Great marathon. Well-organized. Nice expo. The spectators were encouraging. Runner support and aid stations were quite impressive including vaseline. The route itself along the canal and Hull were pretty. Two suggestions: 1) More food and apparel options in the expo; 2) More massage stations. The line was about 1-hour wait. After a marathon it could be painful.

This year the Ottawa Marathon Weekend was unlucky and got warm weather. Living in Ottawa I know from past history and certainly from this spring that the organizers did a fantastic job despite the conditions and I am amazed at the 'heat' they are taking for it :-) ( I am not aware of any organization that can control the weather). I will let people know that the typical weather in Ottawa at this time of year is a high of about 18-20 deg C (64-68 deg F) with about 10 deg C at start time (or about 48-50 F). This years official high was 26 deg C (about 81F) and it might have been close to 20 at start time. Those living here will also attest to the fact that the Race Weekend happened to hit the only warm weekend we had until middle of June.

Besides the weather I again enjoyed my race. I found the entire experience a delight. From expo, course bus tours (hey its free and it was sunny), start and baggage drop off. The finish line was better than last year and watching the guy (random runner) win a car was pretty cool. I think the course is great. A coupled of small hills to break things up but as far as a race goes not many take in all major tourist attractions in a country's capital city! Due to the heat I was wobbly at the end but the medical team is in my opinion second to none. I got support immediately and they stayed with me until they felt I was ok. Considering the unfortunate heat I think the event was even more fantastic and I have great respect for the huge volunteer effort this is.

A lot has been made about moving back to the earlier date. Besides the fact that this year that day was freezing a rain, the more realistic option is to move the start of the 1/2 marathon earlier. That race starts a little late (10:15AM) and would benefit from the cooler hours earlier in the day. I hope and believe the organizers will try and make this happen.

I'll be back.

The marathons in 2005 and 2006 were blistering hot. This year the finish temperature was 28 degrees Celsius and the humidity very high. The marathon was better when it was in early May, when cooler temperatures prevailed. In having it later, its appeal of a fun, warm weekend, with numerous events meant it was not a fast pace marathon. There were not enough blankets at the finish, nor was the food good. I would recommend a spring marathon with a higher chance of cooler temperatures.

I was very excited to enter the Nation's Capital Half Marathon. I had heard so much about it. Ottawa is one of my favorite cities in Canada, so I was looking forward to this race to achieve a PB!

The expo was excellent and there were genuine deals to be had from the various venders! This was especially so in the final moments before closing! However, this is the best part of my commentary!!

The planned timing of the half-marathon's commencement was irresponsible. Start time was 10:15 hours. The temperature at that moment was reported to be 29 degrees Celsius with a humidex of no less than 34 degrees! As most runners know, this is the worst part of the day to be finishing a run, let alone starting one. I think it would have been wiser to start the half at either the same time as the full marathon (0700hrs) or some staggered time thereafter, i.e. 7:15. While the organizers cannot control the weather, they can at least prepare for the worst possible scenario, and that to most of us, would be heat and humidity!

Notwithstanding the timing of the start, the least the organizers could/should have done was ensure that there was enough water at each station and food at the finish! This was tragically NOT the case! And so, this run to me, was more of a first-aid re-certifier in dealing with the two dehydration/heat exhaustion victims I personlly dealt with out of the 24 I actually witnessed along my journey. The worse part of this tragedy was that on two water tables, there was absolutely NO WATER AT ALL! I actually had to wait 4 minutes for these sweet senior citizens to shunt from a garden shed carrying two WATER CANS in each hand to fill a volatile crowd of angry, weak, and suffering runners holding the empty paper cups found on the station's table! UNTHINKABLE! I actually felt sympathy for the senior citizens caught up in the absurdity!

And, if that wasn't bad enough, as we finished, the "recovery tent" was anything but! The temperature inside was unbearable; the refreshments consisted of hot bottled water; a few remaining cottage cheese and fruit products; very stale bagel particles (which only absorbed any remaining moisture you had in your mouth!). They ran out of most of the other post-race treats ie yogurt, bananas, orange slices! And it was while waiting in line to learn of this disaster, while sweltering in the intense heat of the tent, I felt myself begin to faint... only catching myself at the last second in time to leave the tent and find my relatives outside the finisher's area!

Later I was to learn of the great number of runners who didn't finish the event! I wondered if as a half-marathoner, I would have been better served to have done the full marathon several hours earlier.

I wish to clarify for this forum and its readers that I have yet to run a full marathon. However, I do have quite a few half marathons under my belt. As such, I have never seen such poor organization in all other events combined, as I did in Ottawa this year!

Next year, I hope MAJOR improvements are made! Not to do so would be morally - if not legally - irresponsible to all the runners placing their trust in expectations of superior planning, fluid intake, and post-race recovery!

Ottawa is a great city, full of even greater citizens. This year they were shamed before the running world in so many ways. Too bad! Let's hope event irganizers take note and make changes in key areas for next year! I MAY come back just to see for myself! I doubt I could be more shocked and/or disappointed than I was this year!

