-
Columbia,
Missouri,
United States - April
- 3 miles/5K
- Road Race
- Event Website
Beth
Columbia, Missouri, United StatesOverall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Let me start with this: charity events are important and are more about community than racing. As a charity event, this was pretty good. Participants and volunteers were friendly and I came away with a better understanding of brain cancer in my own community. As a 5k, though, this was a disappointing event.
The event website indicated that my friends and I could register as a team and save money on the registration fee. When one friend tried to register us, the registration could not go through, despite being well within the deadline. Registration the morning of went smoothly but it meant we had one more thing to worry about that morning.
The race started and finished in a small parking lot in town. With a couple other events going on in town and street parking therefore at a premium, it was tricky to find somewhere to park.
Those small snafus paled in comparison to my main grievance: the course was not marked. 3 of a dozen turns had volunteers pointing the way. I made sure to keep someone who must have memorized the route in my sight so I would know where to turn. The course relied on sidewalks, not even coning off bike lanes or one lane of light traffic roads. The course went through active traffic lights. I pity someone trying to PR who had to stop for a traffic light. I almost lost the person I was following due to lack of course markers when I didn't make the light he did.
The course ended up winding around downtown Columbia and through the Mizzou campus.
Near the finish line there was a sudden rash of volunteers. I think they were almost all stationed in the last quarter-mile. They were friendly and encouraging, though!
Overall, skip this event if you want a race or fun road event.