Palmetto Relay Course Changes for 2021 - Back to the Islands and hopefully Charleston and more Santee State Park!
We hope everybody is staying safe and healthy despite the continuing COVID-19 situation. Over the past few months we have been working to update the Palmetto Relay course for both the /200 and the /70. After the 2018 race we had to make some significant changes to the course as we needed a new finish line for the race. As a result of this being moved, we had to cut off what was previously the ending portion that went into the Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island and near to Charleston.
We have been working to get these sections back, along with the run over the bridge into Charleston and back that we had prior to 2018. We are excited to let you know that we have changes in progress that will get us most of these sections, and hopefully all, back. Here are the highlights of these changes:
The new Palmetto Relay /200 starting line will be at Santee State Park. As a result of the 2019 course changes, the Santee State Park stop was moved to later in the race and into the evening/night time frame. This did not allow runners to enjoy the park nearly as much as in previous races and we wanted to change that if at all possible.
From the start at Santee State Park, the course will head north before looping back for a second visit to Santee State Park (probably Exchange #9,10, or 11 - we are still working out the details). The new route will be 80-90% loop with a few sections of overlap with runners going both directions. This course will give plenty of time to enjoy the park and will allow teams to set up Santee State Park as a "home base" for the early part of the race.
We expect to have the Mt. Pleasant, Isle of Palms, and Sullivan’s Island sections back for both the /200 and /70 courses!
We are hopeful to be able to get the over and back legs on the Cooper River Bridge back into the race. The City of Charleston is not accepting any permitting/applications for 2021 at this point and have not allowed any new events to run in the city for quite some time. We have previously been there and should have a very small footprint, so we are hopeful we will get approval, but it is unknown at this point.
Whether we have the bridge or not, the course will take runners near the bridge and to other side of Mt. Pleasant to run north back to the finish line.
The finish line will be the Town of Awendaw Park as it has since 2019. Teams will run north through Mt. Pleasant and into Awendaw to complete the loop back to the park.
The Palmetto Relay /70 start is expected to move to the Town of Awendaw Park giving it the same start and finish line.
Along with the course changes, these changes will allow teams to stay at the Palmetto Relay /200 race start on Thursday night (Santee State Park accommodation details to come) and to use Santee State Park as a place for teams to hang out and relax while they are not running on Friday.
For the Palmetto Relay /70, the start is the finish and this will give teams easier and better options for lodging before and after the race.
We don’t have the new route or exchange zones set yet, but will try to get a high level mock up on the site soon for both the /200 and /70 courses.
We are very excited about these changes and look forward to getting you all of the details as we get things finalized over the next few months. We would love to hear your thoughts about these changes, so if you feel like sharing, e-mail us at info@malakseries.com.