Half Marathon Brings Sunday Morning Closures to the Waterfront and Downtown
The half marathon starts at 7 a.m. on Cabrillo Boulevard and the 5K follows at 8:30 a.m., with the heaviest traffic impact expected between 5:30 and 8:30 a.m. and no official event parking.
Drivers crossing Santa Barbara on Sunday morning will be sharing the map with a race course. The Santa Barbara Half Marathon and 5K run on Sunday, Nov. 8, and the organizers warn that roads and highway off ramps will be heavily affected on race morning, with the worst of the impact between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., especially along the waterfront.
Both races start on Cabrillo Boulevard, on the stretch between State Street and Garden Street by the waterfront. The half marathon, presented by HOKA, goes off at 7 a.m. in four waves, and its start line closes at 7:20 a.m. The 5K follows on a single start at 8:30 a.m., with that start line closing at 8:50 a.m., according to the organizers' event schedule. Runners in both races finish on State Street, between Haley Street and Gutierrez Street.
Parking is the other half of the morning's puzzle. The organizers provide no official event parking at any point in the race weekend, and two waterfront lots, the Garden Street Lot and the Palm Park Lot, are closed on race morning. The Shoreline Park and La Mesa Park lots are closed as well. Downtown, city Lot 12 is flagged as heavily affected after 5 a.m., and Lot 13 is closed except for VIP and staff parking and Amtrak patrons, the organizers' parking page says.
The Funk Zone and West Beach neighborhoods carry their own warning: the organizers mark both as largely no parking for participants and heavily affected by the closures, and they direct drivers toward other waterfront lots or the State Street lots instead. Anyone arriving by car is also told not to park or drop off along Cabrillo Boulevard by the Chase Palm Park Great Meadow or on Garden Street.
The half marathon course is a USATF certified 13.1 miles with a time limit of three and a half hours, and the Santa Barbara Running Association is the event's official beneficiary, the organizers say. Festival partners open on Yanonali Street at 8 a.m. For non-emergency noise complaints or other race morning issues, the organizers publish a dedicated community phone line for the event on their road closures page.
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