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Apr 29, 2024

Big Island International Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Big Island International Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 4.1

Organization 4.0

Spectators 3.1

Number of comments: 67 [displaying comments 51 to 61]

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R. B. from Minnesota (3/26/2006) "Beautiful Marathon in Paradise" (about: 2006) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Big Island International Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Overall, I would rate this marathon as very good. The majority of the race course is beautiful and the organization turned out to be excellent. Based on comments I read from previous years, I believe that this marathon has been greatly improved. At the end of the race you receive a very nice medal, your finisher's t-shirt, a free massage and an assortment of food/drinks. The only major negative was the rain during the entire race (which was torrential at times). Realizing you can't do much with the weather, I would recommend this race for anyone looking to run a marathon in the State of Hawaii. With regards to improving the race, I would recommend providing a sports drink option at each of the water stops starting at the very beginning of the race rather than having to wait until the halfway point. I would also recommend that some type of food, (energy gel, bananas/oranges, cookies, etc.) be made available at water stops from the halfway point through the finish. Thanks to the race director and the many volunteers for putting on a great event under very difficult circumstances.
D. H. from Hilo, HI (3/23/2006) "Wet, but well organized. Race makes a comeback." (about: 2006) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ Big Island International Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Rainy weather throughout the state for the previous three weeks promised a soggy race, but heavy rains from 8 p.m. the night before through race start at 6 a.m. (actually pushed back 15 minutes for better visibility for runners) ensured one of the wettest Big Island Marathons on record. At least six inches of rain fell on the day. Despite that the race came off as flawlessly as one could hope. Never a big race and run on scenic but quiet, isolated road much of the way, so there's never much in the way of crowds. Being a somewhat solitary runner the lack of an "audience" has never bothered me and I find the same characteristics a plus in other races as well, e.g. Kilauea Wilderness Volcano Marathon, Maui Marathon, etc. The aid stations were plentiful and cheerfully staffed and well-stocked given that the volunteers were stuck in the same downpours. This is a race that's going to grow in popularity - the course is spectacularly scenic the first 11 miles, but then meanders a bit through less scenic portions of the city near the airport for about 5-6 miles; the final 10 miles are along the coastal fringe, which provides good views of the ocean and sometimes whales are visible. I live in Hilo, so this is a bit of a "homer" review. While this race has admittedly had its organizational ups and downs, this year was a definite "up" and the same race director will be in charge in the coming years.
B. H. from Honolulu, HI (3/22/2006) "Well done considering its small scale" (about: 2006) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Big Island International Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 It was a heavy downpour the entire race, but I found it very relaxing to be honest. I greatly enjoyed the first 10 miles, which were very scenic, but beyond that it was a lot of highway running. I found people to be very friendly and supportive despite the fact that there were few spectators. One has to be mentally tough to do it as I often found myself running in "no man's land" with nobody in view behind or in front of me for long stretches. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
B. Y. from Broken Arrow, Ok (3/22/2006) "2006 torrential rain marathon" (about: 2006) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Big Island International Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 We ran this beautiful course in a torrential rain downpour! It had rained since 8 p.m. the night before and the entire marathon, and I don't mean a little rain - buckets of rain. At one point we ran through a "river" and were knee-deep. That said, it was a beautiful marathon! Even in the pouring rain the course was beautiful, the volunteers were amazing. This was a very small race, but a good one. I would run this one again in a heartbeat!
L. C. from Kaneohe, HI (3/20/2006) "Good small marathon" (about: 2006) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Big Island International Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 It poured rain from before the start to long after the finish. Despite that, the race was well organized, covered a nice scenic (minus the rain) course and the volunteers were great. It was a nice, small, non-timing chip marathon but there was almost zero fan support (not including the volunteers) - that was probably influenced by the constant rain. Following the race, you were immediately given your finisher's medal, you could pick up your t-shirt (t-shirts only given to finishers) and you were handed a print-out that gave your overall time, overall place, place in your division, etc. There was snack food and and a massage tent but no shuttle (that I was aware of) back to where the buses had originally picked you up so after completing the marathon I had to walk more than a mile in pouring rain back to the hotel. Even if it hadn't been raining, I would've preferred not to have to walk another mile... I was tired.
Brad Thern from Appleton, WI U.S.A. (3/16/2006) "#10 was good after learning what it's about." (about: 2005) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Big Island International Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I would have to grudgingly agree with some of the previous comments if this marathon was what I had mistakenly anticipated by incorrectly reading between the lines (that is not a negative statement). For whatever reason, I was expecting a much bigger event. After experiencing it though, I have to say that the BIIM was a good time and experience, and compares quite favorably with other marathons of similar size. You just can't compare the amenities of a race with a couple hundred runners to those with thousands of runners. My high organization rating is based on the fact that I now know what this event is about, and I fortunately didn't experience some of the problems other runners faced. As for the marathon itself, I had a great time. There were no huge crowds, but then again, that would have ruined the tranquil run through the jungle. Yes, the course does go by the airport, but I personally like changes in scenery regardless of what they are. I also thought the course support was adequate as I was never desperately looking for the next aid station. The only problem I'll mention was my own fault. Maybe I was too excited since this was my first trip to Hawaii, or maybe I tried proving to myself that turning 45 that day wasn't going to affect me, but I didn't heed the warning of the hills during the first 8 miles, so I burned out and ended up with my first finish time over 4 hours. Regardless, I had a great time and would recommend this event to anyone as long as you understand that it's a small event.
