I had a great experience in Manchester, NH from the expo to the finish. I found the course challenging and scenic, offering a number of steep hills and surprising turns as the race traversed through downtown, a wooded path into a park, through neighborhoods and over bridges of water. Great fall foliage. The spectators were among the friendliest and most encouraging crowds in my travels. People cheered the whole 26.2 miles. The race was very well organized and the mile markers were clearly visible throughout the race. The weather was a perfect, clear, sunny, 50 degrees. I came home with a bag full of freebies from the expo, a great long-sleeve tech shirt, a cute medal and a big smile!

The Manchester City Marathon was a well run, pleasant, small race. I particularly enjoyed having the host hotel across the street from the start/finish. There were many and varied hills throughout the course, and few sections that were anything close to flat. This course was about 12 minutes slower than my PR on a faster course with a comparable effort.

After reading previous comments, I was wondering how tough this would be. While there are few flat sections, the inclines/descents are mostly gradual - except for a few steep downhills in the later miles.

Pros-
Well marked course
Great, supported water stations
Fair NE terrain
Very good traffic control
Mostly away from main roads
Very nice "off road" sections (short trail, pedestrian bridge, bike path)
Warm food at the finish

Cons-
Confusing award structure
Undersized medals
Un-interesting shirts
Silly posted rules that claim you'll be disqualified for pinning bibs on your leg, or not running on the right.

I understand this is a young event, but a marathoner has the daily experience to handle traffic. Also, it's November. If I wear a zippered jacket, the "rules" disallow pinning your number anywhere except mid-abdominal. Reading these while deciding on a race is a turnoff, and can work against this event from growing.

I live in NH and train on hills, and of my 20 previous marathons, I found the hills on this course to be the most difficult. There are no giant hills - it is just relentless up and down. The organization and volunteers were great. I found the traffic control to be good and the course was well marked. Beautiful weather and decent scenery for a city marathon.

This is not a PR course. They do a pretty decent job overall. A nice one-time experience, but all of the turns, twists, and urban running in raw, cold November make it something I wouldn't do again.

This was my fifth marathon, fourth in New England (including Boston) and this was the hilliest. That said, being from New England and training with hills, the hills were manageable (even the long one on Mile 19). Traffic control was excellent with a couple of exceptions. Organization was also very good except for the turn at Mile 18. There was enough food at the finish and the hot soup was a perfect remedy. The shirt looks good but the zipper did not survive its first wash! The variety of the course was extraordinary (although it came at the price of many turns) and kept the race very fresh. The race started in the low 30s into a brisk wind but the turns and sun neutralized both fairly well - after all, it is November in NH! Water stops and GU were plentiful. Be prepared for the point where the half-marathon peels off at 13, as the participants reduce by about 2/3rds and the spectators by even more. I would definitely recommend this one for someone looking for a course with variety at the expense of a fast time.

I did the half-marathon both last year and this year. The course was greatly improved - there were fewer cars to contend with and two of the biggest hills were taken out. I will be back next year to do it again. My one complaint is that I was given the wrong timing chip, so I didn't have an official time for this race. It was frustrating, but my Garmin told me all I needed to know!

Good organization, with enough water stations, and gels at many places after the half-marathon. There are a few hills, but they're doable. I'll participate again next year. Try it; you will love it.

The confusion of last year's course was, for the most part, eliminated. I was very glad for this since I DNF'ed last year when I missed a turn and took too long finding my way back to the finish. Actually, I almost did it again when there was no one at a major turn at mile 18, but luckily another marathoner shouted at me and I got back on track. Still, it was a much better course and had better directions and volunteers. The soup at the finish line was much appreciated.

First of all, I think the organization worked very hard to improve many aspects of the event that were criticized in the inaugural year (2007). The results were impressive. I found the race nearly perfect, with a challenging course never seen before, in my case. One cannot get bored here for sure, which is the reason I love running so much. Weather was cool, traffic control excellent and the fans supportive the whole way. Timing chip was intriguing at first, but definitely not a factor after that. Also, the presence of Greg Meyer at the expo and his comments over the finish line made the day even more interesting. As a member of a group of five runners from Quebec, I can say that we are looking forward to come back here again in the future. Thank you all, and congratulations to the Manchester City Marathon!