Getting In · Iconic road race
The Dipsea Race
It began in 1905. It runs from Mill Valley over Mount Tamalpais to Stinson Beach on a web of shortcuts, staircases, and singletrack. And it is run on a handicap, which means the winner is regularly a teenager or a runner in their sixties. There is nothing else like the Dipsea.
- Distance
- 7.4 milesTrail, stairs, and mud
- First run
- 1905Oldest trail race in America
- Field
- ~1,500
- Stairs
- 671 at the start
- Format
- Handicap start by age and sex
- Application
- Postmarked and received by April 1
The Dipsea's genius is the handicap. Runners get head starts based on age and sex, so the whole field theoretically converges at the finish. A 66-year-old woman can and does beat a 25-year-old man, and the coveted black shirts go to the first 35 finishers regardless of raw speed. The result is a race that treats the entire spectrum of human running as a single competition.
The course itself is a scramble: 671 stairs out of Mill Valley to start, then a warren of official trails and traditional shortcuts with names like Suicide and Cardiac, over the shoulder of Mount Tam and down to the Pacific. Local knowledge is worth minutes, which is why the Dipsea is a race people run for thirty years.
How to get in
- ApplicationThe Runners Section, by mail
The public entry. You print an application, sign it, enclose a check, and mail it so it arrives by April 1. Yes, physically. The field is limited and demand exceeds it, so applications are processed in the order received and there is a waiting list.
- Time qualifierThe Invitational Section
Earned on the course. Runners who finish among the first 750 in the Runners Section earn Invitational status for the following year, and Invitational runners must finish in the top 450 to keep it. That's the ladder: get in once, run well, and you have a standing invitation.
Questions runners actually ask
How does the Dipsea handicap work?
Runners receive head starts in minutes based on age and sex, with the oldest and youngest going first. The intent is that any runner in the field could win outright.
Do I really have to mail an application?
Yes. Runners Section applications are mailed with a check and must be received by the April 1 deadline. It's a deliberate tradition, not an oversight.
What are the black shirts?
The first 35 finishers each year receive the coveted black shirt. It is one of the most recognisable pieces of kit in American running.
Go to the source
Entry rules, dates, standards, fees, and odds change every single year, and the interesting races change them the most. Use this guide to build the plan; use the official site to confirm the details before you book anything.
If this is your kind of thing
Need the races in between? The hard part of a bucket list year is everything else on the calendar: the qualifier, the tune-up, the long run with a bib on.