Oakland Marathon Turns 10

Oakland Marathon Turns 10

PHOTO BY ELLA BAKER CENTER - CREATIVE COMMONS

Marathon runners will be crossing the Bay Bridge in both directions. The running festival also offers a 5K, team relay, half marathon, and half marathon + 5k combo.

The first Oakland Running Festival marathon route in 2010 coursed through all of The Town’s seven voting districts, from downtown to the hills and the flats. Montclair residents cheered runners on Mountain Boulevard. Shop vendors on Fruitvale Avenue doled out free water to the weary, and in West Oakland, The Crucible erected a lighted archway for marathoners to pass through, giving them a needed boost for the last miles.

So what’s new and exciting the year for the big 10? Marathoners will run across the eastern span of the Bay Bridge and back, using the Bay Bridge Trail to get there. The marathon begins at 7 a.m. on Sun., March 24.

If a marathon is beyond your ability — reasonable runners, after all, should have started their training around Thanksgiving — you can run a leg of the 26.2 mile race as part of a relay team (Team Relay), you can sign up for the half-marathon (Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon) with a leisurely mid-morning start, you can do a 5-kilometer (Bank of the West 5K) race on March 23, and there’s a combination of the half and 5K (We Run The Town Challenge) on tap. The deadline to register is March 16; there is no race-day registration. Don’t miss the pre-race expo on Saturday and the post-run after party. For details, including start times and prices on all the options, visit OaklandMarathon.com.