2010-11: The original Big Tour course up into the hills and through many neighborhoods. Start/Finish at City Hall Plaza. If the course had not gone right by where my then-church met for worship (along Mile 17, on International Blvd.) I may well not have become a long-distance runner.
2012-17: Modified original course with Snow Park start/finish (ouch–last three blocks are uphill!), City Hall Plaza just wasn’t big enough anymore.
2018: The oddball, double-back Port Tour course. I think the original course had just too many intersections that had to be closed, requiring a lot of expensive uniformed OPD personnel.
2019: The Bay Bridge course, much hyped. The bridge segment was a great add, but it’s long, straight, loud, and a climb. Would have again been the course in 2020 and 2021 but for the pandemic cancellations those years.
2022-23: The Double Loop course, o.k., surely a money-saver move, and less scenic–but I actually liked it: the second time around you know exactly what’s coming. And you get to pass through the Crucible Fire Arch twice. Only ran it in 2022; in 2023, it was raining and cold, and I had a big trip the next week, so did a Did Not Start. That ended my streak of consecutive in-person Oaklands at 10.
2024: Back to the Bridge, but now with an out-n-back to Piedmont Ave. A lot of turns. Unfortunately, ended up downgrading to the 10K because of a lingering injury + recent illness.
2025: A very slight variation from the 2024 course. After a year of injuries I ended up downgrading again, this time to the 5K.
Russell Yee 