San Francisco will lock down much of its streetscape Saturday night for the San Francisco Marathon, as road closures begin at 9 p.m. and stay in place until 3 p.m. Sunday. The race comes with Muni delays, reroutes and cancellations across the weekend, even as the Golden Gate Bridge remains open to traffic.
That mix of convenience for runners and disruption for everyone else is why people are looking up the Sf Marathon Route now. More than 30,000 runners are expected at the starting line at 5:15 a.m. Sunday, with the course starting at the Ferry Building, running north along the Embarcadero and through North Beach and the Marina, then crossing the Golden Gate Bridge before doubling back through the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Haight Ashbury, the Lower Haight, Mission Potrero Hill and Dogpatch to finish at Rincon Park.
The race schedule is spread across the whole weekend. A 5K is set for 8 a.m. Saturday, followed by an Ultra marathon at 10:15 p.m. Sunday brings two half-marathons at 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., a 10K at 7:15 a.m. and a 5K at 9 a.m., all of which put pressure on transit and neighborhood access while the city tries to keep traffic moving around the closures.
Brisa Garcia said she was drawn to the challenge. “I heard it’s really challenging,” she said. “I think challenging myself is something that motivates me.” She added, “I think we’re walking to the start line, and then I think we’re just going to go with it after.”
The bridge is the sharpest piece of the weekend’s contradiction. Runners will cross it as part of the marathon route, but drivers will still be able to use it, and the east side sidewalk will open at 9 a.m. to bikes and pedestrians while the west side sidewalk opens at 10 a.m. to bikes only. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says public transit is the most affordable and reliable choice for special events in San Francisco, but it has not identified which specific routes will be hit hardest.
That leaves the next problem in plain view: the closures are timed and limited, but the transit changes are broad and still not fully spelled out. Organizers say about 70% of runners are from the Bay Area, and they say the event pumps more than $50 million into the local economy, which is why the city treats the marathon as more than a road race and why the disruption lands so visibly on a Saturday night heading into Sunday.
Randy Shirley called the route part of the appeal. “The spectacular view, in the morning. You get to run across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, you can’t beat that,” he said. He added, “If you run it you’ll see people taking selfies, taking viedos and so on.”
