Well everyone, it’s officially the second half of February, so you know what that means… it’s almost time for 8 Tuff Miles!
For those of you unfamiliar with 8 Tuff Miles, it’s a pretty amazing event that happens on the fourth Saturday of February. This year’s date is February 25th. It’s a road race where participants run, jog, walk or a combo of all from the National Park Visitor’s Center in Cruz Bay all the way out to the ball field in Coral Bay. The total course is 8.3 miles long. It starts at sea level, climbs up to 999 feet and then heads back down to sea level. It’s pretty amazing.
The best part of 8 Tuff is that you don’t have to enter the race to participate. There are water stations along the way that you can help out with (please email me at [email protected] if you’d like to help us out at ours). You can also cheer on the runners from anywhere along Centerline Road between Cruz Bay and Coral Bay, or out in the ball field at the finish line.
Several businesses get in on the action too. Cruz Bay Landing, for example, will hold a Pasta in the Park fundraiser on Friday, February 24th from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. They’re also holding a wall of wine-ival fundraiser (play games, win wine!) and are looking for wine donations. Proceeds will benefit the St. John Cancer Fund.
The event itself starts at 7:15 a.m. on Saturday February 25th. Centerline Road will close in both directions right around 7 a.m. and will not reopen until the race is over, so please plan according. For those of you who entered, here are the times you can pick up your race bibs:
- Sunday Feb. 19th 4 PM until 8 PM @ The Tap Room.
- Monday Feb. 20th 4 PM until 8 PM @ The Tap Room.
- Tuesday Feb.21st 4 PM until 8 PM @ the Tap Room.
- Wednesday Feb. 22nd 4 PM until 8 PM @ The Tap Room.
- Thursday Feb. 23rd 4 PM until 8 PM @ The Tap Room.
- Friday Feb. 24th at The National Park Visitor Center Cruz Bay, St. John (AKA the Starting Line) from 5 PM until 6 PM. Only one hour.
- Saturday Feb. 25th (Race Day) at The National Park Visitor Center (Starting Line) from 6 AM until 7AM. Race starts at 7:15 AM.
Please pick up your bib number as soon as possible. The earlier the better. 🙂
There will be a post-race party at Mongoose Junction and a Recovery Party on Sunday on Cruz Bay beach. We will give you all the details on that in the upcoming days.
In the meantime, check out this video we made a few years back from the starting area to Mile 1: