Tamalpa Club Run Series (TCRS) #1

Out and back hilly course start at Tennessee Valley horse stables. Head west on downhill grade toward Tennessee Cove at beach. First and last 3/4 mile is paved and the remainder is dirt fire road. If rainy, mud adds new dimension to race.

Course: This 3.8 mile run is fast and gently sloped. It’s a perfect way to start the training for the 2018 racing season. We suggest you arrive early as you may need to park down the road and walk up to the start.

Tamalpa Club Run Series (TCRS) started in 1983 with Mark Warford as race director. The first year we held nine runs with anywhere from 30 to 80 participants. It was called Tamalpa Racing Series (TRS) that first year but was changed to TCRS in 1984 when Russ Kiernan took over directorship. The name change came about because we didn’t want to be confused with Total Race Systems and we didn’t want to scare off some of the less-competitive members by using “race” in the title. The series was intended to be an introduction to racing, with a $1.00 entry fee, but without the pressure of a formal race. Camaraderie and scenic locations were stressed over speed and competition in those early days.

While Russ usually designed the courses, obtained the permits, and marked the trails, his wife Marilyn tried to keep order in an otherwise unruly crowd, fired the starting gun (GO!), and managed the finish line by commandeering volunteers to hand out the numbered tongue depressors. Russ and Marilyn continued to manage the TCRS all the way until 2000.

For the next few years the TCRS was co-directed by Jim Myers and George Frazier. Under the leadership of Jim and George the TCRS had great success and the size of fields continued to grow. Starting in 2004 Steve Shapiro, Jennifer Erickson and Brad O’Brien took over leadership of the series. After a few years, Mike Holland then took over planning, design, and marking of the courses, exercising his skills early in the morning of each race with his heavy bucket of flour, aided in the registration and finish line by Lillie O’Reilly, Heidi Myers, and several others. In 2015, Phil Oreste took over management of the races, and has been busy trialing and planning new venues; he even took a poll of club members for their ideas on what kinds of runs might qualify as a TCRS. We now hold ten races per year with participation ranging between 80 and 190 for each event. The courses, generally designed to let members experience the wide variety of running venues in Marin County, are a mix of flat and hilly, road and trail, easy to difficult, and range in length from 3 to 7 miles.