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Apr 27, 2024

Spinx Run Fest Runner Comments

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Course 4.1

Organization 3.9

Spectators 3.0

Number of comments: 78 [displaying comments 11 to 21]

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R. E. from AGS (10/25/2014) "Could be better" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 2 Spinx Run Fests COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 This race could use improvements. My partner could assist if interested. The involvement from local hotels and establishments need improving. It seems the organizers of the marathon woke up and said....oh Greenville let's host a marathon...yes let's do it.....tomorrow. 2nd the medals are a joke... 1/2should have their own medals and so should full. The city needs more involvement, while the course was great, the city establishments need to be more inviting. Hotels need to have a late check out. While I will entertain running the Spinx again I just hope it is more organized....lots of potential but will never grow due to the unorganized events of the previous years.
R. S. from SC (11/6/2013) "This COULD be a great event, but..." (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Spinx Run Fest COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 This event has the potential to be great, but there are just too many problems. Evidently proper organization is not in place to take care of all the details. PROS, Nice start, course and finish. Loved parking near start. Food/drink at the finish. Volunteers were great CONS, Could not believe there was no timing mat at the start or at the turnaround at TR. I don't need spectators to run, but many folks do. Not enough water stops. It was a good day to run with cool temps, but on a warm day this would have been a big issue. Not enough porta-johns. I ran into the woods twice. On their website it says that there will be complimentary beer and age will be verified from bib. Another fellow and I walked up to get a beer and were asked to show ID and the beer was NOT complimentary. How many people run a marathon with their ID and money? Handing you a bracelet at the turnaround is a joke. Was this to verify that you were really there? After the turnaround I saw 2 of the bracelets laying along side the trail. So were the individuals that lost their bracelets disqualified for not having it at the finish? No one was checking at the finish. Generic shirt and medal. It didn't matter if you ran the marathon or half you got the same shirt and medal. Finishing a marathon is a big accomplishment and the shirt and medal should say so. Before I went to the expo their website said to get your number online and this would speed things up at the expo. I got my number before I went to the expo and when I got to the expo found out that my number had changed. So it actually slowed down the process. Looked all over the website to see if there would be pace groups. Could not find it so I emailed the director and was told there would be. At the expo I looked for the table concerning pace groups. There was no sign or table or anything referring to pace groups. After searching around and not finding the pace groups I asked a lady sitting at a table and she said sure there is and gave me the info I needed. It shouldn't be this hard to get simple information. I now understand why so few people run this marathon. I sincerely hope that this was NOT a Boston qualifier. It does not deserve to be with someone being able to cheat so easily.
B. S. from Charlotte NC (10/30/2013) "Great Fall Race" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 3 Spinx Run Fests COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This is one of my favorite marathons and this is the third time running it. I like smaller marathons and you definitely can tell this is run by a well-organized experienced crew. Pros Park right next to the course and real bathrooms at the baseball stadium Marathoners start first and have their own course Beautiful scenic course on the swamp rabbit trail and not many hills Wristband at the turn-around was a nice touch Cons You are by yourself part of the time because of the amount of runners Some of the mile markers were backwards Kinda cute some of the volunteers messed up Looking forward to next year&
T. W. from Greenville, South Carolina (10/28/2013) "Still small time" (about: 2013) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Spinx Run Fest COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 This was my first time running Spinx and I was excited, since it was in my home town. PROS: The course is beautiful and the time of year adds to the beauty. The run through Furman University definitely adds a touch of class and a welcome respite. The course was clearly marked as we ran through Furman, and there were helpful volunteers every step of the way. Great job! There was AMPLE post-race food & drink. CONS: The packet pick up was very disorganized, with many volunteers who had no idea what was going on. The turn-around in Travelers Rest was so awful, it soured the entire experience for me. There was an art fair ON the trail, and no one thought to coordinate? I was dodging pedestrians left and right, and there were no volunteers or police helping to protect runners. Very disappointing. *There were basically no fans the entire course, and precious few police in the second half. The Spinx Marathon, while set in a beautiful locale, still suffers from small town-itis. If the organizers can coordinate with towns along the way, and somehow rouse community/fan support, it has potential to become a great marathon. If not, it will be relegated to mediocrity, I'm afraid.
N. P. from Usa (11/3/2012) "Nice route but potentially unsafe" (about: 2012) 4-5 previous marathons \| 2 Spinx Run Fests COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I have run Spinx twice and this year enjoyed the route , the morale along fellow runners. I was disappointed to hear about the train incident. That could have been avoided through communication and planning for this. Also , the bikers on the trail REALLY bothered me..I saw many trailing directly behind other runners. Is it possible to post signs to have bikers avoid the trail from certain hours on race day.. I mean they have 364 other days to ride. Also the car traffic at Furman was very unsafe..there were no police monitoring cars at the mall while runners were right next to them. My opinion is there needs to be more safety measures taken for the runners. Greenville is not a small town and would love to see better support from locals.. This race pours money into the city and lots of it! Businesses should post signs welcoming runners-it's a boost to them too. I don't mean to complain but I see a big need for improvements for 2013. Thanks
