Team Relay, and … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Sep 13):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°C) | 12 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 21 |
| L (°C) | 6 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 12 |
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Run it for excuse to visit Newfoundland
Now that I finished the 50 states I am working on the 10 Canadian Provinces and chose this because there are not many choices in Newfoundland. This might be it. … MORE
Now that I finished the 50 states I am working on the 10 Canadian Provinces and chose this because there are not many choices in Newfoundland. This might be it. This race was formerly the Huffin’ Puffin’. I miss that name because it’s so cute but it was nice to rebrand the race to honor uniformed service members. Overall Newfoundland is a beautiful area and it’s nice to travel somewhere new but the race was only okay. Pre race communication was pretty good. There was the right amount of details and the most important information was all clearly included. There were a couple things that could be improved though. The first is the start/finish is in a park called Bowring Park and it may have been nice to have a map of the park. The instructions referred to parking by east parking, west parking and described the start as next to the caribou stature. But if you weren’t familiar with the park you wouldn’t understand what the instructions were talking about. I just googled a parking lot near at the park and followed runners to the start. The other pre race communication detail that would have been nice would have been course elevation profile. When I don’t see an elevation profile I assume flat or rolling/average hills and a elevation you don’t need a strategy for which was not the case. I would recommend an elevation profile and park map be added to instructions next year. For the race I had some extremely complicated travel plans as I had no vacation dates left. Basically I drove to Montreal Friday, stayed overnight in Montreal and took the first morning flight to St. John’s Newfoundland which arrived in time for packet pick-up and the fun runs and then I flew back to Montreal after the race and drove home Sunday evening. I wish I had unlimited travel days so I could have spent more time in Newfoundland as it is a beautiful area but I made the most of my time there. As soon as I landed I went to packet pickup at a YMCA. It was not an expo just lined up and got a brown bag with your bib, race shirt and some pamphlets about St. John’s. The shirt is fine and tech material. I stayed at a Holiday Inn in St. John’s. It wasn’t that close to the race. If you are an IHG diamond member like me it was convenient enough and like a 15-20 minute drive to the race but if you are not loyal to a single hotel brand I’d recommend finding one a bit closer. I knew parking would be tight for the half since it started last so I arrived like an hour and 20 minutes before the race and got one of the last spots in the lot. There also seemed to be street parking. I managed to find the start by following other runners. The start was pretty laid back and bare bones as another reviewer said. I lined up near the end as I didn’t think I would be too fast as I was tired from all the races I’ve done and it was a hot day out and I was starting to get a mild cold. Not miserably hot but too hot to get a really fast time. The course is okay. The park is nice but not spectacular then it’s a few kms through some neighborhoods and then you go downtown and past the harbor. This area is nice and has a good amount of spectators for a rather small race in a not very populated area. You then go up this super steep hill and then run a circle around a lake and then back downtown, back through the neighborhoods and back to the park. The scenery is nice but there is so much nicer scenery to be found nearby. The worst part of the course was the elevation profile. The first quarter is mostly downhill. The middle half was flat with a few hills and then the last quarter was all uphill. I didn’t realize how downhill the first half was and had a good pace to be on track to finish around the 3 hour mark. However I did not bank energy properly for the end as I didn’t realize it would be so uphill as I didn’t see a course elevation profile. There was also a strong headwind and it got hot by the end. Uphill, heat into a headwind is not a good combo for me so I walked a lot of the last 3 miles. As I said spectator support was good for a smaller race. There were adequate aid stations every 2.5 km or so with water and gatorade. No nutrition. Course was mostly well marked and coned off with course marshals though there were a few sections I thought could be better marked. My biggest issue with course markings is there were absolutely no Km markers not even at 5K/10K/15K/20K. This makes it really hard to pace the race as you have no idea how off you are. For a certified half you should always go a little long but I have finishing distances from 13.18 to 13.45 on certified courses depending on how good or bad I did the tangents. While I knew this wasn’t 13.45 as that was a huge race where I was constantly weaving around people I really didn’t know if when my Garmin hit 12 miles I had 1.15 or 1.35 miles left. I think I could have done 3:15 if I had the right push at the end but I just didn’t with not knowing exactly how much was left and finished a bit over 3:15. Not my best finishing time but it just wasn’t my day. The good news is the half is very back of the pack friendly and the marathon is a double loop of the half marathon course so half marathons have the same time cutoff though the half marathon does start an hour later. The marathon cutoff is 6 hours and half marathon is 5 hours. There is also an early start option for the marathon if you are slower than 6 hours. Even though I was slow I had no issues being back of the pack with this race. The medal is small and underwhelming which seems to be the case for Canada and Europe. There was absolutely no food at the end just cups of water. I had a feeling this would happen after Iceland and was prepared with a Clif Bar in my car. There was a free brunch at a bar for runners but as another reviewer said it was across town and I had a flight to catch so I couldn’t go. Overall I thought this race was okay. There were no big issues and it was BOP friendly but there were definitely some improvements that could be made. The easiest would be Km markers at least every 5 Km and some post race granola bars or bananas. If you are doing the 10 Provinces you will probably need to do this race. Just temper expectations and bring your own post race snack and enjoy the beauty of Newfoundland.
