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Colfax Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Colfax Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.6 
Organization 3.7 
Spectators 3.3
Number of comments: 87 [displaying comments 31 to 41]
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B. H. from Colorado Springs
(5/16/2011)
"No Mile Markers!" (about: 2011)
4-5 previous marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I am not sure how you justify not having mile markers. This race has several comments specifically noting how good the mile markers were in prior years, but this year they were random or missing. After the 4 mile, there was nothing until 8, then 10, 15, 20 and 25. The spectators were great, especially considering the weather. Volunteers were great, too. | |
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Mark Abbott from Tulsa,Oklahoma
(5/19/2010)
"Challenging, scenic course" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Colfax Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I made a last-minute decision to run the Colfax Marathon with a friend who has run it since its inception. The expo at City Park was small but well organized. The race starts in City Park and winds its way onto Colfax Street. You run up Colfax, which is all uphill to the 13.1 mark. Then you turn around and take advantage of the mostly downhill run back downtown and finishing back at City Park. The volunteers were great. There were plenty of water stops with your choice of water or Gatorade. Spectators were small in number but very vocal - this is a relatively new race. Plenty of screaming fans at the finish. The after-race party was excellent, with beer, BBQ sandwiches, tacos and several different drinks and various snacks. The atmosphere at the park after the race was very festive and fun. While the first half of the course is challenging, it is the perfect course to run negative splits on. Just go out easy and plan on picking up the pace for the second half of the race. Overall, the Colorado Colfax Marathon is a very nice, smaller marathon that will continue to grow. The Denver Airport was easy to get in and out of. Also, I stayed at the Doubletree Hotel on Quebec Street, which was only a 10-minute drive from City Park. | |
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G. J. from East Coast
(5/18/2010)
"Good for me but I have heard a lot of complaints" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Colfax Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 This was my 11th full marathon. Packet pick-up needs to be more organized, and a whole bunch more vendors need to invited or reached out to. Shirt was fine, and actually I was able to trade in my size for a better-fitting one. My name was correct on my bib, but I have heard over a dozen of complaints from other runners that theirs were not correct. Race course was fine. Good number of spectators for how small it was. Lots of aid stations. Great job from the volunteers and police. The post-race party was okay, but please more beer and more BBQ. Some runners paid over a hundred bucks for the race, so you should at least try to do it up more. Music wasn't great, but the food was pretty good and there were lots of options. Overall, for me personally it was a great time, and I liked everything; however, you aren't allowed to charge anything close to what Chicago, Boston, or NY until you get the numbers and bang of a big marathon. | |
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J. D. from Denver, Colorado
(5/16/2010)
"Underwhelmed" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 4-5 Colfax Marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 Positives: - Plenty of porta-johns - Plenty of Water/Gatorade stations - Finally, the return of the tech T - Very cool medal - Mile markers on the ground Negatives: - Very poor signage at the expo - People working were giving conflicting directions or no directions as to how to complete your number/chip pickup/registration - Again, the finishers are jammed into a claustrophobic funnel into an indoor area - and this seems to be a recurring issue - All I wanted was a banana and a bagel after the run. But there were no bagels, and bananas were hard to find. No vegetarian options at the "barbecue." - I was almost alone the entire race; there was lots of running room, until the last half-mile where the half marathoners and marathoners merged. I found myself dodging in and out and in between two-and-a-half-hour half marathoners. Not cool. - The first 13 miles' entertainment consisted of passing by bands setting up and doing sound checks. - Traffic control by Sloan Lake was horrible. I almost got hit by two cars with the assistance of a traffic guard. Thanks. - Potholes everywhere - The people of Denver, one of the greatest sports cities in the country, seemed to care less about this marathon I ran the inaugural in 2006 and was incredibly impressed with the organization, the course, the public in the downtown area, and the novelty of running down the longest street in America point-to-point. It was destined to be one of the great marathons of America. What happened??? Looking forward to the Denver Rock 'n' Roll in October. It's got to be better. | |
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R. K. from Albuquerque, NM
(5/22/2009)
"Once is enough" (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Colfax Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 For the cost, this marathon still needs some work. I liked the mile markers, but you never knew when water stations were going to be. There were many along Colfax, but few during the last six miles of the course. Same with port-a-potties on the race course. From mile 13 to 20, we were running in the first lane of the street, which was on a slight slant that was real hard on the feet. The first race results had me in second place for my age group but ended up in fifth place after timing problems were worked out. Runners not getting times on the course were added in the final posting. My friend finished close to the end and did not get a time because the finish line had been taken down. I don't know how many others met this fate. The medal was nice and they gave a nice white cotton shirt. This run was overpriced. | |
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M. H. from Denver, CO
