James Dunbar's Staging Area

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A little pricier than most races (about 75 bucks for the 10k a several months out), but my race bib got me a free entry into visiting the Battleship North Carolina (which is 14 bucks btw), and this goes for all participants, plus there was a ton of beer and waffles post race (plus bananas and waters galore).

The race expo was well organized, but they needed a larger space to accommodate sooo many runners and parking for the expo down at the river is a mess! There’s a garage to park in, but no real instructions on whether the garage is free or if parking in it can somehow be validated. It was a little more work doing bib pickup than what I’d prefer. Next time, I’m asking for day of race pickup as I come from 90 min away. The race director posted a youtube video the day before the racing giving some details and showing the course maps…this was great!

Race was about to start in less than 1 minute and the dang blow up start line thing starts rapidly deflating!!! I kid you not!!! So yeah, we had to wait another minute plus for them to tear it down and get it out of the way. It was hilarious actually!
The race has a narrow start as all the half marathoners and 10k runners are together…get as close to the front as you can if you’re a fast runner. You know the drill. All race distances start and finish in the exact same location, downtown near the river. There’s free street parking all over and a big garage right near by for parking as well. Many people seemed to be staying at local hotels there at the river and were just walking to the start line.

Course wise, there’s 3 bridges that have grates, which make running difficult for sure, so what they do is they put down these rubber mats to run on so you don’t have to run on the grates, well, the race has so many participants, for the first bridge at least (which is at mile 1.5 or so), good luck finding room to run on the rubber mat…there’s just way too many people. The first bridge I climbed and ran solely on the grate and it was definitely a little sketchy. Unfortunately, I saw one man bite it hard and he was badly scraped from it, and my wife said she saw another run take a really hard fall somewhere on the course. DEFINITELY be careful running the bridges as the rubber mats stick up all over the place and you can be tripped sooooooo easily and then along the side of Interstate 74 there was a ton of road debris that you really needed to pay attention to…felt a little like an obstacle course at times honestly, but not crazy bad.

Course photographers were seen at a couple locations and I remember seeing 2 water stops for the 10k. 10k and 1/2ers run the same course for about 4.5 miles before the 10kers split off and head for the finish line. The final 2-300 meters is uphill for everyone. Porto johns were seen at various locations if you’re having issues and there were plenty at the start/finish line party area.

Swag wise, the medal is decent and is actually metal. Longer races got larger medals; the way it should be! The freebie long sleeve this year was a 50/50 cotton poly blend that was grey, but the logo sucked. The front logo was way small and didn’t say Wilmington, NC or the date. The back logo was big, but again, no date. There’s no reason they couldn’t have put the date of the race on the shirt, but whatever…I’m sure they did it for Covid in case the race was cancelled they could just use the shirts another year. I don’t see myself ever wearing the free race shirt, even though it’s a long sleeve, which I love.

Highlight of the race for me was the unlimited Wicked Weed beer on tap (3 different brews!!!) and unlimited Waffle House waffles made hot right in front of you. The volunteers that worked these stations rocked it!!!! They busted their butts and it showed…I personally thanked as many of them as I could. I was really impressed by them as they were as efficient as they could possibly be. Lines for beer went super, super, super fast and I was doing 2 beers at a time.

The party area is cordoned off and it got a little crowded, but not too bad, there’s just no seating, NONE. Be aware, if you run the 10k and finish at say 8 am and win an award, they did all awards for all distances starting at 10 am and it was cold!!! 41 degrees at the race start at 7 am. Many people just sat down in the post race party area, which is a parking lot and waited. We went back to the hotel and showered, then returned for more beer and waffles and awards at 10 am.
The 2 person band was just ok…sorta Phish like folksy acoustic up tempo originals, and they sounded fine, but not my kinda music. I like a full band with drums and all that at a great post race party playing lots of hits, but that’s just me.

The bridges made the course as challenging, if not more challenging than the Cooper River Bridge Run 10k in Charleston if you’ve ever done that, so be aware of the climbing of the bridges and the descents as well. Even so, I pr’d at this race because I’ve been training hard for months and it was so cold at this year’s Battleship race. I ran this race about a minute and a half faster than I did Cooper River in Sept a couple months before this race.

We’re glad we did the race, learned some things like the bridge grating, where to park for the expo, and more, and after discussion we decided we’ll likely run it again next year, but we’ll sign up way earlier this year in hopes it will be cheaper.