Small race- beautiful views of St John's
Beautiful views of the city of St. John's and the ocean front. As a runner from the prairies, the hills ate me alive. Kit pickup consisted of a paper bag … MORE
Beautiful views of the city of St. John’s and the ocean front. As a runner from the prairies, the hills ate me alive. Kit pickup consisted of a paper bag with a bib and a shirt. At the end of the race, there was only water and gatorade, so bring your own food to refuel! A bit of an odd choice, the brunch afterwards was at a brewery across town, so you had to face road closures to get over there. However, the view from the brewery was gorgeous! The city residents were great cheerers.
Gets the job done
Race communication was great, info easy to get, packet pickup was smooth. There are real and porta potties at the start. Race begins about 3 miles from St John’s. Parking … MORE
Race communication was great, info easy to get, packet pickup was smooth. There are real and porta potties at the start.
Race begins about 3 miles from St John’s. Parking was ok… the races are staggered full, 10k, half. So if you are doing the half there are lots of people already parked there. There are 2 lots about a half mile north that were good with an easy walk to the start.
There was no music, hype, or start line banner and the PA system could not be heard 100 feet from the line. Just line up and go. Course was ok. Only about 1/4 was coned off the rest you were running in either 1 or 2 way traffic. Being Sunday morning not much, but enough that you had to pay attention. There were lots of volunteers manning intersections well, but in between was a free for all. No distance markers but well manned water stops about every 3k. Water and Gatorade no fuel (porta potties tho)! Scenery is mostly neighborhood houses and a trip through downtown. Several hills, but not bad.
Weather was good 60 and sunny. Said it was going to be 100% overcast the day before, but not a cloud in the sky.
Shirt was good, medal was too. Many hotel options in St John’s. And wonderful food and town to visit.
Fun Run to Warm Up
This is a family 3K the day before the 10K, half and full marathon for the USR race in St. John's Newfoundland. It is free and a fun way to … MORE
This is a family 3K the day before the 10K, half and full marathon for the USR race in St. John’s Newfoundland. It is free and a fun way to get a shake out run or walk in and/or get your whole family involved in race weekend. It is in the afternoon so you can arrive in the morning and run it. There was good pre race communication. The race is at Bowring Park the same park the longer races start and end in. it is untimed. My finishing time is from my Garmin. You do get a bib mostly to mark you as a participant so the volunteers can direct you. It is a loop through the park. It’s actually kind of hard as you need to go up some stairs and there are some hills and dirt trail areas. I mean it’s not really hard, it’s just it’s not easy. There were course marshals at anywhere confusing to go. The course was a bit short which I supposed made up for it being a bit hard. At the end there are wooden medals. They are supposed to just go to the kids but they gave them to everyone which is great as I love medals. It’s a simple cheap, wood medal with a race sicker on one side and the race company logo on the other but hey any swag in a free race is awesome. This 3K is not a must run but a nice addition to the longer races if you can participate.