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May 4, 2024

Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 4.3

Organization 4.1

Spectators 3.7

Number of comments: 362 [displaying comments 31 to 41]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 37 > ]

Sanjay Mohanta from Ottawa, ON (4/22/2014) "54th marathon! What a city!" (about: 2014) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I drove nearly 11 hours from Brampton, ON Canada to do this race. It was worth it! I loved the downtown core of Kentucky and was impressed by how hospitable the local residents were. I checked out the Louisville slugger museum, Mohammad Ali Centre and Science Centre. The hotels are all close to the race start and convention centre. I loved the race expo with lots of vendors and freebies. The course was okay until the giant hill on mile 12. I walked up the hill and ran down. Recommended for others. Some of the water station volunteers were overwhelmed with the runners but I think that is something that could improve. THe shirt could be a bit more creative but well worth the trip!
J. K. from Louisville (4/21/2014) "Much improved from previous years!" (about: 2014) 4-5 previous marathons \| 2 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my second Kentucky Derby Marathon and have to say the organizers have listened to the runners recommendations for improvement! I understand that this race really caters to the mini, but the marathon is gaining traction. The change in the course from my last marathon here in 2008 is so much better! The race is mostly flat, but has some decent hills thru the park and the highlands. Here are my good and bad: Good: -Course is diverse and gives you a great picture of this wonderful city! -Running thru the main entrance of Churchill Downs was a great change and really makes this marathon stand out from others. -Plenty of water stops/powerade with many passing out other goodies along the way. -Police did a great job of controlling the traffic. No issues with a short cut off for the marathoners. -The expo was better than expected and a nice surprise to get an asics running hat along with the tech shirt. -Very nice metal -Nice wide open streets with no problem of congestion. Bad: -The majority of the runners are running the mini, so it gets sparse on the second half of the race. -Mile markers did not have display clocks. Even the local 10k race had those, so make sure you have a watch. -The re-unite area can be improved. A little confusing. -Need more port-a-pots on the course -The food after the race was not great. I threw my bagel away. -Exiting the course was not marked very well. I had to cross marathoners coming in and had to find holes in the spectator fence to get to my car. Overall, I recommend this race! It's a great way to see Louisville!
T. A. from Ball Ground, Ga (4/20/2014) "Not a bad race." (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 A Saturday race is hard to get to but the late Friday packet pick up was great Was very disappointed at the shirt. Thought it could have been much better. The expo is decent. The course is fine. The tour through Churchill Downs was disappointing. Could not see the track and could barely see the grand stands. The course is pretty fast, some hills miles 11 through 15 but nothing terrible. Sun was strong and wore me down. Good day, great volunteers.
Jeff Raymond from Decatur, GA (4/20/2014) "Great Run" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The weather was perfect, the race was well organized and went without a hitch. There were lots of water/powerade stops as well as bathroom breaks. Going into Churchill Downs was pretty cool. Good medal and TONS of food/drinks at the finish as well as other events. This race is a definite 'YES' to run!
J. M. from Columbus, OH (4/20/2014) "Good to cross KY off the list, uninspiring" (about: 2014) 1 previous marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 Marathon experience was decent overall and the weather was absolutely perfect. Definitely recommend staying at the Marriott Downtown. The expo was nothing to get excited about and they ran out of small t-shirts for the marathoners- so I have a shirt that I can't wear. Ate dinner at Beano's, which was fine, was a 90 minute wait at the Old Spaghetti Factory and we didn't want to get fancy at the other nearby places. Except for being downtown, the rest of the course was very uninspiring, as was the start. Lot's of depressing homes, businesses and warehouses. I thought Churchill Downs would be really awesome to run through, but there was so much construction and staging equipment that you really couldn't see anything. Iroquois Park really wasn't bad at all- I think three hills, it looks worse on paper. Absolutely no spectators on the back half of the course. The new course was really flat, water stations and volunteers were great, thank you!! Nice medal and post-race bash, but I heard they ran out of beer way early. I would run this race again as a half marathon, wouldn't for the full. Don't pick this race just to run through Churchill Downs.