(5/20/2009)
"Still needs improvement" (about: 2009)
6-10 previous marathons
| 3 Colfax Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I have run the half here for three years straight. The expo is lame, the t-shirts are cotton (they ran out of smalls on Saturday even though that is what I selected when I paid my ridiculously high entrance fee) and the food leaves much to be desired. A cookie, a decent bagel, anything would have been better than going through a Safeway-sponsored food-line filled with granola bars and stale Safeway bagels. Also, as I went through the food line standing behind children who were taking bags of free stuff, I thought of the marathoners who take longer to finish and wondered if they would have any food left. Positives: The bathrooms were set-up and there were plenty. The race started on time and was chipped. The last half of the half-marathon course is shaded and downhill sloping. I'm not sure I'll ever run this again. | |
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A. K. from Colorado
(5/19/2009)
"Better than the first, but needs more improvement!" (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Colfax Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 My 20th marathon and second time running the Colfax. Negatives: - $100... for what? The great t-shirt! Not. Give me a technical tee - something nice to run in. How about having all of the sizes available too? - I registered race-day for the full marathon. I had to wait 20 minutes for forms to print out, I didn't get a timing chip (ran out), didn't get right size of t-shirt, and got to wear a half-marathon bib number (ran out of full). - I paid $100 for what? - No running hats at the expo. - Horrible support/crowd. (Where were they)? - The half and full should be run on the same course; my sister ran the half, and it would have been nice to have our spectators be able to see us both. - They never posted my splits or time. (???) I love to run marathons. They get expensive. When you pay over $60 bucks, you better get what you pay for. Positives: - The course has improved. The last part, running through downtown with the buildings offering shade, was nice. - The 6 a.m. start is good, especially with the weather. I love that the marathon is so close to my house and would like to run it again. Please use all of these comments to improve next year! | |
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D. M. from Iowa
(5/18/2009)
"I give the marathon an A." (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 At first, when I went to pick up our shirts for the marathon, my brother needed an XL and they told me they didn't have any. He pre-registered, so there should of been some! Also, I thought they should invest and give you a moisture wicking shirt; for the price we pay, we deserve one. But after that, I thought the marathon was well organized. The route was pretty flat. I always expect a few hills in a marathon, and they did have that, but for the most part, it is one of the flattest marathons I have run in the United States. I loved how almost ALL of the streets were closed, and every intersection was either closed or had a cop directing traffic (and no one was getting across until it clear of runners). It was VERY nice. We didn't have to put up with car fumes much at all! Seeing the beautiful mountains while running west was a plus! And running by twice by the Bronco stadium was neat. There was plenty to look at to help pass the time. There was also plenty of food afterward and a nice medal. | |
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L. L. from Denver
(5/17/2009)
"results" (about: 2009)
First Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 I agree - the policeman at mile 9 of the half rocked my world!! I wish they would stagger the start for marathoners and half-marathoners. It would alleviate so much of the clutter. | |
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N. M. from Colorado
(5/20/2008)
"Still needs work" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Colfax Marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 Three years in for this race and it still has issues. And for what the entry fee is ($90-110), I can't say it is worth it. The course is slightly improved, in my opinion, but it is definitely not "flat and fast," as the race operations manager was quoted saying. How can a nearly 400-foot climb over 6 miles be considered flat? At least you get to run down most of that hill after turning around, which does help out the "fast" aspect some, but still doesn't make it flat. Mix in some more uphills over the last 5 miles, and it is still a challenging course. The start area was not good. Metal fences lined the start area, which made it difficult to get to the front of the pack. (I finished in the top 10, so I was lining up in an appropriate spot.) I finally asked some people to help me get over the fence, as the people were packed too tightly to "excuse me" through the crowd. There were plenty of porta-pots at the start this year. That was nice. Then at least 50 runners were misdirected and had to run an extra third of a mile because we were led off course. This is the second year in a row that extra mileage was added to the course. There really is no excuse for this. The relay exchanges were a bit of a pain, but it was nice to have folks cheering along there. At one spot there was some confusion as to where to run, since marathoners went around the exchange point but ran through others. There were lots of water stops along Colfax where the course looped back on itself. Sometimes, though, they were barely a half-mile apart because of where they were positioned. Not sure if they were supposed to give water to runners going both ways, but there was plenty along that stretch. The finish area wasn't much better than the start. I totally agree with the other poster about being herded into a large, stale-air tent with closed-in walls right after the finish. Yeah, that's refreshing. The medals are rather cool though. The expo in the park was kind of neat, but would have been fairly disastrous if it had been raining. Most of the expo was in large tents with walls, but you had to walk a good distance through grass/dirt to get there. |
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