Ojai 2 Ocean Marathon and Half Marathon
Sunday, 3 June 2012Congratulations to all the finishers! Results inquiries – results@geminitiming.com
Half Marathon – Divisions - Overall
Marathon – Divisions - Overall - Pacers
Timing chips must be returned in a padded envelope to: Gemini Timing, ATTN: O2O, 22422 Miramot Rd, Apple Valley, CA 92308.
June 4th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Congratulations!!!
You did very nice, beautiful, well organized, very impressive big event. ^-^
Two things I’d like to mention to improve your event. The trees on running track need to be trimmed. Just few of them at the side of the track. It hits runner’s face since not enough space during first 1-4 miles.
And the Gel should not be open when given. It spilled on body and hand.
Thanks again.
I really enjoyed the marathon. See you next year.
June 4th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Overall a great race! Want to give just a little constructive feed back to help with the next year.
1. Not sure what the hold up was with the late start but unlike a shorter race I think most marathoners would prefer a prompt start. It’s a long road, people are anxious (and burning precious carbs) so hopefully next year will be better on that point.
2. Water station. I think overall they did a great job but around mile 4 right before a short steep hill I saw two guys furiously pumping water into cups to try and keep up with the runners (they couldn’t). I thought it was kind of comical. Also I personally would prefer water just after a hill then right before I start sucking wind. I had my own bottle so it made no difference to me.
3. maybe a minor issue but could be serious if someone gets hurt. Not sure if you can even do anything about it but there was the occasional bicyclist going in either direction that was a little unnerving at times.
4. Lastly and I’m sure you can’t do anything about this but the last stretch of bike path before you get to the pier there were lots of raised cracks in the road. Not fun when you’re on your last mile of a marathon.
Ok with all that said I absolutely loved the course and the people were helpful and friendly. Will definitely do it again! Good job!
June 4th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed the O2O Half Marathon. Shuttles & parking were convenient. The course was comfortable with a variety of scenery, and the volunteers were enthusiastic and very helpful. Downhill finish line was a plus and the expo was good.
My one and only suggestion is that the volunteers wear protective gloves when handling the food. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I observed several volunteers handling the oranges, bananas and bagels with their bare hands. I’ve done several races over the years and volunteers customarily wear disposable plastic gloves.
I appreciate all the hard work and long hours dedicated to making O2O a successful event! I hope to participate again next year.
June 4th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
Hi Tom:
Good marathon. Just a few issues. Gatoraid(or similiar drink) supposed to be @ station 2.5 and 8 and wasn’t there. Also, mile 4 water not ready in cups so we had to wait for the water to be poured. Otherwise fine.
Thanks.
June 5th, 2012 at 6:54 am
I wanted to thank my pacer Keith Hedlund! He is the only reason at this point in my training that I was able to get my time.
Thank you Keith from the bottom of my heart….We did not say much to each other but I followed you and then you gave me the focus I needed to keep it up. Your timing was excellent and you were clear about what was to come up next and how to pace. Thank you so much!
Brian
June 5th, 2012 at 6:59 am
Graet race venue! I really enjoyed the grassroots feeling. We missed having the beer truck there…What happened?
June 5th, 2012 at 7:33 am
I really did enjoy running the 1/2 marathon and overall this is one of my favorites in my 30 years of running. Your organization was exceptional and I like having good tasting bottle water and not the typical fire hydrant/hose water. The only thing I would suggest is one more additional water stop over the last half of the 1/2 marathon course. I will be back with more friends!
Great job!
Bill Salazar
June 5th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
The only thing that I would complain about would be the late start but other than that I really enjoyed the course. Great job and I will be back!
June 6th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Love this race, one of my best! Definitely will be back next year and try to BQ on this course!
June 6th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Need more than three port-a-potties! Water stop at Mile 4 was a mess. The out and back along the beach was not fun. However, all that being said, I love this race. Thank you to all the volunteers!
