Disclaimer #1: I received a complimentary entry from my employer Riverside Health System in exchange for signing up for this year's RRI 5K by the Bay.
I just ran the One City Marathon Relay on Sunday and I've got to say I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it! There were several different relay options-2 person, 3 person and 4 person-all female, all male or mixed gender. The legs were 7.9 miles, 6.1 miles, 7.4 miles and 4.8 miles. I ran the 7.9 mile leg (the first leg), so this review is really only about that leg and the finish line area. My teammates did say they really enjoyed their parts of the course though.
The expo was at the Denbigh Community Center and was a decent size for a smaller race. Lots of booths from local vendors set up and packet pickup was quick. The relay runners recieved a black cotton t-shirt with the race logo on it.
Getting to the start line at the Newport News Park was really easy and there was plenty of parking. To ensure I was there before the road closures started my husband dropped me off around 6am. The air temperature was cool but not cold so waiting around outside for the race to start was no big deal. There were plenty of porta pots at the start line so there were no long waits to do your business if you had to. After warming up a bit, it was time to line up!
The race started promptly at 7am and took off in two waves. The first two miles were run through the Newport News Park driveway which provided nice scenery. Then the race headed out of the park toward the Denbigh area. Disclaimer #2: though I live in Newport News I wasn't really familiar with where I was running since it's not the best area to run in without road/intersection closures. There wasn't a ton of course support during the first leg because a lot of it took place along Warwick Blvd, which is primarily businesses. The crowd support picked up a little bit once we headed back through a residential neighborhood, but I will say personally during the first 8 miles is not where I need crowd support--it's the final miles/back half of the race is where I need it the most! There were slight hills, nothing too challenging. Before I knew it I was running into the exchange chute and passing off the timing chip to my teammate.
After my leg, I was directed to pickup my medal, water and a banana, as well as a hooded zip up paper/fabric jacket to keep warm while waiting on the shuttle the finish line.
The shuttle system was a bit of a mess...it took longer to get to the finish area than it did for me to run 8 miles! I think that's my one complaint about the relay race. Our shuttle driver was hilarious, which made for a fun ride down the finish line but she was given a route that had closed roads and ended up having to ask police officers at the different intersections how to get to the drop off (my teammates reported the same problem). Once we were dropped off I headed to the finish line celebration area and got my food.
Speaking of food, this race did something very interesting. You had a generic food ticket (you also received 2 beer tickets) so you could choose from different food trucks lined up-there was quite the variety-seafood, cupcakes etc. I chose the taco from STUFT, which was amazing and I probably could've eating 5 more :) After getting my food, I headed to the finish line to cheer on the marathon finishers and wait for my team so we could all cross together.
I would totally do the relay again!
Thank you OCM for being such a great first relay experience!