The new course is pretty weak. There's little to no crowd support for the first 6 miles of the race. The older course was much better as people came out from the start and were extremely supportive.

It was especially irritating for marathoners at mile 18 to meet back up with half marathoners at mile 8. This means that 8:40 marathoners had to bob and weave between 15:00 walkers. Extremely poor planning. Lousy website, disorganized start. Really seemed like they were flying by the seat of their pants. Too last minute.

Good course, relatively flat except for the scenic park around halfway and mile 23, with good support. Only remaining problem for the organizers are the walkers, ignoring the 'coral' system and clogging the start. Planning a slow 4:30, I was placed in coral C, and took over 7 minutes to reach the start. I passed most of the walkers, who were supposed to be in coral G.

2011 was a well run event. Starting and finishing downtown was much better. The bottled water at most of the stops were a big improvement over the plastic cups. Running the full marathon was a good course. Re-joining the mini marathon group at 18 miles was a little tricky, but not bad if you are 'fun running' the event. Running full tilt would be tricky and less than ideal. I really enjoyed 3rd and 4th street. The park was great for the shady and the trees were beautiful. Fan support was great.

I ran the half in 2010 and did not have any trouble with walkers anywhere on the course. The run itself was a scenic run with lots of contour changes to make it fun and challenging. The post-race area was kind of inside a horseshoe and it was impossible for spectators to get there without crossing the course. It took longer after the race to find my family than it did to run the race. The Derby Festival has a great logo but it was barely visible on the shirt.

Biggest complaint: I agree with B.F of So. IL about Wal-Mart's name being larger than the word "marathon" on the shirt. Pretty tacky. But keep in mind, this is the city that for years billed this race as a "Mini Marathon and Marathon" instead of a "Marathon and Half Marathon." So some day maybe organizers will get the priorities straight.

PROS: Much improvement over previous years. Better finish area (although difficult for spectators to find/access their runners), better bling (although it's a big Wal-Mart advertisement), enough water stations.

Scenic course through 2 of Louisville's tree-filled Olmsted parks (designer of Central Park in NY), Churchill Downs and crossing over the Ohio River, BUT you had better be ready for hills! I ran the Cin. Flying Pig the next weekend having heard about the hills there and actually found Derby Marathon more challenging.

With the tremendous improvements of this race I experienced in 2010 and having a couple of conversations with the organizers, I believe many of the runners' big concerns will be addressed for 2011.

The race began on a narrow street with 15,000 runners, and the portable restrooms were over 2 blocks away. Not enough room for runners to spread out into their respective pace areas. I will be astounded when the day arrives that 3-hour half marathoners DO NOT line up near the front a the large pack of runners at the start of a race. The course was OK, although some areas in the Indiana side were not wide enough to pass easily unless you risked crossing to traffic side of cones. Finish area, was a mess. My parents drove over 3 hours to surprise me at the finish, and then I could not get to them without either crossing in front of runners or going almost another mile to get to them. Also, the last mile had runners going through construction areas. Spectators were wonderful, but the race needs some course and organizational changes.

Good course; just too narrow at the beginning. Reasonable hydration and nutrition support. Little food at the finish line. I appreciated crossing into another state on the race course. Of my three dozen marathons, it was my first for that. My thanks to the lady on the river bridge who was so enthusiasticly cheering every runner - great appreciation. I was disappointed to see the "Wal-Mart" name on the front of the tech shirt. The name was bigger than the word "Marathon." Also, having that same name on my finisher medal was a real downer to me. I paid good money to register for the race. Why cheapen the bling? For that reason I will avoid this race in the future until the ads are reserved for the back side of the race shirt. I do thank all of the great volunteers who made this race so neat.

Could use some fan support from mile 10.5 to 18 and from 21 to 25.
Course was a lot of fun. The hills are there, so be prepared for them. The end of the race could be really hot if the sun comes out; there is not very much shade there. I enjoyed my weekend in Louisville very much.

This marathon was my 26th in the last 7 years. I really didn't know what to expect from this race as I knew it was geared toward the half marathon, but overall it was well done.

Positives:
Beautiful, challenging course
Excellent water station organization
Organized start area and transportation
GREAT traffic control (best I've seen)
Nice medal

Negatives:
Being 25 miles into a race and having to weave through half-marathon walkers
There was a lack of spectators after the half-marathon split

I guess the biggest negative for me is running through half marathon walkers. I was finishing up at about a 7-minute-per-mile pace and had to weave through walkers. Unacceptable. All that the race organizers had to do was give us a narrow lane for marathoners. But all in all, I loved this challenging course.

I was very surprised by the beauty of the city, Louisville, and friendliness of the people, especially young people. Despite some negative comments about this year's course and the spectators, I found both to be excellent and enthusiastic. I appreciated the fact that the course included Churchill Downs - the Derby site - and quite a few hills (but equally rewarding downhills). This was my 18th state and 18th marathon.

The only downside was: this race used timing chips that were glued to the bibs. I initially thought that this was a great idea. However, I found out that I lost both of those devices from my bib when I couldn't find my time registered on the result website the following day. I sent an email about it, and my time is now re-instated according to what I stated to them. Since I am such a slow runner and my time for this race was nothing to write home about, reinstating the time was not a controversial matter. However, if one were on a border line with a Boston qualifier time, I don't know if he/she could get away with swearing the unofficial time and receiving qualification. I did advise the race director in my email to warn runners the next time should the race continue to use the same timing devices. From now on, though, I will always carry a plastic bag to protect my bib in case another race uses the same device.

Thanks, Louisville, you were great!