This was a disaster. Pre-race, signing up for it was no problem and accessing the website and the course info was easy. The only problem was the pre-race email – it was timely but the subject line said “My Own Race” without any indication that this was about the Schabarum Trail Run. Not a huge problem but the subject line of the email should contain the name of the race, especially when you’re signed up for a bunch of races.
The course was a mess. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful up there. But everybody, EVERYBODY, got lost at some point. The trails weren’t marked, you’d get to a fork and there was no indication which way to go. And there was nobody out there to direct you. My friend and I kept running into people at various points who kept asking “is this the right way?” My friend and I at one point found the red flags that were supposed to mark the route and ended up almost at the finish line after we had only gone 6 miles (the race was 10). We finally just started running on different trails so that we’d at least do 10 miles, because at that point, there was no hope of getting back on course. Nobody ran the same distance. My other friend ended up doing about 13 miles, we did 9.4, another guy came in at the end and said he did 12.5. It was ridiculous. And there was no accountability from the race director, who was long gone by the time we finished. There wasn’t even an apologetic email after the race. Thankfully, my entry was free since I won it on Active.com. I would say don’t ever sign up for this race but I doubt they’ll be holding it again. However, if you find yourself in Rowland Heights, go run the trails. They’re beautiful. Just don’t enter the race.
