Improvements to downtown Jacksonville lead to changes in Gate River Run course
For more than 10,000 runners flocking to downtown Jacksonville for Saturday's Gate River Run, the race-day routines are firmly ingrained.
Pick up packets on Thursday or Friday at the Expo in the Fairgrounds. Park at a lot near TIAA Bank Field. Find the starting line to the stadium's west, and finish in its shadow.
How much longer will those familiar race-day patterns last?
As construction, demolition, renovation and relocation projects continue to reshape the blocks near the sports complex just east of downtown's heart, organizers for Jacksonville's distance running tradition are preparing for adjustments — maybe big adjustments — in the years to come.
Changes are nothing new for Gate River Run race director Doug Alred. In charge of the race for 40 years, he's seen plenty. He's encouraged by some trends, like the growth of the Riverwalk along the St. Johns River.
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But for Alred, the pace of the change isn't without concerns. He's thinking about open space downtown. The ability to exercise, both on race week and beyond. And, not coincidentally, the elbow room needed to operate a race certified by USA Track & Field as the 15-kilometer national championship.
"The city has to think about recreation, and how it affects people in the city," he said.
Saturday's race, aside from a small adjustment at the finish line, should follow the same general routine as 2022. Beyond this year, though, question marks are mounting.
"We're starting to think we're maybe going to have to do some things differently in the future," JTC Running president Doug Tillett said.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…
Aside from the dedication of the 22 remaining "streakers," the runners to complete every edition of the 15K run since its inception, not much has stayed the same with the Gate River Run — not even the name.
In the inaugural edition, then called the River Run 15,000, the start line wasn't close to the old Gator Bowl at all, instead beginning blocks to the west along Coast Line Drive on a muggy April morning in 1978. Gate River Run annals also include their share of whimsical twists like the 2008 finish, which ended near the red zone with the finishing tape along the 25-yard line inside the stadium.
Still, the speed, scope and magnitude of Jacksonville's changes since 2020 leave organizers like Larry Roberts, past president of JTC Running, with concerns.
"With all the construction in the area and things we don't control," he said, "it's a little bit worrisome."
In 2020, the starting line moved one block north from Gator Bowl Boulevard to Duval Street, just south of 121 Financial Ballpark. That change was forced by the demolition project on the elevated ramp to the Hart Bridge.
The new starting area is now the scene of construction, including a large-scale project to run water lines to the Jaguars' new practice facility. That job has caused some disruptions around Duval Street as well as in Lot P near the ballpark, a major lot for race-day parking.
After months of conversations with the city's public works and special events departments, as well as stadium management organization ASM Global, Alred said he's received assurances that the project won't alter this year's start.
Following the Hart Bridge ramp's full demolition ahead of the 2022 run, the finishing stretch had to be reshaped to adjust to the steeper descent from the feared Green Monster. That finish line now stands to the southwest of TIAA Bank Field, near Daily's Place, after a run along Gator Bowl Boulevard.
"A lot of people loved it, a few people didn't like it, and maybe that's true all the time," Roberts said.
The finishing straight has undergone a more minor change this year, with a more direct approach following the Hart Bridge's descent. Alred is optimistic that the adjustment will smooth the transition for runners.
"It'll be a little easier coming into the finish line," Alred said. "They can go straight down off the bridge, hang a right and be there."
Just a few examples:
The coming years are expected to mark the swan song for the Jacksonville Fairgrounds, long the site of the annual pre-race Expo. Pending the next steps in the proposed redevelopment of the Fairgrounds, which are planned to move to Normandy Boulevard near the Jacksonville Equestrian Center on the Westside, race organizers are preparing to find a new home for the Expo after more than a quarter-century at its present site.
Although any move for the Expo may be years away — Alred said 2025 or 2026 are the most likely dates — he's already at work evaluating a potential Plan B. The proximity and capacity of the Fairgrounds site has long made it an ideal choice.
"You get really comfortable when you get a situation set up like that, where we know exactly how it's going to go," he said.
JAGUARS STADIUM PROJECT COULD AFFECT RACE
The most dramatic potential change is still years into the future. If the city and the Jaguars reach an agreement in the coming years on a renovation of TIAA Bank Field, it's possible that the ensuing construction could force race officials to drastically rearrange the area around the finish.
Any major stadium project would still have to clear multiple hurdles over a period of years. But the Jaguars have already taken concrete steps toward renovation, including the December selection of HOK as the design consultant for what has been termed the "stadium of the future."
Though no dates are set, such a project would likely take place during the football off-season, potentially bringing a head-on collision with the Gate River Run's traditional March date.
Alred has already had to tackle that issue previously in the mid-1990s, amid the near-total demolition of the old Gator Bowl and the construction of what was then Jacksonville Municipal Stadium ahead of the Jaguars' 1995 expansion season. Even if a renovation project doesn't directly include streets used for the race, Alred is preparing for the unexpected.
"There's always fencing going up [in a construction project] for offices, for equipment and so forth," he said. "You just really don't know [how far the construction might extend]."
"We're in for a whole lot of changes," Roberts said.
RUNNER RISE EXPECTED FOR SATURDAY RACE
As city leaders chart a course for the future of downtown and the redevelopment plans for the Jaguars, Alred is hopeful that for the future mayor and City Council, recreational opportunities like the Gate River Run don't get lost in the shuffle.
"It's kind of like the old Western song, 'Don't Fence Me In,'" Alred said. "Gate River Run has to have a place to start and finish, some place that has lots of parking, some place for the Expo.
"I just hope we don't get locked out in one-minded thinking about football only."
Whatever the changes in the vicinity of the course, they're not dissuading runners from signing up for this year's Gate River Run. Entering the final week of February, Alred said, registrations are running at roughly 2,000 ahead of their 2022 pace.
That would be a welcome sign for the Gate River Run, which had seen decreasing finisher counts in each year from its 2012 — the peak year, with 16,357 — until 2021. Numbers rebounded last March but remained about 16 percent short of pre-pandemic levels.
Tillett also said he's seeing an increase in the number of runners in training for the race near his home in the Riverside area. Officials are hopeful that with activities returning to a more normal footing following the 2020 arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, more people will be motivated to take on the challenge of the open road.
"The training groups are holding together really well this year," he said. "Everybody's got their interest up."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Gate River Run 2023: Race readies for changes to downtown Jacksonville
