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Salt Lake City Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Salt Lake City Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.1 
Organization 4.1 
Spectators 3.9
Number of comments: 162 [displaying comments 81 to 91]
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C. A. from SLC, UT
(1/29/2007)
"Great Race, With a Few Minor Issues" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon, and I had a great experience at it. The expo was nice, the course was beautiful (hey, home town, gotta say it!), and the spectators were awesome. Only complaints I have were of the clock (yes, why was it set for the elite runners???), the heat (75-90 degrees, I'm glad they've moved it back to April this year), and the lack of shade and chairs at the finish. Black asphalt was not nice to have to deal with at the end of a long race. I didn't have any issues with food at the end. I was able to get chips and oranges and drinks at the Wild Oats booth just fine. | |
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F. H. from Salt Lake City, Utah
(8/10/2006)
"Great race until the disaster at the finish" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 The Salt Lake Marathon is an alternate marathon to the Utah Grand Slam, voted overwhelmingly by the Grand Slam group to be the alternate. The admission price I think is a lot of the problem - at $80 - when all the other ones are only $50 or so. But I added this one to the Grand Slam this year, for the first time. The course was good, and support from aid stations and spectators was done well. My first ride on Trax to the start went fine. Overall it was a positive, fun experience until I got to the finish line. Like everyone else, I give a marathon everything I've got, and almost always find myself overheated, tired, and sick at the end. At Ogden this year there were medics waiting for me at the finish line, who whisked me into the aid tent for help. At Deseret News this year there were also medics who half carried me into the aid tent for help. At Salt Lake my time went very well, and I improved my time from what I expected by 10 minutes with an extreme effort in the last few miles. I ran across the finish line at full speed, and got a great picture, which I actually bought. But unlike Ogden or Deseret News, there was no one there to help. I leaned against the fence as I stood on hot asphalt for several minutes until I was able to walk away. Then I had to walk for what seemed like FOREVER. When I got to the destination after the walk, there was nothing but dirty black asphalt again. By now after that long walk I was really sick, and everything was getting brighter and brighter as something was happening with my vision. Instead of lying down on grass or in an aid tent, I was still just on that asphalt. Lucky for me, I was able to find a small plastic folding chair to sit in until my vision returned to normal, otherwise I would have just had to lie on the asphalt. After that I had to walk all the way back out again to get back to my car. I realize there doesn't happen to be a park in the Gateway, but there needs to be something at the end for runners who are struggling. I'll probably be back next year, but I hope things can be better at the end. | |
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Karen Young from Draper, Utah
(8/6/2006)
"My 2 cents" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Granted, I was four months pregnant so I only did the half marathon this year, but I had to get online and share my experience. We got there early and were able to park just 1/2 mile away from the start line which was nice. We stood in line for the bathrooms for over half an hour - not nice. For the first two miles of the race, people were running into the bushes. The view was gorgeous but dang it was hot that day; I would vote for an earlier start next year. The expo the night before was awesome and we got performance tees - very nice! I'm still grumbling about the lack of water for the five miles in the middle (thanks go to the neighbors for handing out bottles and orange slices) - and when I crossed the finish line I didn't get a medal!!!!!!!! They "ran out." Took them four weeks instead of the promised two weeks to get it mailed out. Next year I'll try the Bike Tour instead. | |
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M. C. from Salt Lake City, Ut.
