The Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic runs its fiftieth edition on the weekend of 20 and 21 February 2027 in Tampa. Four distances and four challenges sit across two mornings on Bayshore Boulevard. Each morning closes with an awards presentation at Cotanchobee Park at 11 a.m.
A runner finishes in the morning, clears gear check by noon, and flies out in the afternoon. Those hours sit between a hotel checkout and a departure.
Saturday: a 6:45 start and a 9:15 second race
The 15K starts at Brorein St. and Franklin St. The wheelchair push-rim start goes at 6:40 a.m. Seeded runners and Wave 1 follow at 6:45. Wave 2 goes at 6:55.
The 5K starts at Brorein St. and Ashley St. Wave 1 goes at 9:15 a.m., then 9:20, 9:25, 9:30 and 9:35. The Stroller Roll starts at 9:45 and the 5K walk at 9:55.
Sunday: a 6 a.m. gun and a 5:50 a.m. door
The half marathon starts at 6:00 a.m. at Platt Street and Bayshore Boulevard. Access to the staging area closes at 5:50 a.m., and a runner who arrives after the closure cannot enter or start. The 8K starts at 9:15 a.m. at Bayshore Boulevard and Verne Street.
Gear check runs in Meeting Room 125 on the convention center's lower level, adjacent to the escalators. Saturday hours are 5:30 a.m. to noon. Sunday hours are 4:30 a.m. to noon. Bags left at closing go to the Gasparilla Distance Classic Association office.
Expo, finish and gear check sit inside a few blocks
The Tampa Bay 28 Health and Fitness Expo fills the Tampa Convention Center at 333 S. Franklin St. Friday 19 February runs 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday 20 February runs 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. The official host hotel for the weekend is the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center.
The Convention Center's own hotel list puts The Westin Tampa Waterside 0.3 miles away, Aloft Tampa Downtown 0.6 miles and The Floridan Palace Hotel 1 mile.
What the day-room windows do with a 6 a.m. gun
No downtown Tampa day card opens before 10 a.m. The half marathon starts four hours earlier. A day room covers the stretch from the finish to an afternoon departure.
On the Dayuse Tampa shelf, read 22 October 2026, The Westin Tampa Waterside lists $129 plus a $9 booking fee for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aloft Tampa Downtown lists $109 plus $7 for the same window. Hotel Flor Tampa Downtown lists $139 plus $9 for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The 10 a.m. open lands an hour before the 11 a.m. awards presentation. A guest who books the Westin or Aloft window reaches the park for the awards and returns to the room afterwards. Hotel Flor adds an hour at the far end, with a 5 p.m. close.
Two Westshore cards carry longer windows. Four Points by Sheraton Suites Tampa Airport Westshore lists $105 plus $7 for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. TownePlace Suites Tampa Westshore/Airport lists $130 plus $9 for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. window closes latest in the set.
The earliest openings belong to the suburban cards. Sleep Inn near Busch Gardens lists $95 plus $5 for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Quality Inn & Suites Tampa near Fairgrounds and Casino lists $65 plus $6 for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Neither sits downtown.
The four-hour block against this window
The Tampa shelf carried 13 priced cards on that read, from $60 to $175 without booking fees. None sells a four-hour window, and the shortest runs five hours. A runner who needs four hours buys the six-hour window at the nearest property and uses part of it.
A half marathon finisher on a two-hour pace reaches the line around 8 a.m. Gear check closes at noon. The 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. window covers the final two hours of gear check and four hours after it.
Florida and the booking path
hotelSlots publishes four slots: Morning 6 a.m. to 12 p.m., Afternoon 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Evening 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., and Overnight 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. Florida is one of four states where the platform does not take day-use bookings. Its home page names FL, HI, IA and WA as states that restrict day-use bookings under state travel laws, and /directory/florida answers HTTP 404.
The daytime inventory for this weekend is reachable through Dayuse, whose Tampa page carried those 13 cards.
The figures this piece rests on
Weekend: 20 and 21 February 2027. Starts: 15K 6:45 a.m., 5K 9:15 a.m., half marathon 6:00 a.m., 8K 9:15 a.m. Staging closure for the half: 5:50 a.m. Gear check: 5:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, 4:30 a.m. to noon Sunday. Awards: 11 a.m. both days at Cotanchobee Park. Priced day cards: 13, shortest window five hours, from $60 plus $6 to $175 plus $10.
