I really love this marathon. I've run it 3 times and have enjoyed it every time (despite the rain last year). I recommend this race!

Beautiful scenery, that's about it. Expo was a total disappointment. The course was neither flat nor fast. Aid stations ran out of water for slower runners who also had to cross a finish line that had been moved from its original place to a rather hidden and blah spot. Organizers should respect the 6 hour limit for everyone. Vancouver is nevertheless a wonderful and friendly city.

This has to be the most scenic course ever ran. You get a flavor of everything: city, residential, ocean, industrial, bridge, and forest. I don't think any marathon can offer you that! However, the flip side to it is the hills and elevation. I know the brochures lead me to believe that the elevation range was never over 50. But the Burrand Bridge itself is over 100! Not a hilly course, just not as flat as advertised. Spectator support is awesome for this size of a race. Just before the bridge, a crowd awaits you and gives you that spurt of energy you need.

I will likely return in '05!

Yes, it was too bad they were doing construction on the seawall and we couldn't do a complete outer loop of Stanley Park. I hear the seawall route is planned for next year, depending on the construction schedule. Still the 'energy' I got from running on the road lined with huge trees was easily the best mile of the course. I wish there was more. I didn't really feel the course was too hilly, and only noticed the Burrard St. bridge elevation at mile 17 and mile 25. The rest of the hills are what you would find in most cities over 26 miles. I also missed most of the milage markers. I guess they were camoflauged by the water station set-ups.

The first part of the course was a bit 'industrial' looking. I guess the plan was to first loop us around the 'hip' skate/snowboard shop area. The elevated road past GM Place was neat. Then we got into Chinatown and then the Gastown area. Too bad we couldn't run around Grandville Island, but I'm sure it would of interfered with the market delivery traffic in such a tight space.

Definitely give yourself some extra days in this town to sightsee. Plus Whistler and Victoria are just a couple of hours away.

It was great that organizers listed to the comments from last year and restricted the food area to runners only. Also, I had no problem waiting to the end to get my T-shirt, afterall, it was a 'Finisher's T-shirt' and another incentive to finish the race. The water stations were a bit disorganized with water sometimes first and Ultima second, then the other way around. Sometimes water was in the Ultima labeled cups, but these are small things.

Overall a very good marathon that I would recommend to all.

If you are a runner/tourist you really get a great feel for the city. The course rolls through Chinatown, Gastown, Yaletown, the seedy part of town, Kitsilano, Financial District and Stanley Park. With great vistas of False Creek and English Bay. A challenging course for sure, with long gradual inclines, but who said marathons were suppose to be easy. Great crowd support, especially when compared to last year, I am sure the weather had a lot to do with it. Beautiful day, beautiful city and beautiful experience.

Being my first marathon, I really didn't know what to expect. When I arrived in Vancouver with nervous anticipation, I was relieved to be able to find everything I needed to know at the expo. The volunteers were great. The course was a little hilly, but not too bad. Stanley Park was the best part. The temperature was in the mid-50s and it had rained the night before. Toward the end of the race, the sun peeked through the clouds to brighten the celebration. Unsure of my own capabilities, I surprised myself on race day. I beat my own goal, plus I qualified for Boston; all in one shot : ).

Except for the unfortunate 'light industry' section, the course is very scenic: Chinatown, Gastown, Coal Harbour, Stanley Park, English Bay, Kits/Point Grey. The Prospect Point hill in Stanley Park, which was eliminated this year, gave previous races more character. There are several small hills, however, to keep things interesting.

The expo was disappointing considering this is an international marathon. The finishing area was a disaster (again). Bottleneck of tired, sweaty runners trying to negotiate our way through the crowds into the 'runners only' hall to collect our finisher's shirts. Volunteers along the course, at the water stations and at the finish were terrific.

Lots of supporters lined the course, especially from mile 16 onwards, which was much appreciated.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Vancouver Marathon. While the course may not have been quite as flat as hoped for, it was far flatter than Seattle's! The Burrard Bridge at mile 24 or so was a challenge. The course, while not uniformly beautiful, certainly ran through attractive neighborhoods and parks as well as business and the inevitable industrial districts. The crowd support was excellent. Having both fans and music and drummers along the course was a spirit booster. Not a fan of Ultima, I carried my own GU2O and only used the water stations toward the end. They seemed well-stocked and well-staffed.

In this, my second marathon, I set a PR by 30 minutes (my 1st was the hilly Seattle Marathon). An earlier writer else referred to not needing/appreciating the slow song before the race. I hope that the reference is not to 'O, Canada,' the Canadian National Anthem!

I enjoyed the city and the marathon; nicely done, Vancouver!!

I ran the half due to injury and enjoyed the best part of the full marathon course, but with the bonus of seeing Lions Gate Bridge and a fun (but long) hill. Stanley Park, Gastown, Chinatown were fun, but even in the half marathon, we ran through some rather dull industrial train track riddled terrain and bland commercial areas. My partner ran the full, and had similar complaints (along with water stop inadequacies and smog-filled bridge sections). The traffic flow afer the race was horrible, channeling everyone through tiny gates, but the food was good and plenty of it. The volunteers were eager and plentiful, but some seemed a bit under-trained.

The race is welcoming of the walkers, but they really should be reminded of a bit of course etiquette, as some of the narrow course areas were quite blocked by 4 and 5 across walking packs (there seemed to be too many walker groups very close to the start, and as many started 1/2 hour earlier, it took a few miles to get through them all). I am glad I ran race, and the half was fun overall, but I am not entirely sure what all the raving is about... the Napa Marathon in California has this one beat hands down for scenery IMHO.

I think these issues could be worked out with a slightly better course for the full marathoners (the city permitting) and better after race crowd management. Many positive things here, but not the super 'perfect' rave run some other runners (and great race marketing) had me look forward to.

This marathon was great. Although the course had quite a few small rolling hills, it made running it more fun and safe. The organization was great. Although I only saw about one in four mile markers, someone I know says she saw every last one of them. So I guess they must have been there.

The volunteers were great, also lots of crowd support due to the better weather this year, which was sunny but not hot. Also they had plenty of toilet facilities at the start this year. In additon, they improved by having a ChampionChip mat at the half way point recording the halfway split. They had another mat about 100 meters before the finish line mats, so everyone's name was announced before they crossed the finish line.

Picking up the shirt after the marathon finish had the advantage that I got something (long-sleeve) to put on after the race, which I did not have to check-in. So it worked out for me. One problem with the pasta party was that the dishes were too small, and there were huge line-ups for the one buffet table. They should have had either more buffet tables, or bigger dishes (as in standard dinner plate size, not dessert size). Overall a great time.