(7/27/2006)
"No value for the cost, poorly organized" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Salt Lake City Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 This was my second SLC Marathon. The first SLC Marathon had its problems (insufficient toilets, difficulty getting to the start, inadequate food and drink at the finish, etc.). I said then I would never run SLC again. Two years later, a friend talked me into running in 2006 and I found out nothing has changed. The toilets were still 35-40 deep with less than 25-30 minutes to start. Trax (the trolley to the start) should have trains running more often, and not packed in with bikes. There seemed to be a total lack of organization at the start as even the elite runners had a false start. There are too many different classes of events all starting and/or hitting the finish line simultaneously. The finish area is an absolute disaster!!! Water and a mini banana (brown at that) just doesn't cut it after 26.2 miles. If this is one of the top 12 new marathons, I would really hate to imagine what others are like. A month earlier I ran Ogden, Utah (little Ogden) and it out-classes SLC by a long shot. This event will never live up to being an elite marathon under the current leadership and how it is organized. I still have no clue why a marathon of this caliber charges $80. For what? Fair price is more like $35-40 max, if that. This is one marathon to avoid until the price comes down or the quality, organization, and amenites greatly improve. | |
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J. D. from Chandler, AZ
(6/13/2006)
"Good race with room for improvement" (about: 2006)
3 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 This was a decent marathon. The course was fun except for the long stretch of highway out in the sun. I liked the expo and the participant shirt was nice. The train system was great. I got to the race early and had time to get myself ready and pumped. Luckily, I didn't need to use the bathroom. Tons of people were outside to cheer us on. The police did an excellent job with the traffic and were cheering for us too. There was better music at this race than the Rock and Roll marathons. The drumlines were perfect! There are some things that were a problem though. There were no announcements made or signs up directing runners to where the start of the race from the train station. The medal was nice but would it have been too much to ask for a date to be put on it? It looks like devine wants to use the leftover medals next year so they don't have to get a brand new batch. The finish area needs to be closed off without non-runners walking through. I finished the marathon and was trying to find where to drop my chip and I had a ton of people walking in front of me, including women pushing a bunch of strollers. They had no concept of what the runners had just done and didn't appear to care. The whole finish area needs to be closer to the actual finish. The finish through the crowd was nice but then I wanted to sit and rest and all there was to sit on was dirty black asphalt. I would have preferred a grassy area or a park where people can take their time stretching before they go home. The food at the finish in no way was sufficient. Where was the Gatorade? The juices were nice but not what I needed. After the heat, I needed more then a shot of pomegrante juice. If you are going to have oranges, at least have them cut open. I couldn't get them open and it took my fiancee about 10 minutes to open them for me. Overall it was a nice race but not one I would feel the need to do again. | |
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George Armstong Custer (Ret.) from Utah
(6/9/2006)
"What is up with the clocks?" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 Was this race put on solely for the elite runners? The clocks were started when they left and remained that way the entire race! So now everbody has a photo of them crossing the finish line with the wrong time!!!!! Thanks a lot. | |
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Daniel Talbot from West Valley, Utah
(6/8/2006)
"This race was awesome, I will run it every year!" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The spectators were awesome! Overall the scenery was beautiful. I loved the medal given out to the finishers much more than I anticipated. I had so much fun with the race, spectators, and the nice finish area that I vowed to run this race every year 'til the legs give out. I do think that the Van Winkle stretch is a bit dull... maybe a course change there? Kudos to the volunteers and sponsors! Great race! | |
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C. A. from Tooele, Utah
(6/7/2006)
"First Marathon" (about: 2006)
First Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Everything from the start to finish was a great experience. All the aid station where great. The sponges were great at the half way point. Running through the Gateway felt great. I don't know where I got the energy I did when running at the end. The massage was great, after that I went home to ice my legs. All in all I would recommend anyone to run Salt Lake. I thought the hill would be hard, but I was surprised how easy they were. The first 20 miles were easy. The last 6 I had to work hard to maintain my pace, but I went about a minute and ½ under my goal. I was pretty happy, and proud to finish how I finished the race. | |
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Joe Denning from Bountiful, Utah
(6/7/2006)
"A great course, great fans and well organized" (about: 2006)
First Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon. I am glad they moved the run from April to June. The training months are just to cold. It was hot on race day but just happened to be 12 degrees above normal. The race was extemely well run. Plenty of water breaks and bathrooms. The fans were great. From the 18th to 22nd miles people used home hoses to mist down runners. That was awesome. My only suggestion is to start the race earlier in the day but keep it in June! The course was great. Often the course was covered by shade trees. The worst part was downtown, no shade. I would run this marathon again. I hope the other marathons I run in are as well planned and executed as this one. The medal given out to finishers was really cool. | |
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Jeff Crane from Vallejo, CA
(6/6/2006)
"Worst organized marathon I have run." (about: 2006)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 In my experience, adequacy of starting line porta-potties is a good test for how well a marathon is organized. In Salt Lake, it was just the beginning. From not enough porta-potties at the starting line to misplaced or missing mile markers to inadequate aid stations, this race was poorly run. (The mile markers that did exist had clocks displaying incorrect elapsed times.) Devine Productions is obviously in this to maximize profit, regardless of what it means for the runners. The presence of a bike tour(?!) meant that the marathon could not start until 6:45 - way too late for a June day with projected high temp of 90 degrees. Poor treatment of runners actually started well before race-day. I sent two emails with questions in the weeks leading up to the race - both went unanswered. I will definitely avoid Devine Productions and recommend others to do the same. I do want to say, however, that the volunteers were terrific. |
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