This was one of the location races I wanted to check off my bucket list, and it did not disappoint. Who wouldn't love visiting and running through beautiful Yosemite to Bass Lake. We stayed at the Best Western Plus st Oakhurst and caught the shuttle in the morning about a 10 minute walk away, that took us to the start line. We started timely and the course was beautiful. I would say the first 5 miles were the hardest because I did not train for trail running, but I wasn't trying to PR so I was just taking my time and enjoying the scenery. All in all, if you love location races, I would definitely recommend this race. The only thing I would have done different was to go to the expo a little later in the day. I arrived pretty much when they opened and some of the vendors were not set up yet. No food vendors were up and no smore's section was set up yet. I saw some of the vendors arriving as I was leaving. read more

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Getting there: To get to the start line, we had to drive to Yosemite High School and get shuttled to the start line, which took about an hour via shuttle. No, you are not able to drive to the start. Experience: This was my first half, or even race in general and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Our wave time was at 6:00 AM I believe and from our campsite as bass lake, we were 30 mins away from Yosemite High School, where shuttles take racers to the start line. The shuttles were over an hour late causing us to miss our start time. At first we thought this was going to be a big deal, but when we arrived to the start we realized it didn't matter. We were able to finish the race in about 3 hours and 30 minutes, beating the sweep time of 4 hours. Tips: - Get to the shuttles early. It takes an hour to get to the start and parking gets crazy at the high school. Plus, the shuttles were not on time. read more

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I ran this race in 2017 and 2019. This year was definitely my last. The course is ok but it's not inside the park and most of it is on nearby roads, which isn't that exciting. This year they had horrible shuttle issues that caused major delays. My group got to the parking lot by 5:30am but didn't get on a shuttle until after 7am. The parking lot is about 30-40 min away so we didn't start the race until 7:45am. Needless to say, they went ahead with the raffle and any other race morning activities without us. Other reviews accurately describe the course. It is mostly downhill with some steep areas. The last 2-3 miles are rolling hills and more challenging than they may seem. If you're visiting Yosemite and/or the surrounding areas in addition to the race, then it's worth it. I wouldn't travel just for this race, though. I recommend doing AirBnb for a house nearby. There are really good deals in Oakhurst and Mariposa. I also recommend leaving the night before to stay closer to your airport. We drove out to SFO the morning before our flight and it was a bit stressful with traffic. read more

Such a fun 1/2! I did 2 yrs ago at their 1st race there. They have made some nice improvements. Not so extreme on the downhills like 2015 was, so my quads didn't burn out. 1st 5 miles on a fire/ logging road so that made it a bit technical and you really needed to pay attention to the mid holes and ricks. Next 5 was paved road and fast downhill and last 3 were gentle rollers. Scenery was lovely... water was flowing. The vacation race leaders did and awesome job announcing and giving awards! I even placed 5th in my age group..nice they recognized up to 5th place. Vacation race company really goes up and beyond other races to make sure you have a unique and pleasurable experience. I definitely want to do more other the vacation race series! Great job! read more

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This is a beautiful race but just know you are not in Yosemite but about 30 min away from south entrance. The 1st 4.5 miles was a trail run then you hit paved road. Lots of down hills that were slightly steep in few sections then last 3 miles are gently rolling hills. After all the down hill that section was hard. This race was a challenge bc of the elevation so train harder. The race shuttle system was chaos for us although I think some people did not have any issues. Traffic was so bad to get to parking lot we waited at stoplight for 25-30 min. We when got to the top to start race it was hard to get layout of what was where. I will say that a bus company failed to show up that morning so that threw a wrench into organization! I think the race organization is somewhat casual in their approach- which is just fine and in many ways preferable. I would definitely recommend this race but maybe stay in Oakhurst so you can walk to shuttle bus. read more

Yosemite Half Marathon - Races & Competitions Near Me

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The Yosemite Half is one of many national park races hosted by Vacation Races, + 2016 was its 2nd year hosting this race. I had a blast participating this year with a team of 11 friends, 5 of whom also signed up to hike Half Dome with me the day after as part of the Half Dome Challenge (more on this later.) * Positives * - The RACE GUIDE was sent out 2 full weeks prior to race day, quite thorough + not chock full of ads like other races [ahem, Disney] are http://bit.ly/2fUzHHH - Expo was small but hassle-free. Loved that we had a choice of 3 colors for shirts! - As the race starts in Oakhurst + ends in Bass Lake, there are SHUTTLES provided to/from designated parking lots. While the logistics of this didn't work seamlessly, I was happy they existed, even if it did mean waking up at 3AM to make it to the 4:30-5AM shuttle departure window - The COURSE was great! Though none of the race is actually in Yosemite-proper [deceptive naming, I know], the Oakhurst/Bass Lake area is nicely scenic + remote. The first 4ish miles were on dirt trail https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/yosemite-half-marathon-oakhurst?select=AoyTfBFF9piKEPzs_E7yaA, + the latter section is paved road https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/yosemite-half-marathon-oakhurst?select=e25XiQ_NIOHXKPNA6sgKVw. The net downhill course meant the wind was at my feet + time flew by quickly. If I hadn't stopped to take so many pictures, it could have been a PR for me! - This year's field was only ~2,300 runners, which meant the road was gloriously spacious for majority of the 13.1 miles, as you can see in my photos above. Races of this caliber rarely have such a SMALL FIELD! However, this is also why the race to sold out 8 months before race day for 2016 + is already sold out for 2017 - A clothing drop-off was provided at mile 3--like a secondary gear check for extra layers after warming up. So thoughtful! - Another rare perk of this race was FREE FOOD on the course! https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/yosemite-half-marathon-oakhurst?select=Uv_YO3TzoOVPCQFS_0px0A Two of the aid stations had bananas, oranges, + electrolyte gels in addition to water + electrolyte drink - A free finisher PHOTO OPP was available post-race from the official race photographers http://bit.ly/2gitruj - In general, the design of the bibs, shirt, + overall marketing were well-done. In particular, the FINISHER MEDAL is gorgeous! https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/yosemite-half-marathon-oakhurst?select=dwVXq5hxbT-LqVsLrQev5w Bigger than my palm, colorful, double-sided engraved design, has the date on it, + all hanging from a thick, silky ribbon. This is probably my favorite medal of all time. - As an incentive to explore Yosemite National Park before/after the race, there are fun challenges to hike + see. http://yosemitehalfmarathon.com/clubs-and-trifecta/ Now a proud member of the 2016 Half Dome Club, this challenge absolutely made the trip more valuable for an adventure-seeker like me * Negatives * - As the other reviews mentioned, the traffic getting to the shuttle pick-up parking lots + then the bottleneck unloading at the start line were a bit chaotic. The local roads are only 1-lane in each direction so expecting hundreds of cars to arrive at 1 parking lot with 1 driveway at the same time in a timely fashion was wishful thinking on the organizer's part. - The starting line was messy. https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/yosemite-half-marathon-oakhurst?select=_VY2D-wgV84f8UrL_Sxo6w There were supposed to be 9 corrals, but it was difficult finding ours as they weren't spread out + there were no clear 2-sided signage or barriers. We had to stumble through woods/shrubbery/people to get to the gear check truck in the middle of the corrals + then swim upstream to find our corrals from there - It probably around 40F degrees out when we started. While of course the weather can't be controlled, having a race when such limb-numbing morning temperatures are typical is potentially dangerous. I had a jacket + long-sleeve on but couldn't feel my fingers until a few miles in. A heads up to pack gloves + extra layers would have been nice. Even the starting line MC was freezing https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/yosemite-half-marathon-oakhurst?select=Fbszrt90INBIkyBRqde9jQ * Overall * Having run 15 halfs + several OCR/fun runs/shorter distances over the last 5 years, I've seen my fair share of highs + lows in terms of production value from race organizers. Giving 4 stars sounds about right. There were so many pluses to this race experience, + the coordinators seem to be making adjustments each year based on the feedback of participants--the most obvious of which is changing the date for 2017's race from October to May--so I trust that they will continue to improve the race with each year. So despite the logistics issues, I see + appreciate the amount of detail that Vacation Races put into organizing the Yosemite Half + look forward to doing another one of their national park races in the future. read more