J. K. from Monticello, Florida (4/9/2005) "Hawaii is beautiful... organization nonexistent" (about: 2005) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Big Island International Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 Let me start off with the good ? very beautiful start and finish. Tropical forest and an awesome waterfall at the front end and beautiful views of the ocean during the home stretch. Fun course to run too, with most of the hills up front and a nice flat finish to ease the punishment on the legs. Only negative related to the course was the run through the Hilo airport area during the middle of the race but I saw it as an acceptable tradeoff to get from the beautiful tropics to the scenic coastal finish. The course is just too darn pretty to prevent recommending it and I would do the race every year if I could afford it. Now, this said, it would be unfair to say the coordination of the race was abysmal ? more appropriate to say it was nonexistent. I think I could better coordinate a race of equal size myself out of my own garage. Thank GOD most of the runners were experienced marathoners and the group was small (approximately 150). My wife and I had a flight delay to Hilo and wanted to talk to the director to have him give our packages to a friend. We left multiple messages over the course of an entire day with no return call. Our next strategy was to have the host hotel personnel give a message to the director at the package pick-up (held in the hotel) but the staff said they were too busy handling guests. Panicked, we called our friend and asked him if he could try getting the packages and put us on the phone for approval purposes if necessary. Our friend called back shortly, laughing, and said it was no problem as the 'expo' only consisted of getting handed the race numbers ? no other frills. There was a post-race party but it was poorly run and somewhat bizarre. The best-managed post-race event was a troop of dancing senior citizens doing line dances. Food? In the past I had told my wife I thought people focused too much on criticizing post-race food but that was before I experienced finishing 26.2 in the hot climate of Hilo only to walk up to half a box of bananas and a cardboard box of potato chip crumbs. To make matters worse, after about 30 minutes of waiting to see if any other options would be offered, three Hawaiian guys pulled out a steel container with some awesome looking beef stew. I had my hopes up that maybe the event was going to pick up, only to have one of guys tell me the food was for their private party while one of the others shrugged and said he didn?t know. It was REALLY bizarre... almost no food present and an awesome tray of food gets put out right in the same area but it?s not to be shared with the finishers? I really got the feeling the guys were just hoarding the food for themselves. Too bad the organization wasn?t better ? the surroundings are so heavenly that the race could become a much bigger hit in the US running community if only the organization was MODERATELY good.
K. O. from Alaska (4/2/2005) "Race coordinator never responded to any inquiries" (about: 2005) 4-5 previous marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 Course was pretty for first 10 miles and then seemed like lots of loops just to get miles in. Porta-potties along the course would have helped a lot. I sent emails and left a phone message with race director who never replied. Could have saved us from a 4-hour drive to pick up race packet that could have been done that morning.
T. G. from USA (4/1/2005) "Beautiful course but need organization!" (about: 2005) 3 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 What a beautiful course!! I have run 3 previous marathons but came with a friend to lend support. Following her throughout the race gave me the chance see some stunning views of Hawaii. I would come back to run this race myself and hopefully the pre/post-race organization will improve by then. There did seem to be a lack of food at the finish. Maybe the lack of organization explains why a male runner can compete in a female division. The runner that finished right behind my friend was obviously male but was listed as female in the results and placed 2nd in that age group. I hope 'she' didn't get an award that should have gone to a more deserving 'she'. I am sure improvements will be made and this is a marathon I would recommend!
N. O. from Continental U.S. (3/29/2005) "Disappointing!" (about: 2005) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Big Island International Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 Hilo was a fun place to visit, and the volunteers at the water stations were nice. With only 151 marathon finishers, this should have been a SUPER EASY marathon to organize. However, the race director must have watched the Capital One/David Spade commercial too many times! That is the commercial where everything is 'NO'! This was the 'NO' marathon! No port-a-potties on the course - none! No race packets or printed information as promised in the race application (number and pins only)! No great food at the finish as promised in the race application (half a banana and a small cardboard box of potato chip crumbs - really)! No well-stocked aid stations as promised in the race application! No live entertainment including the Hawaii County Band as promised in the race application! No PA system ready when the first marathoners arrived at the finish line! No medals READY when the first marathoners arrived at the finish line! No RIBBONS for the medals for any finisher after about 4 and a half hours! No MEDALS for any finishers after about 5 hours! No response from the race director to any E-mail or US mail inquiries prior to the race! No recognition of the 50 States Club members or the runners who completed the 50 states at this marathon! So, if you are considering this race for your Hawaii marathon, have low expectations, or 'just say NO'!

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