Dipsea Race, live.

Over the mountain to the sea since 1905

The Dipsea Race is run every year on the second Sunday in June at 8:00 sharp, which makes the 2027 race Sunday 13 June. First run in 1905, it is the oldest trail race in America: 7.4 miles from downtown Mill Valley over the flank of Mount Tamalpais to Stinson Beach on the Pacific.

From the Depot Bookstore on Throckmorton Avenue the race sprints down to Old Mill Park, then climbs the three flights of the Dipsea stairs, as tall as a fifty story building, and keeps climbing to Windy Gap. It plunges into Muir Woods across Redwood Creek, grinds up through the trees on Dynamite and Cardiac, then drops through the Swoop and the rocks and roots of Steep Ravine, up the steep Insult Hill and down the Moors to Stinson Beach.

The stairs and steep trails make it a grueling and treacherous race, and its handicap is unique. Runners start in head start groups by age and sex, so a winner can be young or old, man or woman, and the first one across the line at Stinson Beach wins. The field is limited to about 1,500 runners for safety and environmental reasons.

Entry is by mailed application in spring, and the process is tilted slightly toward local runners. Applications open in mid March, part of the field goes to the earliest entries and a few hundred places are drawn by lottery, with notifications in the last week of April. Race numbers are not transferable, and there are no refunds.

The organiser runs timing mats along the course, at the top of the Dipsea stairs, Windy Gap, Muir Woods, Cardiac, White Gate and the Stile. On Livebib, family and friends can follow a runner's position on the line from Mill Valley to the beach, with distance covered and a finish estimate.