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The Yosemite Half Marathon was spectacular! First of all, you don't actually run it in the National Park since that would distract from other people being able to enter the park and etc. But you're about an hour and half south of Yosemite so it's quick to do a day trip up! The race course (in 2016) is a mix of fire road and road which was always pleasant. The water pouches they get produce a lot less waste and it's a lot better for the environment in general. The course was cleared, they had awesome markers everywhere and stations for food and snacks throughout the course. I never had trouble on the course itself. The only thing I could complain about is the logistics of the start point. There were at least half a dozen busses still coming in when the race started which sucks for anyone who came in kind of late. I wish they were more clear about how freezing cold the start point would be or given us an email about how we they would have a way for us to take our cold gear to the end. Maybe I missed it but I thought I read that email clearly. Use it, bring warm coats and layers and then just put into that plastic bag. They leave them all out on a field later and you can grab it all. read more

I would agree that the race itself is spectacular. And it's not even that far from the park, so we stayed in the park and actually hiked the following day. Don't be fooled by the downhill. While it may speed you up a little, it will also wreck your quads. And if you blister easily make sure you treat your hot spots before you go or you pretty much end up with extra toes. I would agree with Rohan D regarding logistics. We left in time to arrive at the shuttles by 4:35am, but were stuck in a line of traffic that stretched back at least a couple miles. The line was caused by a traffic light where there was no traffic direction, so people (rightly) waited for the light to change. With simple traffic direction it would have saved a lot of time. We ended up parking at 5:20am. Lines at the porta-potties were 6 deep but it was dark, so we squatted out of sight. Finally got on a bus that didn't have enough space, so went to the next one. Had to stop on the way up the hill to pick up folks that had bailed out of the bus we didn't get on because he got run off the road by a tour bus. Got to the back of a line of buses near the start at 6:25. After 20 minutes on the bus and only moving minimally, we were let off to get to the start at 6:45. Porta-potty lines were like the mosh pit at a concert, so into the woods we went, along with hordes of others. Fortunately we had looked at the weather and knew it would be cold. Coats from walmart were discarded about a mile and half in, and hopefully donated. Aside from the logistics, the only other real complaint I had was the hydration. While I appreciate the effort to be a footprint-free race, in the hubbub of getting to the shuttle I left my hydration pouch behind. They wouldn't let you drink from the dispensers at the stations and there were no cups. I had nothing for 13 miles - not even at the end - because there was no appropriate vessel. Not only is that uncomfortable, it can be dangerous. Contingencies need to be made available. read more

This was my 2nd vacation race, after running Zion the month before and I loved it. So completely different than Zion. Very organized with runners separated into two heats, parking and shuttles all laid out well and easy to get to. Spectator parking was marked well with lots of parking. Mile 1 starts at 5400 ft finishing at 3,500 ft at bass lake. All downhill. There was a mix of rough terrain and paved roads and the downhill was great for a PR. Beautiful course through trees and rivers full of water and ending at beautiful bass lake. The worst part of the race for me is always the early morning waiting in the mid 30 degree weather. However I love that they have a mile 3 clothing drop off. Makes it easier to stay a bit warmer as long as you can. The 6 bathroom, water/electrolyte stops along the way were perfect and the oranges at the last were a wonderful treat and pick me up. One of the prettiest and organized races I've ever done. Looking forward to doing more. read more

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