The Houston Astros sold their first Race to the Pennant as a chance for runners to cross the finish on the warning track of a Major League ballpark. On Saturday morning, that finish became the problem.
Both the 5K and 10K courses ran through downtown Houston along Hamilton, Elysian and Harrington streets before narrowing sharply as they approached Daikin Park. Videos posted to TikTok over the weekend showed a mass of runners stuck shoulder to shoulder outside the stadium, then inching along the warning track toward the finish line. Plenty of people gave up and walked it in.
Dianna Cervantes ran the 10K. She told the Houston Chronicle that the race “completely stopped” near the last full mile for about 15 minutes, with no word from organizers. After she crossed, it took her another half hour or more to find water, snacks and her medal.
It turned what should have been a rewarding finish into a frustrating and chaotic experience especially for first-time runners.
Dianna Cervantes, 10K participant
She wasn’t done. In a video she filmed from the line to the finish, Cervantes looked at the camera and said, “Do better.” On TikTok, she added: “Bad course, bad finish line, bad water tables, bad parking etc. … I love the Astros and enjoy Methodist hospitals but this is just ewwwww.”
Another runner, Katharine Alvarado, said the jam tacked roughly ten minutes onto everyone’s time. “WHO DID THIS?!” she wrote.
A different participant told the Houston Chronicle she was stuck in the crowd for close to an hour, reaching the back of the traffic jam shortly before 9 a.m. and eventually peeling off onto the ballpark’s concourse just to get some space.
Comments under the TikTok videos piled on. “I was SO annoyed. Everything about this race was a mess,” one runner wrote. Another said it was “horrible from packet pickup to ending the race.” Others mentioned slow medal handouts and not enough water tables on course.
Entry fees ran from $10 to $60, according to the team’s race page. Spectators got into Daikin Park free.
It hasn’t been a great stretch at the ballpark for the home team, either. Houston is 8–8 at Daikin Park this season and has dropped six of its last seven there. The Dodgers come to town Monday night, first pitch at 7:10 p.m. Central.
