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☰
Cowtown Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Cowtown Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.0 
Organization 3.7 
Spectators 3.4
Number of comments: 184 [displaying comments 121 to 131]
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J. G. from Chicago, IL
(2/26/2007)
"Outside view" (about: 2007)
2 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I flew in and out to do the half marathon. This is a small race, so don't expect a major expo or every bell and whistle, but the Southern charm makes up for it. The volunteers, spectators, and fans (while not out in super numbers) were all top-notch. The police are out in force (state troopers and local) to protect the race and control the traffic. I even had some registration troubles, which I only mention to note how quickly and kindly they took care of this for me. The race has hills (said the Midwesterner), but it adds a lot of charm to the old downtown area, beautiful homes, and greenery on the course. The marathon and half split in the middle (must be tough to pace as a full). It did not seem like the other races (5K, 10K, half, full, kids) detracted from the quality of my run. How moooooooo(valous)!!! | |
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j. v. from Garland, TX
(2/13/2007)
"Hot food and finisher's shirt says it all to me" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Cowtown Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 The weather was not bad during the race, but what a horrible storm they had all the way up to the start. The tent leaked, the streets were flooded, the creeks were running over their banks and course had to be rerouted out of the river's path. Nice job by the race team! Ice cream, hot food, a race shirt and a finisher's shirt for a great price! A true delight. I loved the course, people were out in that lousy weather cheering us on... why I have no idea. A great smaller race! Being put on the big screen for the finish! So many nice touches... tents to stay warm and dry, race distances for everybody. Very well done indeed. Okay the world is never a perfect place. They used a slick - but totally ineffective - timing chip technology. I am not sure if it would have worked even without the rain... and any system that is just programmed to give you a gun time is just nice for getting times out quickly, but most runners are spoiled and want chip time, not an electronic gun time. | |
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M. H. from Tulsa, OK
(5/18/2006)
"This is a great marathon!" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Cowtown Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I think I will forever be partial to this marathon because this was my first one that I did to qualify for Boston, so even though there were a few quirks, I don't have anything bad to say about this marathon. The weather was perfect: I loved running in the drizzly rain, it enabled me to not get hot and salty. Race day temp was perfect, I overdressed slightly, but made adjustments. The spectators were good, the ones that actually stood out in the rain (including my hubby and kiddos) were enthusiastic for them and the ones that weren't there. I actually liked the chip being in the race number, but I also would like it to get a bit more advanced to show chip times and gun times. I've been to races where you pick your chip up on race day and you fumble around trying to get it on your shoe and it becomes a hassle. So, I think that the ChampionChip technology being attached to the race number would be the best of both worlds. No messing around with those little zipties that don't look like they would hold anything in place anyway. I came in from out of state and I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't pick up my award the week after the race because of some computer problem. I had to wait for it to be mailed to me and I was pretty excited to get my 'hardware', especially since I had just qualified to go to Boston. I was staying with family and they wanted to see my stuff too, but couldn't. I hope to see this race again in the very near future (depending on what races I do this next winter). I do recommend the Cowtown Marathon to anyone who just wants a fun race. | |
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Jim Skibo from Cedar Hill TX USA (Dallas)
(4/1/2006)
"A unique city marathon with lots of local flavor." (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Cowtown Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 It has its little foibles for sure, but it is a nice local marathon. At least they improved the medal to something you can be proud of. The Cowtown is my standby marathon for February. I live in Dallas and if I can't get out of town to run one, I drive over to Ft. Worth and do this one. No race is perfect and this one isn't either, but it does have its own unique flavor. The organizers try very hard to make sure you are taken care of. I see all of the other comments but I don't agree on the course comments at all. It is a varied course and well marked and controlled by the police. I like the fact that it isn't just a long straight line out and back. It goes through the Ft. Worth Arboretum and that was just amazing because tons of spices were in bloom and very fragrant. Because of what we do, I think a runner's sense of smell is in high-gear anyway, and that was a nice sensory experience. The rest covers city streets and suburbs, high-rent and low rent, and ends back in downtown Ft. Worth. I like this course a lot; it is a very comfortable marathon to run. It rained the entire time but the temps were about 48, so it was comfy. The weather has seemed to be drizzly the last couple of years and I kind of like that for running. Spectators were sparse but who the heck stands out in the rain? Those that did were enthusiastic. I run pretty much zoned-out, so spectators aren't a big deal anyway. Only two gripes: 1. The timing device. There is a local company that developed an RFID bib. Unfortunately they don't have all the kinks worked out and using that on a race of this size as an "experiment" is NOT good. Posting of times took days and even then they had to do it manually from video tape of the finish lines because the RFID system got wet and failed. I'd like to see the ChampionChip used. 2. No pasta dinner! They really need a pasta dinner the night before the race. I like to hang with my fellow runners and that is always something I look forward to. Even the smallest marathon in the middle of nowhere has a pasta dinner. This was marathon #18 and I recommend it. | |
