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May 19, 2024

Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon) Runner Comments

Back to Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon) Information & Reviews

Course 4.5

Organization 4.8

Spectators 4.3

Number of comments: 123 [displaying comments 111 to 121]

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S. B. from Cordele Georgia (3/30/2007) "A great hometown run thru cheering neigborhoods!" (about: 2007) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I really enjoyed my first marathon in Albany, Georgia. The crowds were great. They really displayed Southern hospitality at this one!!!
J. V. from Dallas, Texas (3/19/2007) "Great small marathon with a flat course!" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Wow! What a great race! Small-town race with great support! They got almost everything perfect! I tend to write a lot so I will give you the one bad early: where were the porta-potties? I used a store bathroom and construction site porta-potty. My wife used a bathroom in one of the houses along the way. Great people out there in Albany! Okay, they built two wonderful courses with the same start and finish locations and different courses... well, sort of the same course, but different. They split the full off right at the start. The half ran alone, the full ran alone. It was wonderful! The host hotel was half a block from the start, half a block from the finish, and contained packet pickup. It doesn't get any better than that! The hot breakfast was even done in the hotel before the race! They even had a pro bike race running at the same time - dang, a lot of good looking legs out there! They also had a street fair going on! All co-located! They had a Mardi Gras theme at the fair; the dogs were all dressed up, as was the goat. The town is full of painted turtles... and I mean six-foot tall turtles. Really pretty neat, no matter how strange that it sounds. You start long a great creek park, but it is a tad dark to really appreciate it. The temperature was okay for runners... a tad warm actually, but great for spectators. Ah, spectators! The race is new, so the RD gathered hundreds of volunteers - they were literally at every intersection and all over the course. It was great. There were homemade signs on the course and two wonderful themed rest stops. I mean, it was a great event... and if you asked you could get a Bloody Mary and beer on the course. Oh, and the course! You start off with ten miles of ugly streets... and one great themed rest stop. Just when you are about to get bored with the ugly course, you enter the neighborhoods for the rest of the race. People everywhere! The trees were covered with hanging spanish moss... other streets were canopied with big oak trees. It was wonderfully beautiful. They even made a wall at 20 miles. You ran by a nice golf course with a stately clubhouse, and past some nice community ponds - a well thought-out course. With the four-mile loop that the full does at the start through a college, and then another mile loop at another college a bit later, slow people like me never saw even one half marathoner. Tons of rest stops. Well done. Did I say that it was flat? I mean zero hills. Add 10 or 15 porta-potties, enamel the medals, give us a finisher's shirt, and add good finisher's food over the years as the race grows, and this will be one of the best marathons in the country. Right now it is a great small race. The RD and community should be proud with the wondeful results of their effort. I know that I was impressed and am telling all my friends to come down. A lovely community, a nice little race, and a fun time. Just hang in there... the course gets bleak in the single-digit miles... but it is worth the wait! Once you get tired and bored, the fun starts!
jeff venable from Dallas, TX (3/11/2007) "Best new small race!" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The host hotel was in the middle of the start and finish line... a half block to each! Sweet! Their hot full breakfast was even done before the race started. How nice, the full and half were separated right from the start due to a four-mile loop, then having them turn into the houses a couple of miles early. Very well thought out and flawlessly executed! Okay... where were the porta-potties??? Post-race food??? Nothing is perfect, but in a small town and first-time event, the race managed to find hundreds of volunteers to be spectators and to cheer for you. Now that is sweet! So well done. The first ten miles - maybe the first 5 for the half, I never looked - were about as boring as possible. But who cares? Those early miles your mind is active, there are people around, and you generally are feeling invincible! They did have a great rest stop... an oasis on that stretch. Very well done. Wow! Let's talk about mile markers and clocks! None but the biggest and best races have the mile marks so well done. I never missed one mile marker... and they were probably accurate too! Very well done. Good course. Tons of volunteer/spectators. A small town Mardi Gras party afterward... dogs dressed up... one vendor was smoking and grilling in a VW Bug converted into a smoker grill! Now that was special. I expected to get more Snicker Marathon Bars. You almost had to beg to more than a small handful. The medal was fine, a nice ribbon with the date on it. The shirt was fine. It was an inexpensive race and had no frills, but it was well done and all located in the same place, basically. The neighborhood was lovely... flat course, and the weather was nice (not that a race director can control that!) Don't forget, you can double and do Alpharetta on Sunday!
L. V. from Dallas, Texas (3/11/2007) "Wonderful day!" (about: 2007) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was a wonderful inaugural event put on by Albany and the Snickers group! Everything was very well organized, from packet pick up to the finish line. My husband and I both ran (he the full and I the half). We stayed at the host hotel, which was very convenient. The organizers that we spoke to at the mini-expo were very friendly and helpful. They were amazed that we would come so far (from Dallas) to run their race! The course itself was very nice, as it wound around through the neighborhoods. There were many things beginning to bloom, and it was great seeing all the Spanish moss in the trees. And the weather was just perfect! A bit coolish, which is perfect for runners, of course. An absolutely wonderful day! The volunteers were everywhere, and they were so excited about the race. Each aid station had water and Cytomax, which they did not run out of. The only problem I saw all day was the lack of porto-potties. I never saw one, until about 50 yards from the finish line. But, hey, I guess there has to be some area for them to improve next year! Great job! I enjoyed it completely!