June 6th, 2012 at 8:55 pm
Great event and course!!! I PR’d by 15 mins and got a BQ. Suggestions for the event include…
1. Lights at the start for the first shuttles. Bathrooms and getting around were tough in the darkness
2. The porta-pottys were not level and were more like a surfing epedition (no problems but challenging)
3. You tried to leave a lane opened at the start and used cones to separate the closed and open lane. However, porta-potty lines were long and naturally went into traffic. Maybe have all traffic go on oppposite side of street where the two lanes could be converted temporarily into one lane each direction
4. Move the porta-pottys behind the start rather than in front. By having them in front, we had to wait for the lines to clear before starting the race
5. Mile 4 water station needed more help
6. Leave the energy gel pack sealed – i didn’t need one right thten so i pocketed it for later consumption. At mile 20 I learned it had been opened and leaked in my pocket – yuck!
It may seem like I am complaining but I really enjoyed the event. I plan to be back.
June 6th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
You guys rocked it this year! Okay, so the Fairgrounds ended up charging for parking and had people single filing in, that took way longer than anticipated for getting to the buses. All that aside,it only took 5 minutes longer to start. Not bad at all.
The course was right on, I liked the way the start of the half was on the road so the runners had room to space before the bike trail.
The water stop at mile 9 was accidentally placed on the return side of the pier at mile 12.5, sorry to say it wasn’t needed by then. That won’t happen next year….
One suggestion I would make is that with a race this size you should consider splitting age group awards into 5 year increments. That way more people would stick around for the awards and spend some time at the vendor booths, and more people can come away with a greater sense of accomplishment (as if finishing isn’t enough).
I hope to do it again next year- and wish you all continued success in the meantime.
June 7th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Running comments: Thoroughly enjoyed the 1/2 marathon. Great course, friendly volunteers, plently of port-a-potties at start and finish(yay!). Will definitely do this one again and recommend it highly to others.
Spectator comments: It was really nice to be able to cheer the marathoners at mile 21 then walk over to the Finish to cheer those runners coming across.
June 8th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
This was my favorite marathon of all time and I had a blast. The course was great, the results were quick and the volunteers were friendly. The traffic control was well done and I liked the space at the start. I am already anticipating next year.
I would like to see a couple dozen more porto’s at the start. That might have helped with the start being on time since the lines blocked the course. I was also a little disappointed with your awards for AG winners. Most races go every 5 years and 3 to 5 deep compared with your 10 years one winner. Also, while I appreciate my pine tree, I don’t think it will survive in my desert southwest. I honestly would like something that actually says I won my AG with the name and date of the race. The painted pots were very cool and even a small one of those would have been nice. Since they are made of clay I think that would qualify as eco-friendly.
I agree with Robert about the people on bikes. I was very nervous on some of the blind corners not knowing if a cyclist was going to come from the other direction.
All in all though a great race.
June 10th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Great marathon, I really enjoyed it. I got a big PB(3:19) and BQ! I brought three other runners aside from myself down from Canada to run this race and they loved it as well.
On the whole if I were organizing it next year, I would have runners do the loop twice up at the top and then just finish the race down at the ocean by the Ventura pier.
We all felt the run past the Marriot and then the left down Peirpont Blvd was a real bummer. There were no marathon mile markers, only halves and it was very unclear where the turn around was combined with that last path had people walking, riding bikes, carrying surf boards, etc.. and we were on the last mile!
Just a thought. Thanks though and best of luck next year!
June 16th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
This was a very nice marathon except for the late start. Many things were good, a few need improvement. The first 21 miles of the course were fantastic. Nice scenery on the streets of Ojai and then a beautiful bike path down to the coast. This is one of the nicest courses I’ve run in the LA area although I didn’t care for the last 5 miles. Approaching the finish line near mile 22 and then going out again for another 4 miles was not fun. Those last 5 miles are never easy but going away from the finish made it even harder. I would put an extra loop up in Ojai to get the 5 miles up there and then finish at the same place without the last out and back loop. The finish area was well-done with a long chute along the Promenade that was great to run through. It kept the spectators off the course and was neat to run for the last 0.2 miles.
