North Shore Classic

North Shore Classic

North Shore Classic

( 18 reviews )
100% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Highland Park,
    Illinois,
    United States
  • June
  • 3 miles/5K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Kristen

Chicago, Illinois, United States
7 12
2015
"Beautiful Course--just enough hills to keep it interesting"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Kristen 's thoughts:

Living in Chicago, you'll be hard-pressed to find a race where most of the course isn't run on the Lakefront. Not that the Lakefront isn't beautiful--but paying to run a race on a path that you run for free almost every day gets a little old. I had been considering (and am still considering) the Chicago Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in July, as it is one of the few races that runs through the city streets...as long as you're willing to run in the thousand degree weather.

When a friend told me she had signed up for the North Shore Classic, I took a look at the course and it was an easy sell. Only about half an hour north of the city, the course weaves through the Highland Park neighborhood, and north to Fort Sheridan. The streets on the whole course were nice and wide, so there were no areas where the runners bottle-necked. The course does have some hills--mostly small rolling ones, nothing too crazy, except for one big climb somewhere between miles 7 and 8. Don't let the course elevation map scare you--hills always look way scarier when they're squished into a tiny graph.

The race this year was on a particularly windy day (20-25mph winds!), which, for the first half of the race, was blocked by the tree cover in the neighborhoods. Once you hit about mile 9, the straightaway to Fort Sheridan, that tree cover disappeared and we had that wind straight in our faces til after mile 11. At least we finished with the wind at our backs!

The field in the race isn't huge--it was about 1700 runners for the half this year. The aid stations and the finish line are very well-organized (they hand you all the goodies IN A BAG at the end, so you're tired ass doesn't have to decide if you want a banana or a bagel or a protein drink or all three). Parking up in Highland Park can be a little tight--I would suggest getting there pretty early to find a spot. I don't usually care much about race swag--but the race shirt (a technical singlet) is actually something I will wear again, and the medal was as big as my hand.

I would 100% recommend this race--great course, not too far from the city, good views, and potentially better weather than a lot of Chicago spring/summer races.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Latest reviews

Loading Reviews...