Thank you for this wonderful website and opportunity to express my sentiments on this event.

I agree with all the positive comments about this year's marathon. Being a contrarian, though, I will offer up this criticism. The Ottawa Marathon Committee, in their zeal to be all things for all people, offer a mind-boggling number of running/skating events over two days. This was my 30th marathon, and I have never seen so many options if you wanted to run. This must be a logistical nightmare, and the result this year was the disqualification of 14 elite marathoners who missed a turn and were all disqualified. Many were some of the top marathoners in the world. Two teenagers manning a barricade, whose responsibilty was to make sure runners made a turn, walked away briefly to talk with friends. A resident trying to drive home stopped, moved the barricade, and drove up the street. This wasn't noticed until the lead pack of runners ran straight through the intersection (and off-course). Most runners never even realized this snafu occurred, but Ottawa's attempt to be a world-class marathon took a serious blow this year. Maybe they will recover, maybe not.

My advice to them: if you want to be a carnival, continue with a dozen events and expect problems. If you want to attract quality runners and be a serious marathon, limit yourself to a half and full marathon. You can then provide adult supervision where needed and avoid embarrassment. Thanks.

I just ran the Ottawa Marathon for the second time and I am convinced this is the best marathon in Canada. Even though I dehydrated at the 30K mark (due to the unbearably hot weather), which made me miss my PB (in fact I was lucky to finish) the vibe surrounding the race is great. I know that many American marathons are bigger and have more enthusiastic crowds, but Ottawa embraces this event and it puts bigger Canadian cities to shame (particularly Toronto). This is a great time and a great race - just keep an eye on the forecast and be ready for a hot day.

This marathon was HOT! The first half is really nice and shady, while the other half was very hot, and no spectators. I actually got to one of the later water stations and they were out of water! I was told to proceed the next station 3K away. Poor food at the end, a dry half bagel, and warm yogurt. Very poor organization, I won't mention the elite runners going the wrong way thing. This marathon really needs to work on its organization and support. Do another one somewhere else.

I spent a fair amount of time surfing this site to find a spring marathon, and am all too happy to give something back to help others make their decision. I think Ottawa is a MUST-DO race, with a little something for everyone.

The course is first rate. Ottawa is a very pretty city, and there was quite a bit of shade on the course. The first half of the course has rolling hills with some small elevation change. It's not a problem if you train properly. Parts of the course had the historical/ downtown section and other parts showed the countryside surrounding the city.

I would say the organization was very good. Ottawa offers more different events in a single weekend than I have ever seen, and when you add up the runners in the distance and sprint races with the inline skate events, it is a lot to manage, and I think they did a good job there.

Ottawa is a small city, and as such, they do quite a lot to get behind the event. Many fans do show up for the race, and while some say they were not animated, it was a warm day for them as well. Plenty of excitement along the last mile or so to the finish.

If you are looking for a race with potential for a PR, you could do worse. I highly recommend going.

The weather was way, way too hot being a Northern Girl. The number of people was overwhelming; it being my first 1/2 marathon. However, true grit - I finished it, though not with a time I was hoping for... which means you will see me again! Hopefully start time can be changed to 8:00 a.m. as the last 2 marathons in Ottawa 2005/2006 were way, way too hot to run in...

The 2006 run of the Ottawa Marathon has to go down as one of the warmest on record.

I believe that due to the weather many of the course's potential flaws were exposed. The first half of the race is run in Quebec on well-shaded streets whereas the second half of the race is next to the Canal which is fully exposed to the sun. Also, some of the smaller 'built-in' loops could be somehow eliminated (ie. parking lot at 32km or so and one at 36km). Sponges were awesome, what a great idea to help runners cool off, waterstops are plenty and well-supplied.

All throughout the course, I was extremely impressed with the organization and the way the race was managed. Volunteers on the course were first class, rivaling any marathon that I have ever run (incl. Boston, Chicago, Paris). The length of waterstops, the clear signs and screams (ie water/gatorade/gu etc) the runners received from the waterstops volunteers were a joy and made the run that much easier.

After the finish, I was helped by fantastic and extremely supportive medical people, I was greeted with cheers of 'Congratulations' and an abundance of smiles from everyone at
the finish line. The food at the Recovery area (when I arrived) was plenty, runner-friendly with good
variety. Volunteers appeared honored to do the job which in turn made me feel blessed to be surrounded by such an amazing crew.

After some recovery time, I headed back to the finish area to wait for friends/family who participated in the race as well. While waiting for them to arrive, I observed the medical staff at the finish area about 100m from the finish line. They did a fantastic job in supporting the runners and dealing with the heat. I felt that the race was extremely well-prepared for the weather and the organizers and volunteers managed to pull off a fantastic
race where most other races would have stumbled.

The city is amazing and the race weekend is well-supported by the local community. If you live in the northeast US or Eastern part of Canada, this marathon is not to be missed.