Race Report: Clearwater Distance Classic 50K (2018)
I was excited to see this 50K road race in Florida at a time I was nearby. I'd seen some complaints about the organization because the 2017 race was abruptly cancelled for weather, but I wanted to like this race.
I did not.
For a while, it was fine. Runners for all races (5M, 13.1, 26.2, and 50K) ran along the shoulder of the road.
It's not the most scenic, but it's fine. I understand why races need to do this. Up to this point, the aid stations were well stocked and the volunteers were great.
The volunteers remained great, but things went downhill after the half marathon runners split off. We headed on to a paved trail system which was open to the public but fine to run on. The time limit for the marathon was 7 hours, and ultra marathoners had to be at that pace up through mile 16 when we split from the marathon to do a 4.9 mile out and back to gain our extra distance. I was very much ahead of this pace, and the aid stations on the spur were fine. But when we rejoined the marathon course, things degraded. The first stop after that (mile 17 for the marathon, 22 for the ultra) was out of gatorade. Then there were no aid stations for about 4.5 miles. There were supposed to be, but they had packed up and left. The next active stop had no gatorade either, and a volunteer told me they had been out "for hours". That means they ran out before the 4 hour marathoners were passing and no one decided to bring any more to restock in all that time. For me, this is unforgivable in an ultra or a full marathon. I carried my own stuff, so I was ok, but most regular marathoners don't, and you can't be depriving them of sugar and electrolytes that deep into a race. You certainly can't pack up aid stations all together. If nothing else went wrong, this lack of consideration for runner needs would have been enough for me to give the race a failing grade.
I also didn't see any bathrooms after mile 15 or so. I had to run off into a park and have a family direct me to some public bathrooms there, which cost me a good 5 minutes in just finding my way to them and back to the course. Plenty of roads crossed this paved trail where they could have put a few porta potties, and the fact that they didn't do that echoes the lack of consideration for the runners. There were far too few bathroom options on the whole course, and it was all very exposed so even an urgent need couldn't be privately tended to behind a bush or tree.
Then, in the last couple miles, despite still being well ahead of the marathon cutoff pace, police started directing us onto sidewalks so they could re-open the roads. It was terrible. It's a totally demoralizing thing to do to a runner even when they are behind pace, but I and the people around me were nowhere near behind the required pace. And mind you, the ultramarathon did NOT have a 7 hour cutoff, so there were still a bunch of ultra runners who had maintained the required pace to mile 16 and, if they had kept on pace, would have been over an hour behind me and still within the race parameters.
The volunteers were all super nice and supportive, but the race was not well organized at all. I found out after the race that the half marathon runners did not get medals because of a "shipping issue" and the medals will allegedly be mailed to them later. The vast majority of people in this race ran the half, and it's ridiculous that those medals would not have arrived long before race day. Having spent years running lots of halfs and as a medal lover, that would have been such a disappointment.
I wouldn't do this one again. I personally had a fine race, but the organization seemed indifferent at best and bordered on incompetent. The course was not scenic so that didn't make up for the other issues. Too bad 😑
I did not.
For a while, it was fine. Runners for all races (5M, 13.1, 26.2, and 50K) ran along the shoulder of the road.
It's not the most scenic, but it's fine. I understand why races need to do this. Up to this point, the aid stations were well stocked and the volunteers were great.
The volunteers remained great, but things went downhill after the half marathon runners split off. We headed on to a paved trail system which was open to the public but fine to run on. The time limit for the marathon was 7 hours, and ultra marathoners had to be at that pace up through mile 16 when we split from the marathon to do a 4.9 mile out and back to gain our extra distance. I was very much ahead of this pace, and the aid stations on the spur were fine. But when we rejoined the marathon course, things degraded. The first stop after that (mile 17 for the marathon, 22 for the ultra) was out of gatorade. Then there were no aid stations for about 4.5 miles. There were supposed to be, but they had packed up and left. The next active stop had no gatorade either, and a volunteer told me they had been out "for hours". That means they ran out before the 4 hour marathoners were passing and no one decided to bring any more to restock in all that time. For me, this is unforgivable in an ultra or a full marathon. I carried my own stuff, so I was ok, but most regular marathoners don't, and you can't be depriving them of sugar and electrolytes that deep into a race. You certainly can't pack up aid stations all together. If nothing else went wrong, this lack of consideration for runner needs would have been enough for me to give the race a failing grade.
I also didn't see any bathrooms after mile 15 or so. I had to run off into a park and have a family direct me to some public bathrooms there, which cost me a good 5 minutes in just finding my way to them and back to the course. Plenty of roads crossed this paved trail where they could have put a few porta potties, and the fact that they didn't do that echoes the lack of consideration for the runners. There were far too few bathroom options on the whole course, and it was all very exposed so even an urgent need couldn't be privately tended to behind a bush or tree.
Then, in the last couple miles, despite still being well ahead of the marathon cutoff pace, police started directing us onto sidewalks so they could re-open the roads. It was terrible. It's a totally demoralizing thing to do to a runner even when they are behind pace, but I and the people around me were nowhere near behind the required pace. And mind you, the ultramarathon did NOT have a 7 hour cutoff, so there were still a bunch of ultra runners who had maintained the required pace to mile 16 and, if they had kept on pace, would have been over an hour behind me and still within the race parameters.
The volunteers were all super nice and supportive, but the race was not well organized at all. I found out after the race that the half marathon runners did not get medals because of a "shipping issue" and the medals will allegedly be mailed to them later. The vast majority of people in this race ran the half, and it's ridiculous that those medals would not have arrived long before race day. Having spent years running lots of halfs and as a medal lover, that would have been such a disappointment.
I wouldn't do this one again. I personally had a fine race, but the organization seemed indifferent at best and bordered on incompetent. The course was not scenic so that didn't make up for the other issues. Too bad 😑
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