This was my second marathon. I had a great time and really enjoyed the City of Ottawa. I would highly recommend this race! It is worth a trip.

Pros:
1. Great crowd support. Having my name on my jersey was a plus.
2. People cheering in French and English! A great international experience.
3. The beautiful parliament buildings. Think French Gothic architecture meets Big Ben. (You would swear you're in Europe!)
4. The crossover into Quebec and back had amazing views.
5. The park loop provided a lot of shade.
6. The tech shirts are awesome.
7. Best marathon medal I have seen.
8. Lots of fluid stops.
9. The City of Ottawa was an excellent host.

Cons:
1. I think the chip 20K marker was actually at about 21K. There were two 20K signs. I got really confused about my pace. I am still confused and I think something was mis-marked
2. The Carleton University section of the course became boring. I would have enjoyed staying in Quebec for longer and shortening that loop.
3. Could have used better post-race food.
4. Needed more porta-johns.

Overall, really nice job, Ottawa!

I ran the half, and I've got to say that the organizational aspect of this event was great. Everything was well thought out and executed to a tee. A big "thank you" to all of the hundreds of volunteers and sponsors; without you, there really would be no event. This is a win-win for the community, as well as the participants. I will be back. Cheers...

Only suggestion for next year is more porta-potties for the athletes in the athletes' village. There were huge line-ups before/after the race. And I vote to keep the athletes' village closed to racers' friends/family. Theres enough scarcity of space and services already without having to cope with thousands of more people visiting the runners. If an athlete needs a hug after the race, hug one of your fellow participants. I'm sure they could use some lovin' too. LOL.

This is the third year I've made the trip out for the marathon weekend and the first year I did the full. I had a great experience this year. This is one of the best organized and supported races in the country!

There are plenty of small races, so if you're not interested in crowds, this race isn't for you.
The merge with the half in the last 4K is a great compromise after the last few years (ran the half in the previous two, which changed due to the incredibly hot, rather dangerous conditions in 2006 - when I think every medic I saw on the course was overloaded).

It is annoying for a full marathoner to get stuck in the crowds with the half runners at the end for chip removal and food (which we skipped this year due to the line-up), but I still thought the race was great!

The early start is perfect for the end of May when the weather can be hot. There were lots of spectators in the 10-20K range when we went through Sandy Hill. Just the thing to pump a person up. It got quiet around the 25-30K mark where it's away from the residential areas, but thankfully the aid stations were well-stocked and organized! I happen to remember a Mardi Gras theme from the hospital social workers around kilometer 24. I realized how fantastic the volunteers were. They woke up really early and didn't get medals for their efforts!

By the time we crossed the canal, I was really suffering, but there were sponges, which felt great to squeeze all over myself. The crowds really picked up again for the last 5K, although I was too exhausted to appreciate the sheer volume of people cheering!

If you do your hill training, you won't even think that this race even has any - except for the bridge at kilometer 32. The rolling hills in Gatineau are early enough that the legs are very fresh!

Thanks for the crowd support and all of those volunteers!!!

The organization was fairly good and the course was fairly flat. Nice city to visit. However, I've seen enough of the Rideau Canal to last me a lifetime. In other words, a boring course that simply runs along the canal for almost the entire second half. I expected more from a capital city marathon. I would have preferred that more of the race was actually run in the city, and not along the canal.

Very little crowd support with the exception of the last couple of miles or so.

Expo was okay, but if you're coming from the US forget about getting good deals on anything. The prices were through the roof on just about everything. The running clothes and shoes were about double what you can get them for in the US.

Finish area was a zoo, food lines were extremely long, but there was a Starbucks right across the street, so I went there for refreshments.

What a great day! The weather at start time was perfect, with a beautiful course. It got a bit warm at the end, but the sponges at the water station were a lifesaver. The only negative was the very silly closed-off runners' village, which made it very difficult to find friends and family at the end.

I last ran this race is 2001. I had heard so much good about the course and loved it - I would have given it a 5 if not for the MERGE. I was on the course for a BQ (missed by 35 seconds), but with the added people from the 1/2, I could not get around enough people (at one point had a group from the 1/2 running almost across the entire road who only moved after being berated by a number of us stuck behind them). I much preferred the 2001 edition.

It's run like a military operation, except the focus is on fun.

What an amazing day and course - over 32,000 runners were there this weekend, with 3000+ in the marathon. Volunteers were amazing, the expo was great, and they have a beautiful, fast course! They had live tracking and text notification. I will be back in a few years - this is a PB course.

Good:
- wonderful course, fairly flat with minor hills to break the monotony, nice scenery
- great volunteers
- many well-staffed water/Gatorade stations
- sponges, gels, Vaseline stations
- great crowd support, especially in certain neighborhoods
- 7:00 start worked out well because it got hot as the day progressed
- Great expo
- Great technical shirts, different for all events, and gender specific so women actually get women's shirts

Needs improvement:
- crowded start could be improved by waiting a minute or two between the corrals
- there could be more port-a-potties

Bad:
- Finish line was a nightmare. Merged with the half marathon means the 4:00 marathoner compete for space with the 2:00 half-marathoner and so forth
- anti-climactic finish: too many people, no one announces your name, no one gives you a medal, no one gives you a blanket
- tired marathoner have to open the water bottle packages themselves to get water. If you miss it then, there is no more
- big bottleneck after the finish to remove chips, even though there are enough volunteers (the ones at the end are not busy)
- to get your medal, you have to find a volunteer with the right medal (once again, because of merger with half and full) and they don't put it around your neck - they just hand it to you without so much as a congratulations
- then another huge bottleneck to get to the food tables - and by the way, there was no more water
- post-race food was inadequate; my table ran out of bananas and bagels (the only thing they had were oranges, yogurt and some granola bars).
- I never saw the mylar blankets - they were apparently right at the finish but you can't go back. No one was handing them out and they were folded in little plastic bags, so as a result, most people did not get one.

After a great race, it was the most annoying, frustrating and anti-climactic finish ever. I would think twice about running again in the current format because of the finish.

Challenging race - lots of hills in the first half. Lots of Vaseline stations. Some of the bands left early. The fan support was non-existent in the Hull side and very patchy on the Ottawa side. Overall, a great experience. Maybe more porta-potties from 20 - 30 KM, and water stations every 2 KM.