Oyster Race

We had a great time!
Our team of 5 did the full Oyster and for 3 of us it was our first.
Our first challenge was a long ride from the Persideo to South of Market where we got to identify herbs and then toss fish between team mates.
For future racers, be warned… WATER IS INVOLVED. We cycled over to Pier 40 where 3 of our team had to use paddle boards to navigate a simple course. Not tough, but i’m not a big fan of deep water… and there weren’t that many safety people on the water. Ok… I’m paranoid so there you go…
The race is a mixture of running and cycling to different challenges. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, ran down to the yacht club and then finally up to Alta Plaza park… the hill climb nearly killed me.
For next year, I will:
* Begin running well in advance of the race. 1 week before is not good.
* Drink more water!
My tips for future racers:
* Dress in layers. People not used to SF weather were not happy.
* Bring another outfit. Several people who ended up in the bay were soaked all day.
*The event provides a transition area… bring some shade.
* Turn it down a notch… we saw more than a few racers loose it. The prizes aren’t so big that you need to kill people to win. Breathe. You’re tossing fish… this is not the olympics.
* This would be a good event for older, athletic, kids. I saw 1 or 2, it would be cool to see more. My kids would love this. Especially the challenge where we used a sling-​shot to fire our shoes into the air.
* Burritos at the end! They are awesome!

Horrible race. No challenges, physical or mental. Someone told it was the equivalent to the Amazing Race. Not even close. I really do not want to waste my time reviewing this one.

Having completed over 2 dozen organized events ranging from fun runs to Ironman distance triathlons. This was one of the most poorly organized and executed events I have ever taken part in. More on that in a minute. If you are looking for a challenge then look farther because the only thing you will find challenging here is the riding and running, and if that’s the case, save your money and go run a 5k or do a fun ride. The «challenges» were a joke and required little to no physical ability. Unless swimming in a waist deep pool with a innertube around you, holding a stuffed animal is considered a challenge. And, if you really wanted to try to make good time, good luck, because we had to wait up to 15 minutes to get into a challenge. The mental challenges were borderline insulting. Guess the ingredients of salsa? Really? Oh. wait…cilantro…ummmm…lime…onion, am I close? Granted if you can’t finger paint you might be in trouble. The only thing we had to look forward to was the end of the race and the free beer and free burrito. After being in the cold all day it was sounding so awesome! But wait! What’s that? You ran out of beer?! Oh, and you ran out of burritos?! And we weren’t the last team in either! There were another 6 teams behind us!!! Are you kidding me? It’s one thing to have teenage volunteers on the course who aren’t paying attention or screw you over, but, to run out of beer and food that you promised at the end of the race is unacceptable.

Ran the full Oyster and it was tough! First off, don’t take this race lightly. It involves a lot of running and biking. Second, be careful while biking. My bike tire got stuck in the cable car tracks and I took a pretty serious fall, resulting in a black eye and bruised hip (however, it won me the injury of the race award). Third, make sure you’re organized. When communicating with your team be specific as to locations and make sure that everyone knows what they’re doing. Finally, have fun. This is an awesome event, and I’ll definitely be back.

Absolutely awesome race. I ran the Half Oyster race on Sep 26, 2009 with two of my friends (Team Tree!). The race started a bit early– at 9 AM.
Unfortunately, we had some bike problems at the start of the race and didn’t get out of the gates until 9:35 AM. We knew we were in dead last. We rode our bikes over to the Ferry Building farmer’s market and had to find objects that began with the letters in Oyster – orange, yellow lemon, star ruby grapefruit, tamil almond, extra virgin olive oil, and red pepper.
After dropping off our bikes at the transition area, we had to go over to the Lyon Staircase and go through Lover’s Lane and find letters on trees. We were completely out of breath at the top of the stairs. We ran along the path, occasionally into the woods, looking for letters around trees marked with pink string. One lady looked at me strangely as I ran into the woods to find my next letter. «Is there supposed to be something back there?» she asked. Finally, we unscrambled our word, which was «Bowling» and headed over to the Presidio bowling alley, where we had to bowl a strike or spare. It was odd bowling while all sweaty and somewhat out of breath.
Finally, after heading back to the transition area, we had to find an ad in the SF Weekly, which then told us to go to the Ghirardelli Square pub, where we had to match four beers. We were very lucky to get it on our first try. We finished in a little under 3 hours, which was not bad, considering our late start. It was an awesome race, tons of fun, and they provided cliff bars, water, and burritos for us afterward.
It was awesome checking in between legs, with people cheering and ringing some cow bell. Definitely check out the race if you enjoy adventure and running around. Having an iphone is a pretty big help.