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Thanks goes out to Dr. Barker for his medical assistance at the finish. Have any aches or pains from
the race? Need help recovering from a condition that is holding you back? Dr. Jason Barker at Back In Motion Clinic
can help!
His office is right next door to the Portland Running Company in Beaverton: 503-524-9040. More info at: bimsportsinjuries.com
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The Helvetia Half Marathon benefitted the Oregon Food Bank and the Boys
and Girls Club of Hillsboro again this year.
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Helvetia Burgers, Beer Garden / Portland Fit Social Time: Widmer Bros. Brewing is hosting a beer garden (bring your ID, cash only) at the finish
area. Please stay and enjoy your success with your fellow Portland Fit Members! Awards ceremony will take place
between 10:30am and 11:00am. Enjoy a Famous Helvetia Burger or Garden Burger at the finish area. Your number will
get you your burger. Friends and family will be able to buy a burger too! Pop and other concessions will be available
at the stadium during the race.
Bag Check. Most participants
will have their car to stow post race and warm up clothes. You may also check your clothes at the bag drop by writing
your race number on an adidas plastic bag for collection after the race. Please pick up your bag promptly after
the race so bag check volunteers may enjoy the post race too!
Course Map, Water Stops and Porta Potties: Water stops and Porta Potties will be available at miles 1.1, 2.3, 3.7,
4.8, 5.8, 7.3, 8.5, 10.1 and 11.6. Waterstops will have Gleukos and water. Clif Shot will be available mile 7.3.
Clif shot is brought to you by Clif Bar. Course MAP available here.
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Helpful Hints: Hydrate! Be sure
to stay hydrated. Use Gleukos and water along the course. Call ahead to the waterstation volunteers if you would
like water or Gleukos. Remember, Helvetia is a hilly course. This is good practice for the St. John's Bridge during
the Portland Marathon. Slow down and walk if you need to. Please stay aware of any traffic passing in opposite
lanes. The course is monitored by the Hillsboro Police, The Washington County Reserves, and many Course Volunteers.
However, we still need to be safe! Stay to the right hand side of the road unless otherwise directed, and do not
run more than two abreast.
Please obey traffic laws, watch traffic, and be courteous to our Helvetia
neighbors. With this size of a race, there will be congestion for cars, especially near the turn-around where the
course takes up both sides of the road. There will be patient residents needing access to their driveways, so please
allow cars to get by when they can . Thank you!
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Racing tips from Nikki
Raffie:
The current course is way better than the original course. The old course had no flat stretches and all the killer
hills were in the last 5 miles. (OUCH!) .
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Now, we get done with the all the infamous hills in the first half of the run, and the second half is all flat,
down, and pretty fast, actually.It's a scenic course and a well organized race with a great support crew.
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1. The first 2 miles are flat and slightly downhill - Start off easy and comfortable, get warmed up and ready
to tackle those hills.
2. Find a pack of runners at your pace and enjoy the beautiful
country side! Hills are a great place to make friends on the race course... "Misery loves company" :-)
3. Miles 2-5 are pretty challenging and a steady climb- Stay
relaxed, give it a decent effort but don't push too hard here.
4. Next 2 miles are series of ups and downs-- Let the games begin!
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5. The key here is to stay steady with solid and consistent
effort....maintain pace control.
6. The down hills are really nice recovery, but don't burn
up the quads by going too fast.... You'll need them later!
7. Coming down the last hill (~mile 7) - loosen up, drop those
shoulders, shake it all off and use the momentum to get in the groove for 6 miles of flat and fast running.
8. This is what you've been saving for.... Time to pass all
those people who went out too hard early on!
9. There is one gradual quarter mile incline before mile 12, just so you don't forget --- Use it to focus and give
it a push in that final mile for a cool Stadium Finish!
10. Remember, gotta look good at the end no matter how ugly it got out there.
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Thanks for a great event. This was the first ever marathon of any kind for my sister and I and we had a blast,
achieving our goal of finishing and doing it in less that 4 hours. 3:35 for both of us. Thought I'd share a picture
from afterwards of our little group that walked today. We plan to be back next year and do it in even less time.
Keep up the good work and if you know of any other walks (10K to half marathon) occurring in the local Portland/Vancouver
area, I would appreciate a heads up. Now that I've "trained" and completed this one I want continue on
with more.
Again, great event. Thank you!! Shara Bogan
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Yippee for me!!!!!! 3rd place in my age division 55-59 in the Helvetia Half
Marathon!!!!!
Mary, AKA Runnermom
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Portland Fit is the proud training partner for the Helvetia Half-Marathon. All of the Portland
Fit members participate in this event in mid-June as their first benchmark event.
Paula,
Thanks for another great race! I kept hearing comments as I ran about how organized, how many water/aid stations
and how much fun people were having...in spite of the hills.
Thanks for another great day...the Portland running community is so lucky
to have you organizing great days like today. Thanks so much!
Sandra
Hey Paula...Awesome event! I had so much fun, and your volunteers were
the best!!! Especially Monika and the Hot Tamale girls. Thanks so much, Amy M. Truitt
Hi Paula!! A fantastic event, as usual! I missed last year due to a hip
injury and was thrilled to be able to run this year. The weather was perfect, the aid stations were perfectly spaced
out, food was great, it was just a fabulous day. PLUS! I cut 31 minutes off of my previous Helvetia personal best.
(Funny what happens with good training, right?) I frequently invite other runners to your events knowing that they
are well organized and fun. One of the girls that ran with us is new to long distance running. This was her first
1/2 marathon and her only other race experience was Race for the Cure. She was really impressed with how smoothly
everything ran, especially with the large number of people doing the event. Thanks again for all your hard work!
- Sharon Reeb
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The Helvetia Half is USATF certified. You can find the
course info on the official link here.
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Get your fix with Dirk's Profile
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