2026
Boy, I didn’t event get to the blog this year. I’m posting here my closing note to the race because it captures it all…
| Hi Everyone, It’s taken me a day longer than usual to write because I was sorting through what I wanted to share about Sunday. First, for those of you who don’t actually care about Deep Thoughts, and just want results and photos, here’s that update: Preliminary results are here. Take a look. I’ll be uploading these to Ultrasignup later today but wanted you to get your licks in. It’s not uncommon for the system to miss chip reads on days when it’s hot or cold because your bibs can get wet or stuffed away in your pack or whatever. Not to worry: even after I put these on Ultrasignup we can still change them. Photos. Esther Ramos (who is a genius) is finishing her edit on the race day photos. They should be available tonight and when they are, I will post a link on theSkyline/Scena website and on Ultrasignup. Now for the reflections and thank you’s. This is the 15th year I’ve directed Skyline 50k. I have always felt like this was a special gathering, even in a world where the trail 50k has become a bit of a commodity locally. It’s a simple event that has never boasted a lot about itself, but has quietly brought everyone together each summer — often for folks’ first ultra. That happened again this year. We had over 50 first-time ultrarunners. In the half marathon, the overall winner was running her first trail race! Every Skyline is a story of new beginnings, achievements, and relationships. 2026 was no different in that way. What was different, of course, was the passing of Ken, who was a friend to me and to many of you. For the first time in many years, Carola Gregorich came and spent the day at the finish. So did her kids and grandkids. For those of you who saw the hokey Skyline banner behind the podium, their family made that. So there was a lot of connection between past and present this year, at a time when I’ve been thinking a lot about our future as a running community. I don’t mean that in an ominous way — it’s mostly because of what a big experience the Bay Area 100 was for a lot of us. Carola pointed out something that stuck with me: how much richer and more diverse this community is now than it was 20 years ago, when she and Ken were directing. That’s not an accident. It’s what happens when a sport grows in a place like this, and teams like Pamakids, Lake Merritt Run Club, and Dusty Bottoms have had a lot to do with it. It’s part of why I keep coming back to one idea this year, as Skyline opens onto Firetrails, our training camp and programs, and Bay Area 100. Call it a North Star: make real things. When we get together, we’re making something real — your race, maybe your first one, and new connections between people, in a year when more and more of what we do happens on a screen. Experiences matter. So onto the thank you’s. Many of you commented on the support on the course, and I can’t thank these folks enough. To pick on Pamakids, Lake Merritt Run Club, and Dusty Bottoms again, they always show up in force and they did again. Thanks to the captains — Patty Shijo, Char Liebes, Dave Nicely, Edmundo Vitocruz, and Jeff Rowe — for organizing their groups. There are dozens of people on their volunteer lists. This is not to downplay the role that Steve Fields and Chihping Fu played at Clyde Woolridge, or the one that Stan Jensen, Bob Agazzi, Dawn Moses, and Dan Farrel played at Marciel. My deepest thanks to them. Thank you to the trail teams that marked and pre-ran the course: Alex Rodriguez, Chris O’Connor, Zoe Ray (the 3rd woman on race day — youth!), Brent Watts, Joe Morgan and the Bay Bandits, Jonathan Klaasen, Pen Perez, and Chuck Amital. Thank you to the networks of volunteers. Volunteer Safety Patrol, led by John Rabold, stood at many intersections pointing you the right way. And to the Diablo Hams, a volunteer group of ham radio operators — not a charcuterie shop — who guarantee your safety and let me know where you are. And of course, thank you to the event team: Todd Glieden, Mark Hauber, Lisa Derby, Cindy Young, Sara Kurth, Jen Watters, Wallis, Teito, Edgar, Kevin, Ricardo, Ice Cream Annette, ever-resourceful Michael Li, Livestream Jenny, Dylan, and Funky Gene, Data-center-with-a-smile Mr. T (Chris Thoburn). To Carola, Max, and the Gregorich family. The list goes on and on. Finally, thank you to the East Bay Regional Parks for their trust in letting us use the land they steward. And that’s it. Thanks for reading this far. On to Firetrails, and of course, to Bay Area 100. Between running and supporting, I know I’ll see most of you again before our next Skyline on August 1, 2027. |
| See you soon, |
end 2025
8/5/2025 Well that sure was amazing! I have lots of thoughts on the race, which warrants an actual blog post, not just this blurbby cropdusting I usually put here. First! Here are some pictures:
Here’s an album of selects from Bryan Ting. Here’s also a whole album from Victor Yee who was running around for kicks and hosting a brunch!
