I was raised in Hamilton and have lived away for the past 22 years. It was very exciting to run in my home town. The scenery coming down the Red Hill Expressway was beautiful! I appreciate the patience of all those who were inconvenienced by traffic tie-ups... I hope that you will be able to run the event again.

This was my first marathon, so I was very nervous. There was a lot of support prior to the start, which helped a lot. It was highway, so not much to see, although I just see the runners feet ahead of me anyway. There was a huge, long hill at the end, which was a challenge, but having never run a marathon before, I had nothing to compare it to. There needed to be more advertising because many people in Hamilton had no idea that it was happening. I hope that this gets as popular as The Around The Bay 30K road race for Hamilton, which is awesome. Only complaint: Food at end - not very much of it; I really needed a bagel!!

I can't wait until next year because I heard that there would be no hill at the end!! Thanks for a well organized race.

Pros:
* Very friendly volunteers.
* Very loud water stations with lots of cheering students.
* Good organization for an inaugural marathon - all the water stations were well prepared.

Cons:
* No t-shirts for late registrants.
* Medal was the same for both full/half marathoners.
* The race was held in some remote area of Hamilton
* The course has MAJOR HILLS (which could be a pro if you're into that).
* MY MAJOR COMPLAINT: running on a highway has to be the most boring experience EVER! And we did that for more than half the race! I know that the construction of this highway is quite an accomplishment but couldn't we just run a small stretch on it?
* Lack of crowd size - the support was great but only at water stations. There's really no one else because you're running on a highway (see previous)! Better bring your iPod for this run....

Between this race and Around the Bay, the latter wins hands down. Also, for races this late in the fall, you're better off doing Niagara than this one. However, I give a thumbs up to the organizers for putting together a decent inaugural marathon.

In my view, the first Hamilton marathon was a success. The event was very well organized with a few areas for improvement.

The website:
The course map was not to scale and did not show the km marks, which obscured the real picture of the course.
The elevation profile was not shown and therefore the final steep uphill section (at least 5 km) of the run was a big and ugly surprise.

Race kit pick-up:
The welcome race kit bag was essentially empty, except for the bib number and four safety pins. I would expect much more in the bag for the entry price of $70.
The insufficient supply of T-shirts could be solved in a simple way: leave your address and we will mail it to you later for free.

Start:
There should be water available everywhere for runners.

Race course:
The expressway course offered a safe environment for runners and was a major inconvenience for spectators. Because of the very limited access to the course, essentially only support volunteers were present along the run. They were fantastic.

Finish:
Water should be available not only at the finish line, but also in the food tent.
The content of the post-race food bag was much below my expectations.

I only ran the half-marathon, but for the most part it was a good race. There were only a few bad things that go along with the race. First off, there was nowhere to just sit before the race. Everyone was squished in the banquet hall with no chairs (minor issue). Also for the start we had to walk about a mile to the starting line. Once again, not a big issue - it actually helped me warm up, but still many people did not like the start. Also the course was pretty boring, all highway running, and the last 2 miles were strictly uphill! That was awful!

Now for the good part: race directors were phenomenal, the support by all the kids on the course was heart-warming, the weather was perfect, and the expo was decent. Also there were a ton of water stations - some had gels - and finally, the medals were awesome! Definitely my favorite one so far. All in all, this race was a good race, for its first year running. Just some minor kinks to get out for next year's race to be that much better. Well done.

For a first year marathon, I would have to give it a passing grade. The course support was excellent, lots of water stations, which were well manned and it was traffic free course. Probably the biggest requirements to be successful.

I had two minor issues and one major issue. I must stress that I think these can easily be overcome in their second year. First of, NO WATER at the start line. Lots of porta-potties, but there was no water prior to the race.... (The 1/2 started an hour later and I understand that some was put out.) I was not impressed.

Minor issues included no race shirt if you were not one of the first 1500 registered (they should have posted the limited number of shirts since 2500 people signed up). Most marathons at least give their participants a shirt for $70 if you pre-registered). There was no race kit of any sorts. (They offered to sell me a shirt after the fact if any were left over.) Again, fairly minor. Second minor item was post-race food. Bag of chips and bubble gum not what I want. (The fruit was good though.) I call this minor because they gave me some water and some fruit.

The course was very tough and challenging. I don't always like a flat course so the hills made it interesting. I saw a posting from one of the race committee members and the hill near the end is already going to be removed for next year.

Consider this for a November marathon in Ontario. Weather was good today, but sometimes the weather in this part of the country can be brutal!