Sunday’s Oceanside 10K went off without a hitch and unlike last year the rain stayed away.
Race director Barry Carr of the host Oceanside Running Club Association (ORCA) was in good spirits.
“We’ve got 128 racers out today,” Carr said at the finish line, pointing out that’s down from last year’s field of just over 200 “but we’re competing against a lot of events this weekend.”
The course was pretty much the same as years past, but the start line had a new look and for the first time organizers had the orange bridge blocked off for the runners as they made their way to Rathtrevor Park.
“Our race is a certified course and it’s exactly 10 kilometres so if we make any minor change (on the course) we have to change the start line too.”
They closed the bridge so the runners could cross over en masse instead of bottle necking into the sidewalks.
“We closed it for about 10 minutes on the way out ... it was a good exercise,” he said.
This year’s race also got a lot of help with some 50 volunteers lending a hand.
“I almost had too many can you believe that Barry chuckled after the field had headed out.