Overview:
The Low Tide Ride and Stride is a 5K chipped time run created by the Coronado Rotary Club that follows the North Beach coast. This annual event benefits local military and first responders
Whether biking, running or walking at the annual Low Tide Ride and Stride, attendees are encouraged to traverse a 5K route on Coronado’s North Beach to support an important cause.
The event happens, as the name entails, at low-tide when the beach sand is packed, creating the right conditions to bike, run or walk.
The 28th annual race on June 28 at 8 a.m. will raise money for military service members and first responders. It is one of the Coronado Rotary Club’s biggest fundraisers. They welcomed more than 500 registered attendees last year, and an even larger turnout is projected this year.
Jeanmarie Bond, speaker and co-chair for the Rotary Club of Coronado, said the event started in the 1990s with the late Bob Kranz – a Coronado community member, Rotarian and an avid athlete.
“He was really good at biking and kayaking and hang gliding, and he loved just being in the outdoors,” Bond said.
In 1997, Kranz came up with a fundraising idea to start a biking event stretching from Imperial Beach to Coronado. Kranz and the Rotary Club partnered with YMCA Camp Surf to make it happen. The route stretched 8.2 miles. A few years later, the race was opened to walkers and runners. The proceeds all went toward military service members.
Bond explained that as the event grew, they had enough proceeds to expand their support to include first responders.
“It’s kind of the nature of Rotary,” Bond said. “As our events become bigger and we raise more money, we decide we need to share the wealth.”
Kranz passed away in a biking accident in 2004, but his legacy lives on. The race has since been dedicated in his honor.
Last year, Low Tide Ride and Stride generated $165,000 for their causes including the Texas Firefighter Home. Co-chair of the event, Stephanie Anderson, said the home is located near the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The center specializes in cancer care for firefighters, a group of first responders who have a high incidence of lung cancer.
“Although it is in Texas, it is used by firefighters all over the country,” Anderson explained. “We have had one of our Coronado firefighters go and stay there. What we do is we sponsor an apartment there so that the firefighter and their family can stay there free of charge.”
Over the years, some things have changed but the mission and vision for the event has remained the same.
The 5K now starts and ends at Coronado’s North Beach. There is no longer an 8.2-mile route because the course went into an area that is now protected for wildlife. They opted for a 5K route that u-turns at the end of the beach.
The event has expanded to now include a post-race celebration and market.
“We have lots of vendors,” Anderson said. “We will have music. We’re going to have games for the kids.”
There will be food available for purchase. Registration includes bibs and a race shirt. There will be some refreshments for participants after the race, including coffee, pastries and fruit. There will also be raffle giveaways including a bike from Holland’s Bicycles and some other exciting items.
“My favorite part is, absolutely, it is the kickoff for summer,” Anderson said. “It is a great time for the whole family to get outside in the sunshine, have some exercise [and] spend time together. Anyone that doesn’t want to join for the ride and stride part can just come to the fair afterwards and join their family there. It’s just people being outside with their families in a healthy environment, promoting health and happiness.”
The deadline for early-bird registration is June 1. For more event information and instructions for registration, visit https://lowtideride.com/