The volunteers were great, all smiles, and positive. I observed the same thing Robert did with the volunteers at mile 4 furiously pumping water and trying to keep up with the throng of people coming by. It was hilarious and I laughed hard at that one. Maybe put a few more volunteers at the water stations in the early portions of the race because that’s where the runners are all bunched together. Later on the field spreads out so you don’t need so many handing out water. There was some confusion about water or sports drink. All the cups looked the same and the volunteers were not very vocal so you just grabbed and hoped it was what you wanted. Also, we don’t need water at mile 26. If you are dehydrated at mile 26 it is because you didn’t drink enough beginning way back at mile 10. No amount of water at mile 26 is going to get into your system fast enough to get you through the last 0.2 miles.
The buses were great and I loved the 6:00am race starting time although 4:00am is much too early to catch the bus. Many of us had to get up at 2:00am to get there by 4:00 and then had to sit at the start for an hour and a half. Actually, we waited longer than that because the race didn’t start on time. I even overheard one person saying he got up at 1:00am. The bars aren’t even closed at 1:00am!!
Bag pickup was flawless. I didn’t even have to ask for my bag. I just walked over to the tent and, as I approached, a smiling volunteer read my bib number and immediately found my bag. Very nice and thank you for that.
The T-shirt and medal were both substandard for a marathon. The front of the shirt has a nice design but the back is cluttered with 29 advertisements (30 if you count the compete green logo). It looks terrible! The positive spin on this is that now I have an extra shirt that I can wear when I change the oil in my car. The medal has a nice design but was done on a thin piece of cheap polished metal that is already rusting on my shelf. Both the medal and T-shirt are not what I would expect from a top-notch marathon.
Bib, T-shirt, and chip pickup the day before the marathon were easy but I’d like to suggest an improvement. Compete Green should realize that there is nothing “green” about requiring 2000 people to drive half way across LA to pick up an envelope containing a bib and chip. For a 50 cent stamp these items could have easily been mailed and saved thousands of gallons of gas and many hours on the freeways of LA. T-shirts could have been handed out at the finish just like the medals. On a positive note they did have a bib pickup location in the San Fernando Valley which saved many people lots of driving miles. A few 50 cent stamps would have saved more though. If you change to this format please don’t try to charge $25 for mailing the bibs like some races.
Lastly and most importantly: THE RACE DIDN’T START ON TIME! I ran the previous race put on by this group and it was the same story (only with cold and blowing wind that time). The race director seems to like to talk on the bullhorn while the captive audience must stand there and wait for him to finish before the race starts. Please understand that we don’t need to know about the turnaround point at mile 25 or that the course is downhill or where the water stops are. This information is useless. We are all nervous after spending the last 18+ weeks training for this moment and we just want to go on time. If you must talk on the bullhorn please start your speech 30 minutes before the scheduled start time.
Congratulations to the whole Compete Green team and volunteer staff. This was a fun marathon that I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope my comments will be taken as constructive only and will help to make the marathon just a little bit better next year. With a few tweaks this marathon could be the best in the LA area.
June 26th, 2012 at 9:52 am
Great race. Well organized. I do agree that the gel packs need to remain sealed. Other than that you all did fantastic job. Of the 51 marathons ive ran, this one is one if my favorites. Thank you for making it happen.
July 6th, 2012 at 8:31 am
I really do not want to climb that hill in the first loop twice. I liked the oceanfront running. A nice change after running through the forest. You still have to run 26 miles and having all the people around during the last miles was fun. It also gives the spectators a chance to see their runners. Also, my Garmin kept me apprised of the mileage.
I got up at 3:20 and caught the 4am bus and enjoyed the chill time before the race. Allowed me to place my GU, grease my toes and hit the bathroom a couple times without a rush.
I love my shirt. I don’t see the back and advertising is expected to offset the costs.
A few minute wait to start was not a big deal. The Porto users had to clear the road, which you could fix by putting them in back of the start or in that field.
Why are you going in May next year 2 weeks earlier?