About

Cotatitarod is an annual foot race, pub crawl, food drive, costume contest and art cart parade. Race around the streets of Cotati in this whimsical charity event to collect donations for the Redwood Empire Food Bank!

Gather four friends and become a team of five to run the race! Registration for the 2023 event is open! There is a $100 registration fee for each team of five racers, and each team brings at least 60 pounds of food to donate to the food bank. Want to volunteer? Sign ups are here!

We race on the first Saturday in March, rain or shine, and it’s always a good time. This is a 21 and over event. Want to know more? Check out the CHIditarod page and see how the big dawgs do it in Chicago! Want to do something like this in your own town? Check out the Rod in a Box instructions developed by Burners Without Borders and the Chiditarod organizers.

Check back here for updates, or like our page on Facebook.

Volunteers

There are many ways to be involved with making the Cotatitarod happen. If working behind the scenes is your jam please fill out our questionnaire. There is a team for you!

Are you an early bird who likes to get up with the sun? Sign up for Set Up and help get the park ready for the racers!

Like to greet people, help them through the hoops, and then celebrate their food donations? Sign up for Check in and Weigh in!

Love to ride bikes and herd cats? Sign up to be a bike Bike Marshal!

Prefer to hang out in one spot and watch the parade go by? Sign up to be a Flagger!

Want to see every checkpoint and all the racer teams in their glory? Sign up to be a Checkpoint Judge!

Are you are a matter out of place maven who likes to leave things better than you found them? Sign up for Leave No Trace!

Do you have a group of people like a theme camp that wants to take over a checkpoint for the day and create games for the racers to play? Then sign up for Checkpoint Adoption!

We love our volunteers! Sign ups are live for 2023…get in where you fit in!

Racer Teams

How do you sign up to be a part of this? So glad you asked!

Fill out this questionnaire and register your team of five for the Cotatitarod. Registration closes February 22 so get yours in right away!

Check out the Racer Packet and find out more about what you’re getting yourselves into.

What you need:

  • 5 hardy souls to run the 5k foot race and pub crawl
  • A theme for your cart and costumes
  • At least 60 pounds of food to donate per team
  • $100 registration fee per team
  • A great attitude and desire to help end hunger in your community

Have your own shopping cart? Want to modify it and race as an Art Cart? We got you! There is a special category for that. If your cart qualifies as a heavily modified art cart you will even get a modified route to race. Contact us and find out more.

Looking for alternate routes for differently abled folks? We got you. We want this to be an inclusive event and we’re open to input about what that looks like and how you can participate. Racer routes and rules are flexible. We can’t be all ages due to most of our checkpoints being bars, but we can do our best to include anyone who wants to play. Contact us to create solutions.

Kids can run with their parents as long as they don’t enter the 21 and over stops along the way. Teams will want their cart watched at all times as playful sabotage is part of this race. Older kids could be great for this role. Contact us with any questions.

Registration is important – you must register to race. Claim your spot in the race for glory. Advance registration is required. For more information check out this handy handout!