Latest reviews by Jamie

(2017)
"Tenacious Ten!!!!"
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I travelled from Northern BC to Seatle for this race, I am part of Oiselle Volee and really wanted to run in their inaugural event! It was worth it! Gasworks park is a fantastic place for a race to start and finish. The route is great and includes running over some bridges, and the final km looped around the grassy hill in the park and the Space Needle is in the background of many of my (free) race photos!
There wasn't an expo, but an easy packet pickup at a hotel and a pop-up Oiselle shop, and all runners received a legit trucker hat (although I am not a fan of the colour..I'll still rock it)

I would have liked to see at least one more water station, but it wasn't a huge issue. The course was great, scenery great, warm-up and DJ and awards ceremony after were all awesome.

I loved this race! it was small, but great, well organized especially for the first year of it being the Tenacious Ten, and I will go back, even though it takes me 2 flights and hopping the border to get to Seattle.

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(2017)
"fun event and good swag..always beautiful to run around Stanley Park!"
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Fun and best place to run! We took a cab, and parking looked find for those who drove, but I am not sure how to get there by transit, but I'm sure it's easy since the Lumberman's Arch concession is right by the Vancouver Aquarium!
day-of packet pickup couldn't have been more organized, but it was so great to have that option and I'm not complaining. The bag check was nice too, but seemed like it could have gotten out of hand if more people used the option or if the weather was crazy because it was outside. Announcers and music was awesome, a runner touched by the Centre for Ability shared her story before hand and it was really touching. The race course is beautiful and mostly flat, and it was well marked and the volunteers were really friendly. The 2 water stations were very basic but it wasn't a huge event, so it worked, and the finish was really fun! the medals are so cute, runners got an event mug and hot chocolate and there were help-yourself snacks too under tents. The race shirts are awesome, fit a little small but other than that really nice especially for race shirts (i never like them!) and the entire morning just had such a fun vibe! I wouldn't describe this as a competetive event, obviously it was a family event with a kids run and hot chocolate, and it was really fun and I'd do it again! I would recommend it for sure for people who live in the greater vancouver area or who are there visiting.

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(2017)
"best smaller race I've ever participated in!"
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I loved this event! Cabbed from downtown Vancouver because I couldn't be bothered with transit in the morning. I'm not from the area, so I was allowed same-day bib pickup and it was very easy. The community centre where the pre-race was located was very easy to get to, right on a main street and looked like parking was legit, even though I didn't drive myself there. The water bottle runners received is really nice, not sure about the shirts because I didn't buy one when I registered online (they weren't free) - i ususally dont' like race shirts. From what I saw, they looked just okay. Bag check was quick, easy and organized. The gear was transferred to the finish area.
The start was just out front of the community centre on the street so there was barely any time spent outside being cold which was awesome. The course was perfect! fast, mostly flat with a few downhills, and the most gorgeous second half in AMbleside park and along the west vancouver seawall.
I only remember one water station where they were handing out plastic bottles of water, not cups..I didn't take water but I think I'd have liked that vs a cup since I always spill all over myself.
The finish line was in a beautiful park, water bottles handed out right after finishing and the race food bags were great, I loved the birch sap beverage and the granola bar, and there was also a yogurt, banana, tea bag (for later?) No participant medals in this event, which is fine, but I love collecting bling so I was a little dissapointed. There was also supposed to be an event theme (super heroes) but they didn't promote it whatsoever and there were 2 people I saw dressed up among about 500 runners! Too bad, because I love themed runs! Retrieving my gear bag was fast and simple, and it was a piece of cake taking transit back to downtown Vancouver. Just one bus right on Marine drive, about a block up from the finish area, right across the Lion's gate bridge and back to my hotel. Easy! This event has an awesome vibe! so organized, competetive yet fun, and gorgeous! The volunteers all seemed really on the ball and everyone knew what their job was, and everything was fast and easy. Great logistics. I will absolutely make another weekend trip to vancouver in the future to participate, next time I'll do the 5km on sat and then the 10km on sunday!

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(2017)
"Day 4 of Dopey Challenge: Walt Disney Marathon!"
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my experience at the marathon on Disney Marathon Weekend was awesome!
Extremely well organized, easy to get there (although very early start, I like that) AMAZING medals and long-sleeved v-neck champion race shirts (I am very picky, and I love the shirts, I have worn it since the race which never happens for me) and the aid stations were absolutely incredible. Like well-oiled machines. I was a tiny bit suprised at how much of the route was just on road and not in a disney park, however I hadn't been to Disney World before and I now realize that there isn't enough park to run in for 42 kilometers :)
the ONLY thing that was an issue was a little unpreparedness for the freezing temperature and even colder wind. I am fully aware that it is our responsibilities as runners to be ready for anything, but there wasn't really any shelter unless you tried to hide in the gear-check tent or a porta potty, and there were a few large patio heaters set up (like the ones on restaurant patios) in the big waiting area before corral walk out, but none of them were on..
This race was sooooooooo awesome and the volume of volunteers was just unbelievable :) I travelled a long way for this race and it was 100% worth it!

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(2016)
"Vancouver Historic Half - great small-sized Fall 1/2 marathon!"
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I thoroughly enjoyed this race! the start time was not too early (9) and it was easy to get to Stanley Park, although we did take a Car2Go and forgot you can't park them there, so my gf moved it onto Georgia st while I went to the pavillion to get ready to go. (She was volunteering, not racing)
The "bag check" was basically an unmanned cloak room where you could stuff you belongings and hope they were still there after the race, but since most smart runners don't bring valuables and it was a small race with lots of volunteers, I went for it and my stuff was safe and sound when I came back after my run.
The race shirts were really nice, didn't fit me the way I'd had liked but that's pretty common for me (extreme long torso..grr) and the medals are simple but nice and a good size (hate when they're puny haha)
Stanley park is a beauty place to run. The couple water stations didn't have that many volunteers, it wasn't a huge problem but a couple more would have been better.
The Stanley Park pavillion is an awesome place to start/finish the race because we were able to stay warm inside right until the start basically, and that was good because it turned out to be a chilly weekend and there was even some hail as I was running the last 5km of the half marathon!!
Great race, would absolutely do it again, and I thought it was an overall successful event and I've registered for another event organized by the same people (@wwwTRYEVENTSca) in March, the hot chocolate run!

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