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☰
Eugene Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Eugene Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.6 
Organization 4.5 
Spectators 4.3
Number of comments: 159 [displaying comments 51 to 61]
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L. A. from San Antonio, TX
(5/5/2010)
 "Great Small-Town Marathon" (about: 2010)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Eugene Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my second marathon, and my first time to travel for one. Pros: Incredible finish on Hayward Field - please keep this for future marathons. Great organization, from shuttles to finish. The weather was PERFECT! Cons: Only downside was that I almost got hit by a guy on a bike on the trail. It is hard to control your movement from side to side after 20+ miles, and I couldn't get out of his way fast enough. Some volunteers on the course saw what happened and commented on how rude the cyclist was. Problem could be solved by changing the course, but it is so beautiful along the river that it would make more sense to just close it to bike traffic. | |
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L. B. from USA
(5/5/2010)
 "Awesome race!" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Eugene Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Course: PR for myself and many others that I spoke to. You won't find many faster courses at this time of year in the western part of the country. Not entirely flat for the first half, but the hills were minor, and had a minimal effect on the overall time. A few minor, critical comments about the course: 1. Half/full split at mile 10 was unclear to some. They could have used a prominent sign rather than a single volunteer directing traffic. 2. Concrete on the bike path was a bit tough on the legs, but at least it was all flat. 3. Things got crowded in mile 25 when the half an full converged. It was especially dicey when we had to squeeze through the road barriers that prevented vehicles from entering the park. Spectators: Most knowledgeable fans in the country. Some spots got a bit sparse (especially when we headed over to Springfield), but overall the crowd support was superb. Logistics: At least five hotels are within walking distance of the start and finish. Unlike previous big- city races that I have done, which require 4 a.m. wakeup calls and complicated transportation plans to get to the start or to return from the finish, we were able to walk out of our hotel around 6:15 and comfortably get to the start. After the race, despite the marathon induced soreness, it was an easy walk back to the hotel. The race offered plentiful port-a-pots throughout the entire start and finish areas. The organizers know not to skimp in this area. They also got the race started basically on time. Expo had good vendors, but it has probably outgrown that section of the hotel. Summary: I was making plans to go back here in 2011 within 10 minutes of finishing the race. The race combines big-time organization skills with small-town charm. There are few races that can offer both. | |
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D. G. from Richmond, VA
(5/5/2010)
"Good Race" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Eugene Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I enjoyed this race. Good atmosphere and good course. I did not come away with any "wows!" from the race, but no negatives either. Although the finish at Heyward Field was pretty cool. Pros: Eugene is a good place to run. Course was fair and relatively flat. The hills were not any issue, Second half of the course was so much better than the first half (as you hit trails - albeit mostly concrete - at about mile 16 until just before the finish). Water stops were well staffed, although several in our group had a couple where the water tasted like sewer water and a couple where the Gatorade mix was off. Logistics were easy in the smaller town (we stayed within walking distance of the start). Weather was great race day (but we were in Oregon for a week and this was the only day it did not rain). Cons: The half (twice the size of the full) and the full run together for the first 10 miles or so. This made the course very crowded. At about mile 7 or 8, we transitioned to a trail and it was very tight. Expo was in too small of a space and thus crowded. It barely felt like more than somewhere to get your number and shirt. | |
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J. G. from Philomath, Oregon
(5/4/2010)
 "good course, nice town" (about: 2010)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Eugene Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I enjoyed the course. It is a pleasant one and basically flat. My only complaint is about the people riding their bikes on the bike path part of the course. It would be nice if they could be kept off of the course while the race is going on. | |
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R. O. from Salt Lake City, UT
(5/4/2010)
