Whoever is in charge of this race should be fired! A beautiful course for the half marathon but a classic FAIL for the race day pre- and post- treatment of runners.
Pre-race – Got up at 4am so I could catch the shuttle from the Mariott Costa Mesa to the start with the marathon runners. Shuttle driver didn’t know where to go much to the consternation of the marathoners. Got there with about 15 minutes before their race. At the start there were way too few portapotties and the Mariott at the start was kind enough to let the runners use their restrooms which quickly became overwhelmed. After the marathon start I went to check in my bag with the UPS trucks and was confronted with the dilemma of a couple of hundred runners trying to get their bags checked into mostly one truck OR a couple of hundred runners trying to use the bathroom. I chose a 30 minute bathroom wait in line and the half marathon started. I started with the last corral but was able to be the last to drop off my bag. NEVER had this experience in hundreds of races!
AFTER the race the real disaster began. I had to wait in line in the cold wind for OVER AN HOUR to get my bag because UPS had totally tossed all the bags together and couldn’t find anyone’s stuff. It appeared as if teenage volunteers were in charge of things. The shuttle back to the Marriott was unable to make it back to the OC fairgrounds and I had to get on the Westin shuttle. There were runners on the shuttle who had already waited over an. hour to start going back to their hotel. After 30 minutes we finally started to drive back to the hotel and it took 2 HOURS to go 3 MILES. So it took me 8 hours to run a 2:19 half marathon.
THIS IS THE WORST TREATMENT OF RUNNERS EVER by a race. Marathoners who were on our bus could barely walk when we got to the Westin. The shuttle driver quickly disappeared and didn’t even offer to drop us off at the Marriott a couple of blocks away. We were told we had already run 26 miles so a couple more blocks wouldn’t hurt!
Marriott Costa Mesa staff were fantastic and their rates were great. Expo was good not great.
Totally disgusted. The only thing that prevented me having a completely crappy day was the nice course and great weather.
Many runners including myself have vowed never to run this race again.
Maybe Rock n Roll should take over the race and show how it should be done.
