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May 18, 2024

OC Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 3.5

Organization 3.4

Spectators 2.8

Number of comments: 181 [displaying comments 171 to 181]

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J. J. from California (12/6/2004) "Great Race! Poor Finish!" (about: 2004) 3 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 I didn't mind the late start, the cold rainy weather, or even that the mile markers were off. However, once I crossed the finish line the race soured for me. There was no organization in the baggage claim area and I had to sort through dozens of bins before I found my stuff. Many peoples belongings had fallen out and were spilled everywhere. After that we had to wait over an hour for a shuttle to bring us back to the parking area. Furthermore, the shuttle didn't even stop near where we parked so we had to walk some more. Overall I thought this was a poorly organized finish. I would not do this race again.
C. G. from San Diego (12/6/2004) "nice course, a few fixable issues" (about: 2004) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 Overall, an enjoyable marathon. I was pleasantly surprised at how scenic the course was. I guess I was expecting it to be more industrial. The mile markers were a bit off, and I would have liked to see the clocks at the markers as well. The volunteers were wonderful, with plenty of water and Gatorade (one flavor next time, please). Later in the marathon, there were bananas and oranges which really saved me in the end. Everything was going well until the end. At mile 25 there was a kid's race on the same narrow paved trail as the runners. I love that there was a kids race, however, I don't think it should have been in the same area as mile 25. There just wasn't enough space for everyone. The real organizational issues were after the finish line. There were not enough buses to take people back to their cars, and hundreds of people had to stand in line in the windy, rainy, and chilly weather. My husband and I walked to our car, and never saw a bus pass us. There was really no reason to stick around afterwards (partially because of the crappy weather). Overall, I think this marathon has awesome potential.
J. F. from Oak Park, Ca. (12/6/2004) "Proper Prior Planning" (about: 2004) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 First of all, the traffic on McArthur heading to the parking lots was ridiculous. We arrived from Agoura Hills by 6:30 (1 hour before the start time) and it took us 55 minutes to travel 2 miles. No traffic control whatsoever! People were bailing out of their cars to make sure they would be on time for the 7:30 start. Once we made it to the lots, there was no traffic control (or lots to park in!). Not good. We managed to make it to the start line just as the race began. No time to for a porta-potty break. The run itself was fine. However, I was under the impression that being in the 'OC' we'd be going through some cool areas. As it turned out, you basically run along a bike path next to a waterway/runoff. Rain had been forecast for race day almost a week before the event. You would think that the race staff might have the good sense to provide some sort of tented area at the finish line for water-logged, frozen runners. No again. All I received was a bottle of water and no clue on how to get back to my car at the start line. After asking 3 people, they finally told me the start line was 1-2 miles from the finish, If I want to stand out for an hour in the freezing rain, I could grab a shuttle. The shuttle lines resembled the line to 'Splash Mountain' at Disneyland. Too long and way too cold and wet. I decided to hike back to the car. I truly believed that I'd be hypothermic by the time I found my car. (Thanks to the Marriott staff for providing warmth and a dry towel on my quest back to the car!) I'm not blaming the race directors for the weather, but they had plenty of time to make proper accommodations for the runners. That was inexcusable. Maybe they'll be ready next time...
P. S. from USA (12/6/2004) "OC Marathon off to a good start! " (about: 2004) 2 previous marathons \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I really enjoyed the inaugural OC Marathon and will be looking forward to participate again next year. For lessons learned, I would suggest a review of the traffic and transportation logistics. Otherwise, CONGRATULATIONS to a very successful inauguration marathon!
J. E. from Yucca Valley CA (12/6/2004) "Never again" (about: 2004) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 Where do I start...? The flyer directions to race-day parking were not followed and caused major traffic jams and a 45-minute wait in traffic to even get close to the assigned parking lots, and they were closed. Starting the half and full marathons together on a road too narrow for either caused runner jams through 5 miles. Given a garbage bag and a water bottle at the finish, no one able to tell me how to get to food, and then walking two miles in the rain to find my car. I've only run 18 marathons, but this was the worst organization of them all.