Oh and as a master’s place finisher, just to note, I was given a 50 dollar gift card to Omega Sports (sponsor) and a pair of custom Battleship Half Marathon socks, definitely better than some of the crappy awards I’ve won the last couple years! Overall, I’d give this race an 8 out of 10, maybe even an 8.5. I actually like it quite a bit more than Cooper River Bridge 10k, which is all shuttles and massive crowds.

They do packet pickup the morning of, super close to race starting line and trust me, they’ll be ready for you no matter how early you arrive to pick up your bib etc. Coastal Race Productions always offeres nice swag. This time around it was a nicely ventilated running hat! They also have inexpensive swag purchase options like soft cotton tee shirts for like 15 bucks and beach towels, fleece blankets. Nice tee and hat design. You can pay for these online when you sign up in advance and they’ll have them for you at packet pickup. They always do a packet pickup the day before somewhere local, but it really isn’t an expo…I mean they’ll have a few energy gels, some socks, and handheld water bottles available to buy, but not much really.

This race offers a full marathon (which I believe the free giveaway for running that distance was a long sleeve quarter zip), half marathon, 5k and a 1 mile fun run. You can customize your bib up to 10 letters if you sign up well in advance and post race eats are your choice of 1 cold (though they try and keep it warm) slice of Papa John’s pizza or some pulled pork bbq (get this) with Texas toast, water, and a draft beer (Land Shark and 1 other like Coors Light on tap).
Like most races, happiness is often weather dependent and for 2020 it was a bit windy and in the 30’s at the race’s inception, but once the sun came up, it warmed up and you were good to go without gloves or long sleeves. Post race you’ll want a jacket minimum though because it can get gusty and you’ll be hot and sweaty.
Bring your own gels, though they do have frequent water stops and porta johns along the way.

Halfers run much of the full marathon course (it’s shared at the same time), but it never seemed super crowded except at the start of the race. They have a pro photographer that tries to take pics of every single entrant (I usually get 2 or 3 keepers) that she will post on Facebook a day or two after the race. Just follow the race page on FB and you’ll see all the photos…and there are a lot of them!

Age group awards available for all distances and are grouped in 5 year increments. The medals are indeed very big (hence it’s called BAM—Big Ass Medals), and the longer the distance you complete, the larger your finisher’s medal. They have a dj with music playing and doing announcements, you know, typical race stuff. Lots of porta johns at the start and finish, but get there early to get parking close to the start line.

Volunteers are all over directing traffic and helping out, but this is a small town race so there’s very, very few spectators, especially super early in the morning. No matter…for the full marathon and half marathon distances, you run right past a neat lighthouse. 5k’ers don’t get out that far to see the lighthouse unfortunately. For the most part the beach is hidden by homes, though you do run right alongside the beach much of the 2nd half of the race. And though this is a small town race, I’d say they get 1k entrants across all distances, maybe more.

Overall, this is a fun race that draws a fun crowd, the medals and swag are good, and the CRP (Coastal Race Productions) people definitely know how to organize a race. Follow them on Facebook and look for a discount code on Black Friday that’s usually good for 20 percent off all their future races, but is only good for like 1 or 2 days before expiring. In the Myrtle Beach and sourthern North Carolina area, CRP puts on the best races for sure. Consistently fun and well organized.

This is a St. Paddy’s Day race the morning of the Five Points St. Paddy’s Day Party. My advice…definitely skip this one!

First off, there is literally no parking whatsoever near the start/finish. Designated parking areas are nearly a 1 mile walk from there! Yes, I’m not kidding!

Second, the race tee-shirt is just a one color screenprinted cotton tee. It is the most basic and uninteresting shirt you’ll ever see. I basically just turned mine into a shop rag as soon as I got home.

Third, the post race party is the lamest thing ever. Seriously. Bananas, water, Kroger cookies, and some granola bars. That’s it. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, your in Five Points, and there’s no beers available? You must be kidding me? Total joke.

Packet pickup is well organized and easy to navigate and your race fee does get you into the Five Points Festival after the race, but that’s it. We drove 2 hours to do this race and it was a major, boring, nothing but let down event. No way I’d do it again.

St. Patrick’s Day is supposed to be lively and super fun. This race has none of that whatsoever. The race itself, though it starts/finishes in Five Points, is entirely in a housing neighborhood, so nothing to see but people’s houses and parked cars.