P. V. from Charlotte, NC (10/30/2012) "Good local race" (about: 2012) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Spinx Run Fest COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I had a great time. This is a good local race and I would do it again next year. This is not a big city race so if you need crowds lining the course cheering then you may want to you on look elsewhere. However, there were plenty of spectators along the course and plenty of cheering. I think there were 500 marathon finishers. Participants were friendly and chatted along the way. There are benefits of doing small races like this. For example I was able to park literally at the starting line in a church parking lot. This was my 5th Marathon and I've never had that luxury of parking so close to the start. The aide stations were good with enthusiastic volunteers handing out GU, Gatorade, and water. I would not describe this course as being hilly but there are some rolling hills and several long false-flats which can be challenging as you get tired. There was only 1 big hill which was about 100 feet in elevation around mile 12-13 and 1 small but steep bridge around mile 2/24 which I ended up walking on the way back. I ran in the 3:50 pace group but dropped off at the end finishing just over 4 hours. There was a steady stream of runners on the course but by mile 20 I frequently ran by myself. However, I was never alone on the course. Someone was always running within 10-20 yards or so. Faster runners would not have to deal with this. The expo was pretty small but that's not important to me. The tech shirt was fine. The medal was nice. And we got a pair of sport socks. I drove from Charlotte which is 2 hours away and stayed at the Clarion Inn & Suites which was about a 10 min drive to the start. They had really cheap rates and the room was exceptionally clean. This would be a good course for a 1st time marathoner provided you trained on some hills and didn't need the excitement of cheering crowds.
L. B. from Waukee, Iowa (10/29/2012) "A very fine experience" (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I wanted to buy gas at a Spinx gas station to support the race sponsor but didn't see one??? A big thank you to the nice man at the start and finish line who ensured our times were accurate because we were late to the start line. Sorry we were late. The trail was nice and the hill to avoid the railroad tracks wasn't that bad.
J. A. from Mauldin, SC (10/29/2012) "Pretty course - Needs more aid" (about: 2012) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Spinx Run Fest COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I just ran this marathon (2012) and was somewhat disappointed with it. PROS: Flat Course - The course was definitely the easiest course I have ever run. There were only a few hills worth any note and even those were smaller than majority of the ones I train on. Beautiful Course - The run was definitely a very pretty and scenic run down the swamp rabbit trail and through Furman. Probably one of the prettiest courses I have run. Price - The cost of the marathon is much better than most, especially if you register early. But even a late registration is not bad. CONS: Not enough Aid - I guess I have become spoiled in some of my other marathons, but they did not have aid nearly often enough. I was constantly needing more aid and would have to wait too long. Finish - My biggest disappointment was the finish line. I loved that we finished in the baseball stadium, but once I was done, I had to walk a few hundred feet, up the entire bleachers, and then another hundred or two feet before I could get any water or food. That was a HUGE issue for me. On top of that, the water was unopened cases of water in plastic wrap sitting on a pallet that runners were needing to tear at the plastic to get the warm bottles out. As for an alternative to water, they only had vitamin water, nothing with the calories or sugars that you need post race. For food they only had bananas and a small sandwich (with no vegetarian sandwich options). I really wish they had several more items to choose from. Spectators - The course is definitely not a spectator friendly course as most of it is done on a trail in the woods and is a straight out and back. I would not recommend it for someone who is bringing spectators in tow.
J. B. from South Carolina (1/2/2012) "nice, paved 'trail' for most of the course" (about: 2011) 3 previous marathons \| 2 Spinx Run Fests COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 Kinda-small marathon (about 450 running the full). The start could have really been simplified. There were banners about 100yds apart & Race Volunteers told us that the start of the Marathon was DOWN the street. After walking down the street, some other Race Volunteers said, 'NO, trust me... it's UP the street.' Even 3-4min before the start, folks were walking around asking, 'Where is the Start?' Finally everyone fell in & the Start went off okay. By mile 2, we thinned out significantly & simply followed the paved trail for miles & miles. I ran A LOT of this race all by myself. There is very little crowd support or even ACCESS to the trails. Even though my family knew the area, they were not ALLOWED access to a couple of the streets that accessed the trail system. So, I had NO family/friend support even though they tried to get to the 13mi point, then the 17 mile point, then the 20, then gave up. They BARELY made it back to the finish line to see me finish! Even at mile 25 when I was really hurting & striving for a PR, there was not a human in sight: no spectators, no other runners in either direction... just a long trail. Finally at about 25.5, I heard some cowbells & suddenly the trail spits you out close to downtown. That being said, the stadium finish was nice.
M. W. from South Carolina (11/17/2011) "Great Marathon... highly recommended" (about: 2011) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Spinx Run Fest COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I highly recommend the Spinx Run Fest Marathon to both beginners and experienced marathoners. The course offers a few challenges throughout while giving you a tour of Greenville. The course starts on Main St. in downtown, runs through Falls Park and loops back through downtown onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which is bike/walking path with no traffic and a very very gradual incline. You stay on the trail for 6 or 7 miles and veer off into some neighborhoods and a golf course with some decent hills, challenging but nothing to worry about. After going through the neighborhoods you come back to the trail and head back towards downtown, but not before running 2 miles or so through Furman University. Once back on the path it is all downhill, literally, till the last mile or so. The last mile is uphill into the baseball stadium, where you finish at home plate. The last mile is brutal, but not impossible. After finishing you have to walk 15 or so steps up to the food and drinks, which is NOT THAT BAD. The expo on Friday was well organized, stress free, and easy to get to. Volunteers were awesome handing out water and Gatorade, as well as GU at one of the aid stations. The spectators were few, but enthusiastic. Restrooms were plentiful at the start of the race, and evenly placed along the course. The one and only complaint I have is that at the start you couldn't hear the announcements they gave over the PA before the gun, that's all. Like I said I would recommend this race to anyone, I will be back next year.

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