S. T. from Dallas, TX (3/6/2007) "Biggest Small Marathon" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 The reason I say this race is the biggest small marathon is because of the amazing support throughout the entire race. You couldn't ask for more enthusiastic volunteers in such a relatively small marathon. Almost every intersection throughout the entire course had a cheering volunteer to make the experience that much better. Not to mention it seemed like the entire city was interested in what was going on and helped cheer everyone along. Loved the course. Relatively flat course with some small rolling hills that kept your legs from getting bored. Could be a great PR course. I would recommend this course to anyone, and will probably make the trek back from Texas again with other friends. Only mark I give against this race is the lack of restrooms on the course. I heard there were more than I saw on the course, but they were apparently set back from the road where it was tough to find them. If that is the only thing I can find wrong, then the RD definitely did this marathon proud. GREAT JOB!
P. M. from Birmingham, AL (3/6/2007) "Bravo Albany!" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The people of Albany did a fantastic job of organizing and executing this event. I especially enjoyed how the full race was run separately from the half for the first 4 miles so that each event unfolds naturally. This also kept the first water stations from being overwhelmed with a big crowd. The volunteers were plentiful and friendly. Great police support kept everyone safe. The race ran through some beautiful neighborhoods and was flat, flat, flat! I hope to be back next year to soak up some more of the great hospitality. Great job, Albany!
j. C. from newport ky. 41071 (3/5/2007) "GREAT JOB FOR A FIRST MARATHON" (about: 2007) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 Thanks to all the volunteers and workers. A great job. Plenty of free parking. Volunteers at all intersections and mile markers. Need some arrows to mark the course. Police were all over directing traffic, etc. Overall I give it a 9.
D. S. from FLORIDA (3/5/2007) "Sports drink in tiny cups" (about: 2007) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 While the aid stations were well stocked with water and energy bars, the organizers of this race seemed to be rationing the sports drink. The sports drink sponsor of this race was Cytomax. The Cytomax was given out in very tiny cups with the Cytomax logo. The cups are the tiny types that you might find at an expo to sample sports drink. Water was given out in regular size cups. I would not do this race again if they don't get more energy drink on the course with bigger cups. If Cytomax cannot supply adequate size cups and supply of drink, I think this race should look for another drink sponsor or go buy some Gatorade or PowerAde. The entry fee for this race was reasonable - like $55, and I think it was even less if you registered early (and late registration was only $65). I'd be willing to pay a few dollars more to have a better supply of sports drink on the course. Now lets talk about some of the good things about this race: The marathon and 1/2 marathon started in different coral and split off after 1/10 mile. There were lots of volunteers from all parts of the community. The night before the race I stopped in Wal-Mart to get some sports drink and the cashier told me she would be volunteering at one of the aid stations. I am a member of the Snickers Marathon Team and there were plenty of volunteers from Snickers involved. The Snickers Energy Bars are manufactured in the town. Just about every aid station had Snickers Bars broken up into little pieces for you. I was even suprised to find energy gel at a few stations as nothing on the website or pre-race instructions said there would be energy bars on the course. The course is not as flat as advertised. There are some hills but they are nothing major. Easy parking and access to the starting line. Snickers came to the rescue again at the finish line with energy bars and kudos. The only other food I saw was some bannas and oranges. The course twists and turns through a lot of interesting residential neighborhoods but there were also a lot of long forgettable sections on major roads. I'll give this event a rating of a 4. The town of Albany and the Snickers get 5's. Cytomax gets 1 star for its half-hearted sponsorship of this event.
R. M. from Montgomery, Alabama (3/5/2007) "Absolutely fantastic!!!" (about: 2007) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Albany should be so proud of the incredible job they did! All of the volunteers (there were so many of them) and the traffic control folks were so friendly. As a runner I felt very wanted and appreciated in Albany this past weekend. The aid stations were very well stocked (I loved the Snickers energy bars!) and the start and finish line areas were festive. I used this as a trainng run for a marathon in three weeks and dropped out at mile 20. It was very hard to do because I was having so much fun. Before the marathon I was worried about how I would get back to my car from mile 20 and came prepared with a cab company number and money, but they took good care of me and their van drove me back. Of course the van was manned by more impossibly friendly volunteers. Another friendly volunteer even insisted on giving me back my sweatshirt in the finish area that I left at the halfway point! I cannot say enough about how wonderful and accommodating they were. Not a truly scenic course, not being in a larger city, but it was a very pleasant run through quiet and pretty residential neighborhoods. For a smaller marathon the spectators were fabulous. Hopefully next year I'll be back and complete it for the medal! Thanks Albany! I loved it!
W. N. from Dacula, Georgia (3/4/2007) "Great organization and fast course" (about: 2007) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Mara COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Great small-town marathon. Good weather. Flat course, with well-stocked aid stations. Friendly volunteers were at every turn, directing runners and traffic. I plan to be back next year.

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