We ran the San Juan 1/2 Marathon as part of this Festival for Runners and found the entire event, from our first contact through the well organized and informative website to the closing activities with an excellent post-race meal and awards ceremony, to be terrific! The shirts are great, the 'goodie bag' really HAD some goodies, volunteers and aid stations were well placed and helpful and the course took advantage of the glorious scenery. Thanks and congratulations!

This is the second year me and my wife have run in Durango (did the half last year) and we'll be back again next year. The course is top-notch. It's a good run (a few hills) and the scenery is breathtaking. The weather was perfect, but the people are what make this race happen. Matt Kelly is a wonderful guy who will take his time and talk to you. Very down to earth, and all of the people in Durango who make this thing happen are wonderful and encouraging. A very well organized race! I'll take this over the big city any day of the week! Look forward to next year.

I just returned from running my first Durango Marathon and I have nothing but good things to say about it. It is my fourth marathon and first road 'local' race. The course is very scenic and I found it be very runner friendly. I beat my own PR by 16 minutes (ran 3:30). The real champions of tuhis race are the volunteers and locals who make this thing happen. Each mile features an aid station manned by very enthusiatic folks who are there to help and cheer you on. I have run two 'big' marathons, and the aid stations in Durango put them to shame. It takes A LOT to put one of these on and although this is a relatively small field, Durango does it right.

Of note: I didn't mind not having the roads completely closed to traffic. There are enough volunteers to get you through that it wasn't an issue. Plus, there isn't that much traffic anyway!

Bigger 'established' marathons should send a rep down to Durango to check out how they do it and take note. Just becuase you have 40,000 in your race doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.

It's a hike from Denver (and we got caught in a blizzard in the high country on the way back) but it was well worth it. I'll be back next year.

I'm glad I picked the Durango Marathon as my first marathon ever. What a gorgeous course and the support was excellent and encouraging along the way. I want to thank Myrna, Dave and Rachel, other runners who I met along the way, for encouraging me. Durango rocks!! Oh, and I can't forget to thank Matt: you rock too!

This is a beautiful course, with the best support and organization I've ever seen at a marathon, especially impressive given that only a couple hundred runners participated. Water, sports drink, toilets, and lots of support staff at each mile. Energy gel three times over the course. An awesome amount of community support for the downtown party at the finish line.

The hills on the second half were a challenge, and Durango is at 6700 feet elevation, so the course is not easy, but very scenic. I will be back, and I imagine participation will grow, making this marathon even more exciting and runner-friendly.

This marathon is not only beautiful, but really well supported? not many races have an aid station at every mile; and the people at each aid station were having lots of fun with costumes and music Though the spectators were few, they were supportive. Perfect start line, you look over the whole valley. The block party at the end was fabulous, as were the free massages!!

My buddy and I came down from Alaska to do the Durango Double, half-size (25K trail run on Saturday and 1/2 marathon on Sunday). I can't say enough good things about the whole experience. Beautiful scenery almost equal to Alaska's; fantastic weather; incredibly friendly and helpful volunteers and bystanders; good, fairly-well marked, courses (a little sparse on the trail run) and FREE BEER at the finish line on Sunday! The altitude got to me the first night we were there, but after that I was fine.
'Good job!' and pats on the backs all the way around on this one, Matt. Thank you!

This is a must-do marathon. The festival for runners has something for all. For our family it was fall break; my husband did the 25K on Saturday while I watched my kids run the 1K, and I ran the marathon on Sunday. The altitude wasn't too bad. It was a little hilly (for a Texas chick) but the scenery and wonderful people in Durango made up for it! If you do the marathon, sacrifice a little on your time and bring a disposable camera... great pics (and the folks back home can see the hills).

The race was great! The scenery, the town, the organization, the street party, and the entertaining aid station personnel -- everything was wonderful!

In addition, I am personally indebted to the race director, Matt Kelly!!

My story: I flew to Denver for their marathon, only to be told at the packet pickup that the race was canceled! (For a laugh, go read about that fiasco!) I knew that Durango had a marathon the next day also, and that there wasn't another Colorado marathon until the following May! Since I needed to have Colorado to finish my 50 states quest, I knew I had to make it happen in Durango the next day! However, like most early morning marathons, there is no day-of-race registration. Anyway, I managed to get Matt Kelly on the phone during the Durango expo. He said that he had heard about Denver. He also said that he was in the process of setting up day-of-race registration for the stranded Denver runners and that we should just show up in the morning and the volunteers would take care of us. We did, and they did!! What a champ!!

A fun race and an interesting adventure! Thanks to Matt and his crew!

What a great place for a marathon. There is no place prettier than Colorado in October. This was my second marathon with my first last year being the Chicago Marathon with 40,000 runners. If you want lots of spectators this is not your race. I am a flat-lander from Oklahoma and the altitude did not bother me. I matched my time I did last year in Chicago. Matt Kelley, great job on organizing a fun run. I'll be back.