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M. M. from ft worth
(3/9/2006)
"Rainy and wet, I liked it!" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 3 Cowtown Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I liked it, despite the rain and the low spectator turnout. The course was well managed by Ft. Worth PD. The spectators that did show were very positive and vocal. My wife and I both ran our personal best. It's a nice race. Yes, it needs to improve. For example, try to get more fan support, like bands and such, the Dallas White Rock is a great example. Another complaint of mine is: why Miller beer started packing up at around 12:00? You don't know how many runners came in looking for some relief, and there was nada. We ran the White Rock, San Antonio, Oklahoma Memorial this past year or so. The Cowtown ranks just above the San Antonio, and way behind the other two. All the San Antonio needs to do is improve that crappy course and the Cowtown is in last place. But since we live in Ft. Worth, we will run this race again. | |
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A. H. from Shreveport, LA
(2/27/2006)
"Got off course" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Cowtown Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 You could tell the organizers tried hard with cops/volunteers at every one of hundreds of intersections. Maybe it was the rain or I might be blind (ha!) but somehow I got off course at ~17.5 miles. I was very isolated in 4th place with nobody within 2 minutes front or back. There was a series of hard turns with several people directing me this way and that and all of the sudden I'm running down a lonely street listening for the ghost-town whistle of an old cowboy flick. When I finally rejoined the course, I had plenty of time on the jog back downtown to enjoy the pretty scenery along the Trinity River, ha! | |
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R. W. from Dallas, TX
(2/26/2006)
"Don't waste your time" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Cowtown Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 With 5 races on the same day (marathon, half marathon, 10K and two 5K's) the organizers need to decide if they want the marathon to be a top-notch marathon or a mediocre marathon as it is now. I was extremely disappointed that Cowtown went the cheap route with "TEKCHIP" (a small computer chip on the back of your race bib) timing instead of ChampionChip timing. It doesn't record "chip times" - only gun time and your finish time, so if you want to record your own personal time you have to do it yourself with a watch. Their reasoning is "the USAT&F rules only recognize gun starts as official start times currently anyway" (so you're out of luck if it takes you 5 minutes to cross the starting line after the gun goes off). In my experience, most runners care about their PR's, not the "official time." I had a jacket on (due to rain) and even though I unzipped it prior to crossing the finish line my chip time still didn't get recorded (at least I got the finisher's medal to show I really did finish). They supposedly made over 100 improvements to the marathon for this year but it is still a mediocre marathon. I almost got hit by a car when an overzealous policeman decided to let some cars through an intersection in front of a group of runners. If you want to run a good marathon in the January/February timeframe go with the Austin or Houston marathons. | |
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S. B. from Southlake, Texas
(5/7/2005)
"Just need to fix a few things" (about: 2005)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Cowtown Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I had heard complaints about Cowtown for years, so I didn't have high expectations. I found it to be a very pretty course with some of the friendliest people around, especially the police officers at the intersections. The food at the end was great. However, it is inexcusable to run out of sports drink, and to advertise chip timing when it's not 'really' chip timing is deceptive and was a huge disappointment. Just fix a few things, and you'll have a good marathon! I'll be back, but I'll know what to expect. | |
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J. M. from Mesquite, Texas
(3/23/2005)
"Love the new course" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ Cowtown Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 This was marathon #5 of the Texas Marathon Challenge for me, and it was the first time I'd run the new course. Compared to the course that used to start at the Stockyards, it was much, much better! I used to absolutely dread the long stretches through Trinity Park and along the river at the end. Talk about no spectators! The race volunteers were extremely nice and helpful. I didn't like the chip that didn't allow for the start, but I will definitely be back! | |
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S. K. from Houston, TX
(3/16/2005)
"Just a few glitches " (about: 2005)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Cowtown Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 The course is a fine, somewhat hilly course. The rain highlighted some of the spots with poor drainage but it wasn't anything particularly bad. At a five hour pace there were long stretches with no more than a handful of fans. At the aid stations, the finish line, and a few locations along the way the fans were appropriately enthusiastic. Everywhere else it was lonely. And I have no complaints about the organization. This is a Saturday marathon and so there's a lot more traffic than you would see on a Sunday morning marathon. There are quite a few police directing traffic on all the major intersections. The problem comes up with all the secondary streets and driveways. Since the marathon shares the road with the cars, there were several places where the drivers were trying to drive through the racers. No amount of police coverage can stop a truly obnoxious driver who wants to turn into that driveway right now. Perhaps the worst was the truck load of Shriners who decided they needed to drive across the start line staging area through the mass of waiting racers. |
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