Loading…
We use cookies. We use cookies, including analytics, to improve your experience.
JOURNAL
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE
Wharf to Wharf runs in July from the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf along the coast to the wharf at Capitola. It is one of the larger road races in California, it fills its field, and it closes the coastal route between the two towns for a morning.
The reason it matters to people who are not running is the bands. Live music sets up along the course, in front yards and on street corners for most of the distance, and the neighborhoods along East Cliff and through Live Oak make a morning of it. If you are staying in Seabright, Pleasure Point or Capitola, the race comes past your door whether you entered it or not.
It also lands in the middle of the busiest and often the grayest month on this coast. July mornings here are frequently overcast, which is close to ideal running weather and less ideal if you were counting on a beach afternoon to follow. Confirm this year's date with the organiser before you book around it.
Entry is the first constraint. The field caps and fills quickly once registration opens, so if running it is the point of the trip, watch for the opening rather than deciding in June. Charity entries are sometimes available after the general field closes.
Lodging is the second. Race weekend is on the short list of dates that fill Santa Cruz County, alongside university move-in and graduation weekends and every summer holiday. Capitola Village is small, packed on an ordinary summer weekend and completely full on this one. Book early, or stay slightly out in Aptos, Soquel or the redwood towns and come in.
On the morning itself, do not plan on driving between Santa Cruz and Capitola. The course closes the direct route and the streets crossing it back up behind it. Walk, ride the paths along West Cliff and East Cliff, or simply be where you want to be before the start. The finish empties onto Capitola's small village grid, so decide where you are eating afterward in advance rather than joining the queue with everyone else.