On February 10th, 2018, I ran the Mt Angel Wurst Run for the first time. My mom has run this race in the past and enjoyed it enough to convince me to sign up with her this year. PARKING: is alongside one road (both sides), so if you don't get there early, you could be walking 400+ meters to the main building. If you'd like, you could drive around in town to scavenge for closer parking. SWAG: Shirt - if want to purchase separately. Shirts were nice tech quality both men and women sizes. With race entry allows free entry to the Wurst Festival after. It has beer, food (bratwurst), and booths. AWARDS: Plaques for top 3 overall winners for both men and women. I really liked these plaques. They were nicely made. Drinking glasses were handed out to 21+ runners with a free beer ticket, but NOT to 21 and under runners. Ribbons were given to top three placers in all age categories male and female. COURSE: It is described as "hilly" by most: however, I didn't think it was too bad. I have definitely run races way hillier than this race. I would saw this race has some rolling hills, but no huge ones. Nothing to seriously slow your pace. With the ups, there are just as many downs.

My experience. I get there and the building where you pick up your bib and timing chip was very nice and warm, and the race start was right outside. There is no bag check, so plan accordingly. The running of the race went very well. There were signs and markers at every mile point and every corner along with some people at some turns. There were 3 aid stations and the runners pass one of them twice along the run to make it 4 to possibly get water at. After the race, there was almost instant timing and placements printed out on a paper on tables. I grabbed my belongings from my car and walk into the building where they were going to announce the awards later on. As I entered, they had many officials checking ID's and giving wristbands and stamps to those 21+ to allow them to drink once inside. I, being exactly 1 month away from turning 21, had to be with an adult to enter. So, if you are 18, 19, or 20 and come alone, you CANNOT get into the festival even though your race entry also allows you into the festival. Luckily, I was with my mom and boyfriend who are both 21+ and was able to get in to the festival. After ID check was where you pick up your drinking glass. I went to grab one with my mom and boyfriend, but wasn't allowed to, due to me being 20-years-old. I asked if I could only have the glass and not the free beer ticket inside it. They told me no, and I walked away with nothing, unlike my mom and boyfriend. I thought this was absolutely ridiculous due to the fact that an awarded glass doesn’t allow me to drink once inside, it was the stamp and wrist band previously given to people when ID’s where checked out front that allowed people to drink once inside. I was not aware of either of these rules prior to entering in this race. My mom was upset and asked an official why I couldn’t just have the glass because I paid the same amount of money for the race as everyone else did, and they told her it was because, “It would look inappropriate for me to be walking around with glass”, though the tech shirt I bought for this race had a full glass of beer on it, and a percentage of the funds made from this event went to the Mt Angel High School and a fundraiser. It’s seem awfully contradictive in my opinion. They made it sound like all runners can get in to the festival and get a glass as an award (instead of a medal) after your run was completed. I did end up placing in my division and receiving a ribbon: however, if I came alone and couldn’t get into the festival because I was not 21+, I wouldn’t have been able to even get my ribbon.

All-in-all, the race and festival were great and really recommended to everyone. The only bad thing I have to say about this run is if you are 20 and under DON’T expect to receive anything! This race didn’t understand that a fair portion of runners are under 21-years-old and if they choose to keep these rules for the future, the NEED to have something in place on the glass award for 20 and under racers. I have sent an email to the race website, so this can be avoided in the future.

Thank you for reading my post, I hope it helped!