G. W. from California (12/6/2004) "lots of potential but some hiccups in first year" (about: 2004) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 There were some logistical problems that could have been avoided with better planning for this first year of this event - not enough bathrooms at the start, extremely long of lines and wait to take the shuttle back to the start, the gear check tent was completely disorganized at the finish where bags were not sorted in any manner, and parking at the start could have been better organized. Their course cannot handle many more runners since a lot of it is on a narrow bike path, especially at the finish where I heard faster marathon runners had to weave through half-marathon walkers. None of my friends were able to get to the finish line to meet me there due to traffic and lack of parking at the finish. The cold, wet weather conditions didn't help matters, especially waiting for the shuttles back to the start where my car was parked. Yet, despite it all, the event has to be considered a success. I had a good time running and would do it again, but I would like to be reassured that the race addresses some of the problems and has a plan to fix them before they try to expand and try to get as large as the LA Marathon. The course was very scenic and fast and there were a lot of people cheering at every major intersection despite the weather conditions. There was water and Gatorade just about every mile and tons of helpful volunteers handing out water and making sure no one could get off course. This event has a lot of potential. I hope next year it lives up to the potential.
Aliza Correa from Buena Park, California (12/6/2004) "A wonderfully challenging and memorable experience" (about: 2004) 1 previous marathon \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my very first full marathon. The temperature was not bad but the rain made the race itself so much more challenging. It was nice to have a choice of Gatorade or water at just about every mile marker. I had hoped that there would have been a photographer at the finish. I'm a sucker for memorabelia. Most important is that there need to be more shuttles for next year. These poor people that had just run 26.2 miles were waiting in line for 30 min. to an hour for a shuttle. Luckily I had my loved ones pick me up at the finish line.
Kyle EricSon from USA (12/6/2004) "Needs Improvement" (about: 2004) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 Just ran the inaugural event, and would have to give it a grade of about a C+. To start with (and these are things I typically don't care about, but I know others do so I'll get them out of the way first), the expo was tiny, insignificant and was held in an empty warehouse. The 'goodie bag' consisted of a bunch of stuff that other organizations obviously didn't want (i.e., the 'Anaheim Angels 2002 American League Champions' backpack). As far as spectator support and on-course entertainment, the crowd was sparse at best and I only saw 1 band playing on the entire course (the poor weather probably had a lot to do with this, which I'll discuss later). Now on to things that I do care about, and that's the course itself. This was without a doubt the most boring course I've ever run! How can you have a marathon in Newport Beach and never even come close to seeing the water or the beach? This is especially annoying in light of the race motto of 'surf, sand, sweat' (nope, on all 3 counts!). The majority of this course (perhaps 12-15 miles or so) is run on the 'bike trail', which is a euphemism for 'river bed'. Granted, it's one of the nicer river beds in SoCal, but it's still a river bed (which I never want to see again in my lifetime). Of course, the course was billed as 'flat, fast & fun' like all marathons, but with so much time spent on the river bed, you were constantly going up and down as the riverbed intersected cross streets and you had to run under them. The course also ended about 2 miles away from where it started, which made most people endure standing in long lines to ride a bus back to our cars (just what you wanted after you've just run 26 miles!). There also seemed to be next to nothing to eat or drink for the finishers, although there did appear to be a concession stand sellig items (unfortunately, I'm not used to carrying my wallet with me when I run). The last negative I'll discuss is the timing of the event. In my opinion, scheduling events in December in SoCal is always going to be risky since December to February is typically our rainy season. This proved to be true this year as it rained all day, was about 55 degrees, with a constant wind of about 10 mph (I've never been so cold & miserable in my life). This event also comes in between other events that I think a lot of people also plan on running (Long Beach in October, Carlsbad in January, Huntington Beach in February, etc). I know I'm in the minority on this point, but I'd much rather have this event moved to the summer months when you don't have conflicting events and you know the weather is going to be nicer. I know people that worry about it being too hot, but it seems to me that if the starting time is pushed back to about 7:00 am, this avoids this problem and ensures that the majority of people will finish before heat becomes an issue (plus, I figure it's easier to cool-off on a hot day than it is to warm-up on a cold day). All in all, I think this event has a lot of room for improvement, chief of which to me is the course itself, and until they remedy this issue, I'll skip this race entirely.
h. u. from malibu, california (12/5/2004) "Ah, the OC" (about: 2004) 1 previous marathon \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 The course was nice and flat but not very exciting. Well organized during the race, but once you finish the experience is horrible! Bag-check reclaim ended up a jumbled/wet mess. The line for the shuttle to get back to the start line took an hour! So the race is great, but there's no fun beyond the finish line.
Dave Just Dave from California (12/5/2004) "Needs Some Work." (about: 2004) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 OC Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 Generally I think there's too much bashing, but the finish today was a mess, and if they get through without anyone getting hypothermia they will have dodged a bullet. The registration situation wasn't ideal, but workable; I didn't care that much that the start was delayed; some people might gripe about the insufficient port-a-potties; the mile markers were off - no big deal to me... but geez, guys, if you are going to fix one thing before next year, fix the finish.

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