Half-Marathon Changes Course for Traffic Reasons

Update June 7 -- added Jason Cooke comments.

It's time to think about your training schedule — it's only half a year and a day away: the second annual Walnut Creek Half-Marathon.

The second annual Walnut Creek Half Marathon will change course to alleviate traffic blockages on Ygnacio Valley Road. Event organizer Darryll Whaley told the City Council Tuesday night about the course change. He also said the race has signed up a title sponsor, Tampico Terrace Care Center of Walnut Creek, for the second annual half-marathon (13.1 miles) on Saturday, Dec. 8. The event has more than 30 sponsors, indicating a lot of community support, Whaley said.

This year's course, starting at Civic Park, will go east on Treat Boulevard, southwest on Cowell Road, back west on Ygnacio Valley Road, loop through Heather Farm Park and the Iron Horse Trail to finish back at Civic Park.  The idea is to lessen the traffic impact on Ygnacio Valley Road, which affected Ygnacio Valley businesses during the debut race on Dec. 10, 2011. In the first race, runners were going both ways on Ygnacio Valley, returning to finish in Civic Park.

Local runner extraordinaire Jason Cooke sent us an email a while back commenting on the first annual Walnut Creek Half-Marathon. "Last year's course, with an out & back 1/2 starting at 7am and an out & back 10k starting at 8am, meant for 30 min or so the runners had at least one lane of YV blocked (mostly between Heather Farm & Oak Grove) with no opportunity for cars to cross," Cooke wrote. "I did get the sense as I was running back there were a lot of ticked off drivers waiting (I heard honking and loud voices talking to police/ volunteers) ...  If SF can run a marathon through the city (including closing the GG Bridge), I think WC residents can learn to manage being inconvenienced for 30 min one Sunday morning a year so 5,000 people can run on the road.  It's the price of having a desirable town.  We are incredibly lucky to have WC residents who are willing to put in the time & effort to organize events such as this."

Omit 10K

This year's Walnut Creek Half-Marathon will omit a 10-kilometer race but continue with a 5-K race, Whaley said. Part of the race revenues are donated to athletics in area high schools.

Olympic runner Lopez Lomong is signed up to be a pacer for the half-marathon, Whaley said. Lomong, 27, a U.S. citizen who came from South Sudan, set a world record in the 5K on a Stanford track in April even as he miscalculated how many laps were left.