Florida Shamrock Halfathon

Tierra Verde, Florida

Sunday, March 17, 2019

On Sunday, March 17, 2019 I race walked the Florida Shamrock Halfathon held in Fort De Soto County Park in Tierra Verde, Florida.  There was a 10 mph wind with overcast skies and a constant temperature of 65 degrees.  The course was flat on paved park streets, paved parking lots and paved bike paths and consisted of a 3.1 mile loop, followed by an out and back for the other 10 miles.  Water/Gatorade stations were each utilized twice and were situated about two miles apart.  Each had plenty of friendly efficient volunteers taking care of the needs of the 517 finishers in the half marathon and the 520 finishers in the 5K.  There were two county policer officers with their automobiles having there emergency light on, one controlling a place where the bike path crossed the roadway and the other closing 1.5 miles of roadway to all vehicle traffic.  The bike path had to be shared with a few bikers and joggers, none of whom caused me any problems.  This is the first time that I have done this event which has Chris Lauber and his wife as the race directors.  They currently have a series of 5 winter events in the Clearwater – Saint Petersburg area.  They have been directing fun well organized events for years.  In fact they were the race directors for the second race walking marathon that I ever did on January 20, 2002.  One great idea that they did in this event that I never have seen before was that all the pre-registered participants as possible had their emergency contact parson and telephone number printed on the front at the bottom of their bib.  Having this information immediately available for a first responder in an emergency would certainly be a time saver.  Fortunately as far as I know the information did not need to be utilized during the event.

The Packet Pick-Up

Prerace

Post Race