The Great Ferry Race Half Marathon

The Great Ferry Race is unlike any other race you’ve ever done. Participants will board the ferry in downtown Seattle by walking on, enjoy the scenic 35 minute crossing to Bainbridge Island, and then assemble on the car deck and walk off. This half marathon race will start on the ferry dock and take runners all around scenic Bainbridge Island. The course is approximately 2/3rds road and 1/3rd groomed trail. After the run, enjoy the post-race festival before picking a return ferry of your choosing back to Seattle.

Bainbridge Island residents (or anyone who doesn’t need to take the ferry) please select the Bainbridge resident option for a discount when registering.

Course

This is a pretty unique course. Not only does it start by walking off a ferry, it’s a great blend of road and (tame) trail running. It’s about 2/3rd on road and 1/3rd on trail. We are taking advantage of some of Bainbridge Island’s wonderful parks and trails, including Grand Forest and Battle Point Park.

By most road race standards, this is a hilly course. By trail running standards, it’s quite flat. There is about 1400′ of elevation gain on this course, so make sure you train on some hills!

A word about the trails: these are not technical trails, so you do not need to be an experienced trail runner to do this course. That said, it’s always a good idea to be prepared, so we recommend that you take some time to run on trails prior to the race.

We will have 4 well-stocked aid stations evenly spaced throughout the course.

Schedule

7:00am: Orca Running Staff at Seattle Ferry Terminal to answer questions, etc.
7:45am: Orca Running Staff at Winslow Ferry Terminal to answer questions, etc.
7:55am: Ferry departs downtown Seattle
8:25am: Participants on Bainbridge Island Start Race
8:30am: Ferry arrives Bainbridge Island, cars begin disembarking
8:35am: Runners assemble on car deck, walk off ferry
8:37am-ish: Race starts! Race will start in pre-assigned waves of 30 people or less, every 2 minutes.
1:00pm: Course closed

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