Sarah, the excellent Race Director, listens and cares. The 2007 course was very hilly. In 2008 most of the bad hills were gone (not all, though; this is New Hampshire!). In 2007, two of the last aid stations closed before the last runners passed them. In 2008, the last 2 slugs (including myself) were greeted for the entire race by full, enthusiastic water stations and escorts across the streets!

If I had to pick one word to describe this course, it would be "hilly." After reading some of the reviews from 2007, I wondered if the hills were overrated (I am used to running on hills). They are not - this is a tough course. However, it is scenic and interesting; the '08 course had a small stretch on a nice trail through the woods, and also went over the new pedestrian footbridge. These were highlights for me. The water stops were where they were promised to be, and pretty well done. Maybe a little lightly staffed in the second half of the race (after the half marathoners left us) but it wasn't a problem for me - I finished in the top quarter of the race. Not sure if it was an issue for those further back.

Post-race food wasn't that impressive. No veggie selections (chicken noodle soup and beefy-looking chili), plus a few bananas and water. Eh. I've seen better food at 5Ks. The medals and shirts were nice - the shirts were a high-tech material, zip-up style, long-sleeve. Aside from one snarky police officer working near the mile 21 mark, the traffic control and support was pretty good, but it needs a bit more coverage in the second half of the race. At times, runners were all over the road, unsure of which direction to go in and on what side of the road the next turn would be.

A note about wearing iPods: the race director made it clear that people wearing headphones would be DQ'd - but that did NOT happen, and if they were going to make such a stink about it, I would also suggest requiring that your traffic control people be banned from wearing headphones as well. I saw at least 2 workers wearing iPods (both of which were letting cars into areas that should not have had cars in them).

I qualified for Boston on this course (and PR'd) but I don't think that is quite the norm. The hills were certainly tiresome and there were a few bears around miles 23 and 25 that were nothing less than frustrating, after putting in a hard effort for the entire rest of the course.

This is a very hilly marathon. I run in New England and like hills, but this was tough. The first half is a good run, with plenty of people and spectators; however, I must have seen a dozen people on the second half. Aid stations were good, although the post-race was non-existent. If you are not a front-of-the-pack runner, then this race may not be for you. I came in around 4:40 and they were closing the course down around me. I ended up almost getting lost and dodging traffic on my own. It has plenty of potential, but they need to take care of everyone, not just the fastest.

Pros: Weather, t-shirt, aid stations.
Cons: Extremely hilly, weird timing chip and little to no support for back-of-the-packers.

This was my first MCM, so I can't compare it to the previous year. However, in general, even with the hills, I think it was a fair course. There were some terrain changes from pavement to trail in the early miles, and after mile 20 it was pretty much downhill.

The traffic control was awesome, with a good portion of the first part setting aside one lane for runners.

Only issue was the start. The timing mat was very small, so all of the runners were put in close quarters prior to the beginning of the race. They might want to fix that for future years. Furthermore, the standing around for 10 minutes at the start with the cold air and wind blowing down didn't help matters either.

Overall, I was pleased with the course and the atmosphere. This race has great potential.

No doubt about it this was a difficult course but some of us like the challenge.

To me the most important thing is a well manned course with plenty of volunteers to help direct traffic and make sure you're going the right way. It seemed to me that there were more volunteers and police on the course then runners. Each water station was well stocked and they were frequent along the route.

One thing I noticed is that the people of Manchester were great hosts of this event. People cheered from their homes along the route, kids from the high school cheered for runners at the aid stations, and I even got some words of encouragement from people driving in their cars.

The race director was very courteous and knows how to put together a well organized event.

This was a tough, tough marathon. Loads of hills. Since I am from the area, I knew what I was in for and was prepared. It was fun to run familiar neighborhoods and the crowd was great for the first 13 miles. However, after that, it was a ghost town. Now I am going to have to disagree with the other comments in that I didn't feel that this race was very well done. The intersections were traffic-free but, at times, I didn't know where the heck I was going and had to ask the traffic cop. There was also no water at the end and the soup people were long gone - and I finished in the top quarter of the race. The timing chips were very large circles, and not easy to run with because they hit at a bend in your foot no matter where you placed them. They must have come over on the Mayflower. The tech shirts were made of a nice material but there is barely any writing on them - and the same shirts were given to both the half and whole marathon runners. Same goes for the medals. I somehow managed, despite all the hills, to place in my age group. Not to sound ungrateful, but all I earned was another medal that is exactly the same as the finisher's medal, except maybe a quarter of an inch larger. The whole race seemed to be done as cheaply as possible. I guess I expected a bit more for the inaugural run. I guess the best thing about this race is the bragging rights. It is a challenging marathon.

My course rating averages a 3; 4 for the first half, 2 for the second. This third quarter takes you down *very* busy suburban streets with the bare minimum of traffic control. It's no fun running on a shoulder with traffic constantly zooming by. The race chip was a comparatively gigantic pie plate, the fwap-fwap-fwaping of which drove me crazy for the last 10 miles. Lots of little things (the bare minimum of food at the end and a headphone ban that was only noted on the last page of a packet in a bag otherwise filled with race junk mail that most people probably didn't read) kept this from being a great race. Lots of nice spectators throughout the course, though.

This was a very tough marathon with a lot of hills. I appreciate the challenge, but did not appreciate that the website and organizers were not more informative of the level of difficulty. It does have a lot of potential and in the future it definitely will be a race from which to earn bragging rights.

Having run a few marathons, I was looking forward to one in my home town. Although many things were good - the volunteers, aid stations, start/finish area, etc. - the traffic control was very poor and the route was not well marked. Approaching intersections early on, you could see the police stopping traffic, but as we approached, they got in their cars and left before we crossed. Two-lane roads to run on with traffic going both ways. I hope they will work on the routes for a safer marathon. Also, if they want this to be a "runner's marathon," they need to post a time limit before you register.

I thought the course was fun and the hills were not as bad as those are making out. Heck, I ran Miami in January and people complained about the hills - AKA bridges - in that course too. I did not train for the race, as I only signed up a couple of days beforehand, and I still qualified for Boston. There were lots of people throughout the race cheering us on and I never had any problems with traffic; personally I thought they had the most help of any race I've been to. The only thing I did not agree with was the rule on those wearing iPods would be disqualified. If they're going to set a rule like that, they've got to follow through with it. I know people who were upset they couldn't wear theirs and others who did wear them, placed and didn't get disqualified. Stand your ground, race directors!