D. W. from Kentucky (5/17/2013) "Good race serious flaws." (about: 2013) 50+ previous marathons \| 4-5 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 Good race but police tried to stop the marathon at Breckenridge St about mile 20. Said we missed cutoff. 5:30 pace crew right behind me argued and finally continued race against police orders. I followed and finished just before 5:30 pace group. At finish line no bottled liquids and no sports drink - second year in a row. Couldn't find email for race director. Sad slow death of a good marathon. Thanks to the good volunteers that helped. Don't run this marathon unless you are an elite runner. Go to Knoxville, Cincy, Land Between the Lakes, Hatfield - McCoy, or St. Louis instead.
R. H. from San Diego (5/6/2013) "Unpublished cut off" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 There was a cut off time of six hours from the gun start, not from the last runner crossing the start line or when you crossed the start line. From the official website: 'Maximum time limit is 6:00:00 (6 hours)'. What was not published was a cut off time just before mile 21. I made it to mile 21 at 4rhs 17 min and was the last person let through. There was a very angry cop stopping everyone from turning down Breckinridge Street, forcing them to finish down the half marathon course, running about 22 miles of the 26. The cut off time just before mile 21 needs to be published.
E. G. from Naperville, IL (5/4/2013) "Fun Race, Great City!" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I totally enjoyed this marathon. I had read the complaints from previous years and I feel that the major problems were addressed this year. Getting to run through Old Louisville, Churchill Downs, and U of L, made for an excellent running experience. It was crowded at the beginning, but the Half Marathoners split off much earlier than in other races, so I was able to run in more of a rhythm after that. It was a good idea to separate the Marathoners from the Half Marathon walkers when the course reunited. The hydration stops were somewhat inconsistent, but I was able to get water at every stop and Powerade at most. I do want to thank the volunteers who were out there especially at the later stops. I always carry a gel and a couple of chomps with me so the ones on the course were just a bonus. Iroquois Park was hilly, but very scenic. The steep hill at mile 23 was a little harsh, but oh well. Overall a very nice run!
D. C. from Kentucky, USA (5/4/2013) "Surprisingly flat and excellently organized!" (about: 2013) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 The Good. The course map had me scared that the park was going to be hilly, when we got there it had two short hills and the rest felt more downhill than up. The water stops were excellently organized! The crowd was amazing. The bad. I started in corral E and my clock time was 10:13 slower than my actual time because we didn't go through the start until 10:13 after the gun. The first 3 miles were CROWDED! Advice. I PR'ed by 30:46 so it is a PR course. Conserve energy for the first 19 miles and go steady, the real hills are two steep hills between 21 and 23, one of which is brutally steep and long. Excellent race! I loved it!
A. V. from Chicago, IL (5/2/2013) "Had fun but tough" (about: 2013) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 After reading last year's comments, I was a little concerned about the race and logistics but it seemed smooth to me. The expo was okay other than it snaked through the room and made moving around in there a little tight but its manageable. I was able to move into Wave A and out of C to start since I wanted to be with a faster pace group. I was a little upset with the race in that regards. They didn't know what Waves the pacers were assigned to and neither did the pacers I talked to. I asked to get my Wave changed but I was pretty much told no and don't worry about it. It worked out fine since I just talked to the volunteer at the gate to Wave A who let me in. Since I was upfront, I didn't run into a lot of other issues that some other commentors have mentioned. Honestly once the full split from the half, I was very lonely and didn't see too many other marathoners the rest of the way, but I kind of expected that given the size and my pace. The hills did NOT match the elevation chart that they provided. Those smooth hills were actually several steep up and downs in the park and toward the end. Had I known that, I would have approached the race differently and ended up a little burned out at the end. The post race area is huge but laid out a little weird. There was tons of food and liquid, though it felt like a lifetime to walk around there. The whole park down there was actually very nice and allowed the kids to have a bit of fun while I recovered. I was frustrated at the lack of clocks at the mile markers. There were some at the relay points and another some place odd like 23.3 or something goofy. It was just off to the side between some mile markers. The text updates were nice, but it would have been nice to have a 35k or 40k update. Overally, I was happy with the overall course and event. Louisville is a nice area and it was something I'll remember.

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