Race to the Rock….and Back!

I’m in the very early stages of planning a race for early next fall.  I’ve been so jealous of all our west coast and island brothers and sisters for all the races they have available. I figured the best way to insure I had a race to enter was to plan one myself. It’s also good to see some other east coast races coming online. They’ll be a bit of a road trip but hey, that’s half the fun.

Anyway….I think this will be a pretty nice route for a race. 7.5 miles, starting at Plymouth Beach, go around the point, into the harbor, under the foot bridge, along the downtown waterfront, around the Mayflower II, past Plymouth Rock, past the marina, into the flats, a short sprint across the sand, back down Plymouth Beach to finish.  Here’s the map
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=111250336184002650032.00045ff908e05eaf01601

I haven’t set the date yet. I have to check the tide tables for a good weekend with high tide around noon or so. I want to time the start so that we have the incoming tide to take us through the gut and be at peak when we get to the flats.

Most of this will likely be flatwater, some potential for side swell or chop on the beach legs. Prevailing winds are usually west this time of year. The inner harbor will definitely be flat or at most slight chop. Should be a good route for spectators especially with good weather. Here’s part of the route in windows live birds eye view…Mayflower II in site..
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=qzt0nq93bbk0&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=3630423&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

As I said this is still in the early stages but I’m thinking that any proceeds will go to benefit the Nathan Hale Foundation a local non-profit that helps disabled vets with transportation, housing, and employment issues.
http://www.thenathanhalefoundation.org/index.shtml

Should be fun…going to be busy planning this and the CCBC #2.

While planning the route I found that Google Maps allows for collaboration now. Not sure how long that’s been there…pretty cool though. When you are creating the map you can choose to email it to others for collaboration and this allows them to edit it as well.