Please plan to attend the PR meeting on March 31st, 2-4pm Bodega Bay Grange where event promoters will try to sell this to residents. We want full public review and hearings!
“Everything from state campground checkouts, vacation rentals, restaurants and stores, the Sunday farmers market at the local community center, and even a wedding at the Secret Garden on the race route that day would be impacted, they said.
“Highway 1 is the only way we have to move around here,” said Diana Bundy, who, with her husband, stewards the Bodega Bay Community Center on Highway 1 and manages the farmers market there. “In other places where they do these races, they can go around the main arteries and have access, but not here. This is not well thought out in my opinion.”
Sonoma Coast Marathon proposed along Highway 1 from Fort Ross to Bodega Bay
See PD article about Sonoma Coast marathon here ( Feb 4, 2019)
A new venture seeking to capitalize on Sonoma County’s reputation as a premier destination for athletic endurance events is proposing to stage a marathon on Highway 1 this fall, shutting down the scenic coastal highway in both directions during the race from Fort Ross to Bodega Bay.
Former west county Supervisor Efren Carrillo is leading the drive to create the Sonoma Coast Marathon, modeled on a similar race held every spring in Big Sur.
The inaugural event, planned for Sept. 29, would start on the north end at Fort Ross State Park at 7 a.m. and take runners south on Highway 1 to the finish line at Westside Regional Park in Bodega Bay, Carrillo said.
A shorter race, something just longer than a half-marathon, would begin at the recently opened Jenner Headlands Preserve. Both runs would dog-leg into Goat Rock State Beach below Jenner and back out to Highway 1 for the remainder of the course.
Carrillo said he wants to celebrate the spectacular Sonoma coastline and build on the region’s reputation for well- organized, successful events that have made the county a destination for runners and cyclists. Organizers hope to attract about 4,000 to 5,000 participants in the first year, he said.
“In our research, there seems to be a significant amount of interest for folks in the Bay Area, in the region and across the state and elsewhere for healthy events like this one,” Carrillo said. “And what better place than the Sonoma Coast? I do believe that this will be a one-of-a- kind experience.”
While few locals have yet heard about his plans, some already are concerned about a key component: the closure of Highway 1 in both directions beginning early that Sunday morning and, at least on the south end, into early afternoon.
The effect, they said, would shut down all movement in Bodega Bay north of Eastshore Road, since almost everyone needs to travel on Highway 1 to go anywhere, except those living right off Coleman Valley or Bay Hill roads.
Everything from state campground checkouts, vacation rentals, restaurants and stores, the Sunday farmers market at the local community center, and even a wedding at the Secret Garden on the race route that day would be impacted, they said.
“Highway 1 is the only way we have to move around here,” said Diana Bundy, who, with her husband, stewards the Bodega Bay Community Center on Highway 1 and manages the farmers market there. “In other places where they do these races, they can go around the main arteries and have access, but not here. This is not well thought out in my opinion.”
Robin Rudderow, who manages the community center gardens, said the general response from people she has told about the marathon has been mostly, “Are you kidding me? Closing Highway 1 on a busy fall Sunday? … It would just be gridlock.”
Carrillo said Caltrans and CHP requested the complete highway closure so that race participants could utilize the western, southbound lane and the eastern, northbound lane could be reserved for emergency vehicles serving the event and the region.
Runners will be given cut-off times for each leg of the race, so that the northernmost sections can be reopened earlier than the remainder of the course. Participants would have a maximum of six hours to complete the course.