More photos coming…
8/1 The 2025 LIVE FEED is ready. It features timing points at Clyde Woolridge, Moon Gate, and Marciel. Here’s the link
https://my.raceresult.com/353763/#1_31DBEC
7/30 The 2025 Digital Briefing is LIVE.
7/25 Getting ready for Race Week. I just updated the Hall of Legends. Thanks to Jeff Reed for pointing out that there weren’t revised last year. Check out the Hall of Legends!
6/17/2025: BIG NEWS! After close consultation with the East Bay Regional Parks, we have made a significant change to the 2025 course. Starting this year, we will bypass Skyline Gate to avoid congestion with day-trippers in the parking lot there. The course now will run to Moon Gate up Tres Sendas and then descend back down to French Trail on Madrone Trail after passing through Redwood Bowl. Check out the 50k Athlete Guide for more details!
This course revision also returns Skyline to its ‘Classic’ format which will start by heading out West Shore Trail to Clyde Woolridge. For the last few years, we have run counter-clockwise around Lake Chabot. This was a change that the rehabilitation of the Lake Chabot Dam brought about.
This ‘Back to the Future’ kicks off a succession of Skylines that celebrate traditional parts of the course while introducing new parts of Redwood, Anthony Chabot, and Lake Chabot. Each year, we will show you part or all of a course from the past — including running the point-to-point from Wildcat Canyon at some point when those trails are open.
Skyline remains not only the oldest ultramarathon, but also the only one to cover all these Oakland and Castro Valley parks.
6/16 Thank you to everyone who came out for the training runs this weekend! We have perfect weather and about 15 runners for each gathering!
6/4/25 Welcome to the 2025 Race!
Announcing the 2025 Training Run Series!
We are proud to offer 4 training days, including two women-only runs with our friends at Trail Sisters East Bay. Here’s the schedule:
• Saturday, June 14, 8am – Reinhard Redwood with Trail Sisters. Starts at Skyline Gate
• Sunday, June 15, 8am – Reinhard Redwood with Scena. Starts at Skyline Gate
• Saturday, July 5, 8am – Lake Chabot with Trail Sisters. Starts at Lake Chabot Marina
• Sunday, July 6, 8am – Lake Chabot with Scena. Starts at Lake Chabot Marina
No need to sign up for these training runs. Just show up! To keep up to date on training runs, join the Scena Strava Club. Click here.
— 2024 from here on down —
7/31/2024Digital briefing: Here’s the recording from the session last night.
6/19 Recently I was running with a group and someone asked me why we didn’t run ‘the OG course’ at Skyline anymore. That caught me a little by surprise but I had, in fact, been thinking the exact same thing. When I asked the runner which OG course she meant, it struck me how little people know about all the different iterations of Skyline! And that led me back to this conversation I had in email with Mike Palmer, Carol LaPlant, and Dwight Hendricks about the original Skyline course. There’s all kind of great history and, miraculously, Dwight produced these amazing archival images on his phone.
Click here to see that exchange. I’ve put it in a different blog post because it’s long.
6/12/2024 Training Runs with Trail Sisters East Bay and Beer Bucket Run. Here we go! It’s training run time. We have 4 runs for Skyline setup, starting Saturday June 15 in Reinhartd Redwood. Consult our running group on Strava for routes, etc. Here’s the whole schedule
Saturday, June 15, 8am – Reinhard Redwood with Trail Sisters. Starts at Skyline Gate
Sunday, June 16, 8:30am – Lake Chabot with Beer Bucket Run. Starts at Lake Chabot Marina
Saturday, July 6, 8am – Lake Chabot with Trail Sisters. Starts at Lake Chabot Marina
Sunday, July 7, 8:30am – Reinhard Redwood with Trail Sisters. Start at Skyline Gate
3/29/2024 The 2024 Course! The race is set for this year. After waiting through the Winter to see what nature may bring us, it seems that we can return to the West Shore Trail so Skyline is once again a loop. Or loopish, I guess. Or a figure 8, kinda sorta. The one new thing will be in Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park. It seems that the West Ridge Trail/Toyon section of the old course is permanently gone. Instead, the course will come down Canyon, back to Bridal Trail. Go to the Skyline page and click on Course at the top of the page to see it all.
