Devil Mountain Race for a Cause and the Community this Weekend

People of all ages will be lacing up their running shoes for this Sunday’s Workday Devil Mountain Run 5K/10K and Kids’ Fun Run.

The event, a local tradition for 34 years, benefits Oakland’s Children’s Hospital and Research Center Foundation. Organizers hope to raise $125,000 this year.

The mostly flat course (the 10K has a slight hill) attracts amateurs and serious runners alike getting into the swing of marathon season.

Families flock to the kids’ fun run where children, grouped by age, race in non-competitive 50 and 100-yard dashes. Everyone receives a t-shirt, finisher ribbon, and other prizes. 

The opportunity to support Children’s Hospital, and share their enthusiasm for running marathons is why locals, Allison Bly and Mercedes Murallo, will be participating in Sunday’s race.

Bly says that she and her family began participating each year after they moved to Danville, after a friend whose son spent several months at Children’s Hospital introduced them to it.

This year the race has an added incentive for Bly—she’s training for a 10K in June. This year she will pick up the pace and run the 5K with her two-year-old daughter in a jogging stroller.

Mercedes Murallo of Alamo, fresh off of accomplishing her personal goal of running this year’s Boston Marathon (she finished in 3:32:40) says she will be running Sunday with her family “to support the community we so dearly love.”

Murallo’s journey from giving birth to her second child just last year, to running in the prestigious race, was driven by her determination to reach her goal and support the community she came to know as a student at Boston College. Murallo raised over $10,000 for the charity WalkBoston.

Murallo says she now has a “passion for running races,” and looks forward to sharing that with her preschooler and toddler. She and her husband are including their two daughters in Sunday’s run to experience the race together, and hopes that her girls will do the same when they are older.

She is also looking forward to sharing in the fun with fellow runners and community members on Sunday, and says each year she has participated it has “been a blast.”

If you go:

• Registration is open until race morning at 7:45 a.m. Check the event website for the details.
• Runners for both the 5K and 10K will be starting from the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, located at 205 Railroad Ave., in Danville at 8:00 a.m.
• Parking for the event will be located off of Railroad Ave., and parking signs will be posted.

For motorists trying to get around Danville during the event (see attached maps of the route and closures):

• Starting at 4:00 a.m. Sunday, Railroad Avenue will be closed between Prospect Avenue and San Ramon Valley Boulevard. After 7:00 a.m. there will be full and partial lane closures in the downtown as runners prepare to take off for the 5k and 10k runs.
• In the downtown, in addition to the Railroad Ave. closing, Hartz Avenue will be closed between 7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. for the 5k runners; southbound lanes of Danville Boulevard will be closed from 7:45 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. and Prospect Avenue will be closed from 7:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
• Along the 10k route which goes south from Town along San Ramon Valley Boulevard, closures will affect parts of San Ramon Valley Boulevard, Greenbrook Dr., Camino Ramon and Fostoria Way. Exit ramps from I-680 in both directions at Sycamore Valley Road will be closed from 7:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.   
• Signage has been posted throughout all the affected areas. Closures will be handled on a rolling basis by Danville Police Department and Devil Mountain Run workers and all closed streets/lanes are expected to be completely reopened by 10:00 a.m.