Nov 14, 2024
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Charlottesville Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Charlottesville Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.2 
Organization 3.6 
Spectators 3.0
Number of comments: 240 [displaying comments 1 to 11]
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K. S. from Detroit, Michigan
(4/9/2024)
"Hilly, moderately scenic run" (about: 2024)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Fairly scenic race around neighborhooods and parks. Just as hilly as advertised, which definitely hit some runners hard on the back-half. Cool medals and organized well enough. Small race with the large majority doing the half marathon and very few doing the full. Very minimal crowd support aside from the occasional locals (which were appreciated). Good as a scenic or local race but probably not as a first marathon. | |
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A. H. from Pennsylvania
(5/3/2016)
"Don't Do It!!!" (about: 2016)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 I have ran a lot of marathons, both small and big and I can say without hesitation this is the worst one I've seen! 1.) Expo- a booth to pick up a bib and shirt. A booth selling internet. That's all 2.) Pre-race- Minimal porta-johns No clear start 3.) Course- Nothing scenic about it. It goes through suburban residential areas, every area 2x. The course elevation is 700 ft more than the profile provided. The hills are worse than some trail ultras I've done. Course is very poorly marked, a whole group of us got off course, adding a quarter mile in what already a long course (final mileage 26.7), no medical aid on the course. 4.) Post race. No Medal, no heat sheets, nasty food options (cheap small bag of chips, meat sandwich (no vegetarian option) or cheap cookie. I got 3rd and had to wait over an hour to get my award even though she said 10 minutes. 5.) Overall..I tell everyone I can to avoid this race! I'll never do a race run by this organization again. | |
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J. A. from PA
(5/3/2016)
"Scenic is a euphemism for very hilly" (about: 2016)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Everyone involved with organizing this was very nice and accommodating. I appreciated the efforts of the volunteers. The course is extremely hilly, with about 2000 feet of ascent. Once outside of downtown there wasn't a lot of crowd support, but the rainy weather could have had something to do with that. Running through subdivisions and along highways is pretty uninspiring. A number of us took a wrong turn at mile 25. Fatigue was a factor, but the course marking was poor and there were no volunteers directing us. That added about 1/4 mile on to the already cruelly hilly course. I'm glad I did it, but won't be returning. | |
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K. Z. from Charlottesville, Virginia
(4/29/2016)
"Very disappointing first marathon" (about: 2016)
First Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 Although this was my first marathon, I have participated in many races (running & triathlon) and this was the most poorly organized I've ever seen. And especially since it was my first marathon, it was especially disappointing. There were lots of little things that added up (long lines at packet pickup the day before with very disorganized staff, only 5 port-a-potties at the start, boring boring suburban course in such a pretty city, highly touted beer tent closed at the 4.5 hour mark, etc) the most disappointing thing was that upon finishing my first marathon I was not even sure I'd crossed the finish line. There was no one handing out water, no high fives, no congratulations, no 'FINISH' sign, and NO MEDALS. I had to ask someone that was milling around if I had actually finished! Ridiculous. The medals were mailed the next week and were very nice, but definitely meant a lot less to me after the fact. However, all of this I could have just glossed over with a simple apology from the organizers, but when I posted my poor (but not scathing) review alongside others on their facebook page, THEY TOOK DOWN ALL THE REVIEWS!! So insulting. | |
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J. D. from Washington DC
(4/10/2016)
"Not worth your time" (about: 2016)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 Organization really needs improvement (very condescending attitude towards participants). I was aware ahead of time this was a for-profit organization that has the rights to the marathon but the city of Charlottesville might want to consider a different organization when their contract is up for renewal. They basically used the outdated runner magazine/ny times reviews from 10 years back as a marketing ploy to basically deceive runners. Literally the epitome of corporate greed Race is not cheap (in reality over-priced) and the race-shirt quality was probably akin to the shirts they give at baseball games. As for the course, it is not an easy course with lots of steep rolling hills. But you already over-paid for the race so might as well do your best and finish with the best of your abilities. Mile markers were misplaced... so if you don't have a tracker it was hard to guage your splits. Also no electronic split gauges/clock what so ever between start and finish. Volunteers I will never complain about because they sacrificed their precious time for us runners.... to them I say Thank You. Side-note.... first marathon that didn't have a medal at the finish. Was mailed to us and I know why cause it is basically a flimsy hollow medal coin that looks like it was designed by the local arts and craft center. Guess they didn't want to hear any more whining and moaning. *****hopefully they get their acts together or the Charlottesville Marathon won't be around for long if this organization continues to run this race. | |