12/7/2023 We’re getting ready for 2024! I’ve usually created a new blog for each race but starting this year, I’ll just build on top of the 2023 race. A lot of the info is evergreen.
Here’s some immediate news, though. I’m working on the courses for 2024. Right now, we’re planning to return to a course that is similar to recent years. It will be a counterclockwise loop. The one change is that the race will drop back to the Stream Trail at Canyon. For those of you with Strava, here’s a link. I’m working to refresh the website COURSE info in the coming days.
End of 2023 Blog
8/4/2023 Belatedly, here’s the digital briefing from Wednesday night!
8/2 Some tiny changes in the position of the aid station in Redwood Regional Park. We are moving just about .25 miles up the Stream Trail to the Old Church Campground. This will make room for day trippers at Fern Dell Aid. This is shown on the revised turn-by-turn instructions and also in the Aid Station information on the website.
7/31 The RBO Challenge is back! Help us give to RBO. Our aim is to raise (at least) $1,000 to support this great organization that helps Oakland kids of all ages to improve their health, get out running and improve their community!
To learn more about RBO and the fundraiser, check out this blog post. Or simply give by clicking the button below.
7/30 Race Week Schedule!
It’s race time! Here are a few things to remember and plan for this race week:
- August 2, 7pm Digital Briefing. This takes place on Zoom (we send the link if you’re registered) and on Facebook
- August 5, 2pm – 5pm Bib pickup at Sport’s Basement Berkeley (2727 Milvia), presented by Almanac Brewing. Come pickup your bib and have a taste of Almanac Beer. Not a beer drinker? The first 50 runners receive a 4-pack of More Life Hopwater. It’s non-alcoholic and zero calorie.
- August 6, 6am Race Day! Bib pickup and registration opens for all race. You can pickup until and through the start of the races.
7/24: Packet pickup/beer update! Great news. We will be serving tastes of beer from Almanac Brewing to registered runners. There will also be special onsite discounts to Beer City Alameda. Bring your friends!
7/3: Sponsor Update: We are happy to welcome some new faces to our sponsor-world for the race this year. The big one is the addition of Almanac Brewing, which comes to us by way of Beer City. We will be serving Almanac Beer and their non-alcoholic hop water, More Life, at the race and at packet pickup!
For packet pickup, we also have a new sponsor for 2023. Welcome back Sports Basement! We will host bib pickup on Saturday 8/5 from 2pm – 5pm at their Berkeley Store (2727 Milvia). Runners will receive discounts of up to 20% on all gear when they show their bib.
We welcome back Skratch as our hydration partner, Gu as our gel/nutrition partner, and Tecnu as our skin wellness partner!
6/21 Adding this info for the Half which will now be an out-and-back to Deer Canyon Trail on Brandon. This is a pretty cool run actually, if you put aside the out-and-backness of it. Here’s a link to the map and turn-by-turn. Here’s a link to the Strava chart. Updating the COURSE section of Skyline50k.com now.
6/20 We are making some small tweaks to the revised maps to make sure the distances for the 50k race are right. Here’s the most current map with turn-by-turn instructions. The Strava from the 6/15 blog post is accurate. Here’s that link again.
Also today I updated content around the aid station splits (link) and published the elevation profile (link) You can also find this stuff by clicking on COURSE on the Skyline 50k page.
6/15 COURSE UPDATE: We have been biding our time for the West Shore Trail to open in Lake Chabot Regional Park. Now that we are 6 weeks from race day, we are publishing an alternate course. The course is an out-and-back on the Eastern side of Lake Chabot, following the course from the last few years. There will be an abbreviated loop in Redwood Regional, going up Tres Sendas to Starflower to French and then down Mill.
Here are some links to the course that’s currently being considered by the Park. Here’s a Strava chart. Also, here’s a pdf with turn-by-turn instructions. Once this information is approved — if not before — we will update all the information on our site with aid stations, distances, etc.
For those of you in the half-marathon, the course is also an out-and-back, with the turnaround on Brandon Trail.
