The course runs along the shore of Birch Bay, a small seaside village near the Canadian border. The route is USATF certified, so it stays on roads close to the water. Bald eagles and herons are apparently common sightings out here, which makes sense given the bay and the surrounding coastal terrain. It reads as a flat, scenic out-and-back or loop along the waterfront.
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Going by the 2026 results, this is a small, friendly field, and the spread of finish times is wide, so this is a mostly recreational race rather than one for club runners.
Top 3: Anonymous Anonymous (16:48) · Riley Kruger (18:51) · Elijah Cox (19:17)
Top 3: Daniel van den Berg (55:00) · Alastair Murray (1:00:16) · Deborah Eckhouse (1:00:59)
Top 3: Dave Mckay (1:57:44) · Gerald Gatti (2:09:10) · Katie Sandrin (2:10:45)
The Birch Bay Road Race has been held every year since at least 2017. That is as far back as RunSignup's records for this race go, so it may well be older.
Enter a finish time to see where it lands against the most recent 5K results.
How we calculate these stats: RunSesh calculates these figures from the most recent published results of past editions, sourced from RunSignup. We show aggregates only: field size, winning and median times, and the cutoff. We never publish individual finisher tables. Last updated Nov 12, 2026.
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Not sure what to aim for? The 5K pace chart lists the pace for every finish time.
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Almost certainly not. Half the 5K field finished slower than 37:11, and the last recorded finisher came in around 1:31:27, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
A field of 271 is big enough that you will have company at your pace without feeling lost in a crowd. There is no qualifying time, and the finish-time spread above shows how varied the field really is. If it is your first 5K, that spread matters more than the winner's time.
The 5K winner ran 16:48 while the median finisher took 37:11. That spread points to a broad, mostly recreational field rather than a race dominated by club runners.
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