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Baystate Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Baystate Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.3 
Organization 4.0 
Spectators 3.4
Number of comments: 126 [displaying comments 111 to 121]
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A Runner from somewhere out there
(11/26/2002)
"good course, otherwise....." (about: 2002)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 Don't run this race. The organization was terrible. I got there an hour before and found out that the arena near the start was closed. I had thought this would be open and heated, and the lines for the porta-potties were tremendous. Fortunately, I was allowed to wait inside the police station and use the bathroom there. The website went down a day or so before the race, and didn't come back up for many weeks. Even now, over a month later, there are no pictures or updates to the website. The course was nice but you ran on the shoulder of the road. There were a few hills, at least I thought, but I'm not from a hilly area | |
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A Runner from Worcester, Ma
(11/2/2002)
"Never Again" (General Comments)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 This is the third time I've run this race. Race organization in the past was fair at best. This was by far the worst of the three races. I figured that this edition of the BayState Marathon couldn't be and worse than previous years, especially since they had a new RD with a good deal of experience as a runner and RD. Wrong. This race was doomed from the start. From an unresponsive RD to pi$$-poor logistics, and screwed up results, this race is on my don't bother doing again list for future marathons. The only redeeming aspect of this race is the course. There are any number of New England Marathons better than this one. This race will soon fade into oblivion. | |
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A Runner from From MA
(10/24/2002)
"Poor Management" (about: 2002)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 As stated below the course was flat,but congested in the coned area in which we had to run. Volunteers were good but management didn't deliver. With so many disappointed runners,management has yet to address these issues in the proper forum to convince me to come back again. | |
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A Runner from Massachusttes
(10/23/2002)
"Not ready to play with big boys" (General Comments)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 Lets face it folks the only good thing about this race is the course. The organization is poor and not at all runner friendly. This is a small race and there is no reason why there cannot be a race day number pick up. I had to burn gas for 2 hour drive, wait 15 minutes for parking space to open at the hotel to pick up a lousy number and tshirt. Hartford marathon which is not even as big as NY or Boston had the race day number pick up. Directions were very poor and people at the registeration ill-informed. There were all kinds of confusing mile markers including last years and for the most part one had to guess. At the much publicised finish there was no cheers or greetings. Some kid handed out the medals saying 'here we go' There were either no blankets left or offered.Saw some folks take them out of trash to keep warm. At the finish things were beeing packed while the back packers were still coming in. I have run this before and each time there is a promise of improvement but there have been none. It does not help the run if one is aggravated this way before, during & after the race. This course is sure flat but the race is going down the hill fast if someone does not wake up and concentrate on making it runner friendly. | |
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A Runner from Albany, NY
(10/23/2002)
"Skip this one." (about: 2002)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 I ran the half and was dissapointed with everything but the course. They moved the race to downtown to take advantage of their new Tsongas Arena but they didn't allow runners inside it. The porta potty situation was a joke, as was the timing for the half. The clock was somehow turned off while the race was going on, then reset improperly. Something was also wrong with the distance - I was running 6:20 pace but my last 1.1 miles took over 9 minutes! Also, no expo, no race packet. No course map anywhere - no one knew where they were going. Just a total mess. | |
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A Runner from Ludlow ma
(10/22/2002)
"If it wasn`t for the course ..." (General Comments)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 A truly great course to run a marathon. It`s very flat with great views along the river as for the rest: 1.No race registration or number pickup packet on race day. This is not a big city marathon and no reason for this. I had to drive out 2 hrs the day before and then again on race day. 2. Half marathon starts 3minutes before marathoners on the same course until the 3 mile mark. Fast Marathoners run into a wall of slow half runners 1 mile in 3.Not nearly enough water stops and no clocks on course. 4.Abut a dozen port a johns for a couple thousand runners with all 3 races. Line had to be a couple hundred yards long. 5. Post race refreshments were store bought cookies ,bananas,orange slices and beans which had no takers. This race is completely unaccomingdating to the runner accept for the course which is one of the best | |
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A Runner from lawrence, ks
(10/21/2002)
"nice not as flat as billed course but that was it" (about: 2002)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 the web site went down a few days before the event and never came back up. where is packet pickup, race start time and location, route, expo hours? i sent email. it was bounced back because the box was full. tried phoning. busy signal. finally simply spent a half hour driving around downtown lowell looking for the expo. finally found it and there really wasn't an expo, no race packet, no chip timing. just a long sleeve t-shirt and race bib. the bib doesn't even say baystate marathon! 'athlete's corner andover/swampscott' no kidding, that's what it says. unbelievable for a race that bills itself as the one to run to qualify for boston. race morning, plenty of parking issues but i've seen worse. sort of crowded course as marathoners overtake halfers but only for a few miles as halfers split off. first 6 miles hillier than billed as is mile 25. other than those miles it was flat, fast & scenic. at the end there was no mile 26 marker and marker 25 must have been 100 yards short. no time clocks at all on the course. very few spectators but i kind of like that. well manned fluid stations. plenty of aid at the finish. post race foods included cookies, soda, bagel, soup, fruit. stadium finish is nice. stuck around until 4:30 mark. exiting the city of lowell was easy by that time. | |
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A Runner from Massachusetts
(10/21/2002)
"Flat course, but poor organization and few fans" (about: 2002)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 I ran this marathon last year and the course changed this year. It is a flat course mostly along a river, making it excellent for a BQ. However, the organization was horrible. No pasta party or race expo during number pick up. On the day of the marathon, there were 15 port-a-potties for 2000 runners. During the marathon there was no chip timing, no start clock (maybe I missed it?), confusion with mile markers (a 1/2 marathon and 10k were also being run), no clocks on the course or person reading you the time at any point, not a single port-a-potty on the course, not enough aid stations, lack of first aid crew (if I was hurt I would not know what to do), and not enough space for runners at several points along the course. Most importantly, the mile markers seemed to be inaccurate. For miles 1-25, I had run even splits, but the last 1.2 miles were drastically different although I was runnning faster. This seems to be the consensus among many other runners so I am not the only one. This is very disheartening at the end of a marathon to suddenly add a couple of minutes to your time. | |
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A Runner from Boston, MA
(10/21/2002)
"don't bother" (General Comments)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 Worst organization of any race I've ever run. Big problems this year with not enough toilets or water stops. No splits or power gels as promised. they started the half 10 minutes before the full and i was tripping over all the slower runners for about three miles. Last mile marker was WAY OFF. i still qualified for boston (barely) in spite of all this but unless they really pull it together i would not chance it. Coolrunning called it 'best boston qualifier,' what a joke. | |
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A Runner from Boston, MA
(10/21/2002)
"Worst organiztion I have ever seen." (about: 2002)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 I ran the half, and helped a friend finish her first. I have run 5 others in the past, and while the course was decent, the police were helpful. The overall race organization was a mess. Too few portajohns at the start, and none on the course, to few waterstops and ran out of gatorade, bad timing (no chips this year, no spindling either). The start and finish didn't seem to want runners there, security telling runners to get off the steps of the tsongas arena, and limited areas that you could walk on at the finish. Minimal Medical support. Mile markers off on the course (and who knew which mile marker was which as the 10k, half, and full were on the same raod in the begining) I could go on...... |
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