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B. K. from New York, NY
(4/8/2016)
"AVOID AT ALL COSTS" (about: 2016)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 This race is atrocious. Boring course through subdivisions. 'Expo' with no vendors. Race packets with a cheap t-shirt and crappy advertisements. No beer at the finish as was advertised. No community involvement at all. Mailing you your medal? You have to be kidding. This is the worst marathon I've ever seen. The race director is clueless and sent a happy email response with lots of exclamation points in reply to these critiques. Never run this race. Never run any race that these idiots put on. | |
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J. F. from Winchester, VA
(4/7/2016)
"Major Disappointment" (about: 2016)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Charlottesville Marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 This was the second year running this marathon and I really wanted to like it, but there were just too many problems. 1) Non-existent expo with no vendors during packet pick-up 2) Poor course markings in key turns 3) Course takes you to neighborhoods and back roads which aren't especially scenic 4) Course is brutally hilly, even more than last year with at least 2,000 elev gain why? 5) The biggest for me - no finisher medal as they are supposed to mail them to us. It deprives you of the full experience when you can't get your photo taken on race day with your medal, especially after beating yourself up for hours 6) Poor selection of post-race food (no pizza and there were mini-sandwiches with mayonnaise sitting out from Costco). 8) Small array of portajohns (about 15) for all runners before the start 7) No real value to speak of in the race packet, just a shirt and some race advertisements. Also, this race did not have anywhere near the 3,500 runners I've seen noted on other sites. I think it's shrinking year after year. I plan to choose something else next year and skip this one. Very disappointed in Bad to the Bone. One last thing the race organizer removes all negative comments from their Facebook page, so you won't see anything negative there. If a negative comment goes up, it come down within a few hours. Very poor. | |
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J. C. from Arkansas
(4/6/2016)
"REFUND PLEASE" (about: 2016)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 'America's Destination Race' is a crock. Packet pick-up was outside and ho-hum. Just a shirt and some flyers. The course was an out and back of I'd assume all the hills in C'ville. Zzzzzzzzzz!!! Rest stops spread out at random, few rest rooms on course, police were nice though. Last mile or so is uphill and demoralizing. Then to top it off 'we'll mail you your medal'!!! I'm not a medal collector, but it's the principal. Oh and we hope you like chocolate chip cookies and some kind of ham/turkey wrap because that's all there is to eat after you've run 26 hellacious miles. Virginia, checked off, but I recommend you race elsewhere. Don't say you weren't warned!!! | |
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J. A. from Charlottesville
(4/4/2016)
"Do not recommend" (about: 2016)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Don't waste your money. Do the Charlottesville 10 miler or a Richmond, VA race if you want to have a destination race for a long weekend or week of it. Bad to the Bone, the company that runs it, is for-profit and had poor post race food, drink and no music. No Charlottesville local would choose to run this route as it is not scenic in addition to being very difficult. The awards for top three in each age group were pieces of paper that said 'congratulations.' I live in Charlottesville and will not do this race again. | |
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T. R. from Charlottesville VA
(4/2/2016)
"Doesn't take advantage of anything cville offers" (about: 2016)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Charlottesville Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 I've lived in Charlottesville for 3 years now and love running downtown and around the UVA campus. This course starts near the end of the downtown mall and sends you directly away towards nothing but average neighborhoods with big hills. Didn't get a good look the first time? Don't worry, they backtrack everything! Cville is a beautiful place but you wouldn't know it from this race. Also, they didn't have our medals this year and the bag they give you at the beginning only has a shirt if they ordered enough. |
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