JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Today, hundreds of people came to the Mandarin Pointe Shopping Center to pick up their bibs ahead of the Gate River Run on Saturday.
While runners were filled with excitement for this year’s race, a lot of the runners we spoke with were concerned about the parking changes this year.
“It’s going to be fun,” said runner Jimmy Fitzypatrick about the parking situation. “It’s going to be another race or scavenger hunt.”
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Here is the official parking map for this year’s run:
If you look closely, you’ll see that nearly all of the stadium parking lots are not open to the public to park for the race.
This is because of the ongoing construction for the stadium of the future.
This is causing some runners, like Jennifer Contreras, to get creative.
“We decided to get a hotel room the night before even though we live in town just to not have to worry with the parking,” Contreras said.
The stadium construction also pushed the start and finish line half a mile towards downtown at the Shipyards. There will be no parking allowed at the Jacksonville Shipyards.
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The Jacksonville Fairgrounds closing forced the expo to move roughly 15 miles south to Mandarin.
We spoke with the Race Director for the Gate River Run, Doug Alred, and asked him to break down where people can park.
“People coming off of the Hart bridge are going to have to park on the east side of the stadium. And then we’re going to run buses from that area,” said Alred. “People that come over Main Street Acosta Bridge you’re going to have to park downtown and walk to the starting line.”
Runners are encouraged to arrive between 60 to 90 minutes ahead of time to secure a parking spot and get to the race on time.
You can find more parking information for the Gate River Run by clicking here.
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