Captain Cook Caper Runs Official Website

The "Nitty Gritty" Details (User Opinions)

Julianne P.
San Francisco Bay Area, CA

  (04-01-2010)

"The Captain Cook Caper 5K and 10K race is a sweet little race in Waimea on the island of Kauai, run during the Waimea Town Festival. (There were other cool athletic events going on as well: softball tournament, swim meet, canoe race, and the like.) I happened to be there for vacation over the race day, and I was so excited to be running a race in Kauai! It was a gorgeous, not overly hot day, too. Very friendly, local feeling to the race, with lots of friends and family racing together.

The course setup was a one-way line between the drop-off point and the finish. Race organizers were not expecting so many on-site registrations, so there was not enough space on the shuttles to take everyone to the starting lines. (I ended up driving my rental car to the start--easily found along the highway--and made my 5K race into a 10K workout overall. :-)

The course was flat and along the highway, but regular police patrolling helped control the traffic flow during the race. It was early enough in the morning, too, for there to not be much traffic. The first mile or so was along the water, very scenic; during the rest, the view was mainly of the hills and the side-of-the-road shrubbery.

The mile markers were clear, and there was one aid station for the 5K. The finish line could have been a bit more clearly marked, because several people were slowing down and walking at a point where it looked like the race was done, which was shy of the actual finish line. The assembly point and end of the race was at the very scenic Waimea Plantation Cottages, a good place for spectators to wait for their racers. The adjoining Waimea Brewing Company had a great breakfast buffet available (not free, but reasonable), and it was so tasty after a good run!

I waited around after breakfast for the results, only to find that they would be posted later at the festival. I had hoped they would be online, but the site the organizers mentioned never did post the results. Oh well. If you're not local or planning to attend the festival, but care about your race time, be sure to have something to track it yourself.

On the details: "No" for Good Expo and Good Photography, because there wasn't any. "Cool schwag" is so subjective; I just loved having a t-shirt from a race in Kauai!"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2010