"Great Marathon" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Eugene Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Overall a great marathon. Positives: 1) Great course. 2) Finishing in Hayward Field (great motivation). 3) Excellent aid stations. 4) Great volunteers and spectators. 5) Excellent finishing medal. Things to Make This Race Even Better: 1) Start line "pace signs." These helped to group everyone based on their expectved finish time, but they were too close to the starting line. This caused everyone to be crammed together. Space these out farther from the start line to give everyone more room. 2) Signage when the marathon and half marathon split. 3) Eliminate cones in the middle of completely closed streets. I just about tripped over a cone (mile 7-8ish) that was in the middle of the street/runners. 4) The split mats for the 13.1 was at 13.0. There were some other mistakes on the split mats. 5) You may need a new venue for the expo. The Hilton was too crowded. | |
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P. S. from Murfreesboro, TN
(5/4/2010)
 "Track town, marathon... need I say more?" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I broke my marathon PR here, set 19 years ago as a college senior at the Columbus (OH) Marathon. The only two downsides of the course are the amount of concrete along the river and the twists/turns through the park. The hills are relatively early. The competition is superb. I loved finishing on Hayward Field. The crowd and volunteer support was strong for a race of this size city. The weather was perfect. | |
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C. T. from Fair Oaks, CA
(5/4/2010)
"Incredible Running Town!" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Eugene Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my first trip to Eugene. It didn't take long to realize Eugene truly is a running mecca. The event is nicely done. Great hi-tech shirts, ample post-race food, including pancakes, and it was a thrill to finish on the track at Hayward Field. According to the local paper, registration was up 35%, including a huge contingent in the half-marathon, which made for an uncomfortably crowded start. Given the number of participants, it seems the race will need to provide for separate start times for the two events. That was the only true drawback. Overall a highly recommended race. | |
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D. P. from Oregon
(5/3/2010)
"Great race to run with an amazing finish" (about: 2010)
2 previous marathons
| 2 Eugene Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Race was great. Course is mostly flat, with the exception of a few early rolling hills. I've run this race the last two years, and both have been great. The organizers do a great job of listening to the runners on how to make improvements. Every minor issue I had with last year's race was addressed for this year. I loved finishing on Hayward Field. It was almost enough to make me forget that I missed a BQ by only 40 seconds. This is a must-do race for any marathoner. | |
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J. F. from Bend, Oregon
(5/3/2010)
"Water & Bananas & Massages" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Eugene Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Overall, I loved it. But there's always something. (1) No water available at the start - unpleasant surprise; (2) bananas at mile 9 - something about all of those fresh, wet, banana peels on the course that looked like a sight gag waiting to happen; and (3) POST-RACE MASSAGE was absolutely FABULOUS. Thank you, thank you, thank you. | |
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G. H. from Salem, Oregon
(5/3/2010)
"One of the best mid-sized marathons!" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Eugene Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Wow, where to start? Organization was great. Spectators were very enthusiastic. Though they obviously numbered nowhere near what you see at Boston or New York, the turn out was better than I expected, very similar to Portland. Weather was fantastic! I know the weather has little to do with the organization of the race, but reviewers tend to blame the race for bad weather, so why not give kudos for a perfect day? Rather than go on and on about the good points, here's a list of any nitpicky issues I could come up with: 1. Kind of crowded for first few miles. I know the trend has been for more marathons to include halves, but why not start them at a slightly different time or maybe in a different place? Also, the half/full split did cause some confusion. I was near a couple of folks running the half who had to turn back a couple of miles after the split. Though I felt the volunteers were pretty loudly calling the directions, maybe some signs would have helped? 2. Parts of the course were somewhat less than beautiful. Any way to cut out the trip through abandoned Springfield? 3. A few more porta-potties at the start would have been nice. 4. As it turns out you must bring your goody bag to the clothing check; boy, I wish I would have know that before (if I missed this piece of info it must have been printed pretty small). OK, this one is a real nitpick, but I had to park quite a ways away and thus had to run to my car and back, and just barely made the start. OK, so that's all the possible negatives I could come up with. If anything isn't listed above, I would have included it in the "what was great" list, but that list would have been much too long for this review! I very strongly recommend this marathon! |
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