I enjoyed this marathon from bib pick up to the finish. The scenery was awesome. The course was flat with a small hill in the middle (and an elevated ocean view). Water stations were well stocked with water and sports drink. I always read the event's website closely before entering a marathon. The race director delivered on all points. I will recommend this marathon to my running friends.

As my 5th Marathon, I found this race to be the most disorganized. I realize that it was only year two, but there were no perks for the racers, no chip timing, and dangerous stretches of highway and road that were not marked well enough for drivers or monitored by police or race volunteers. I did not see one medical stop, or a first aid tent. I was almost hit by vehicles three times along the portion of the course where there is an overlook. The scenery was fabulous of course, but the distraction of poor drivers left you on the defensive. No crowd support except for the kids at the aid stations. Hardly any locals knew that there was a race that weekend! I saw several family members looking for racers who had not finished; they had no assistance, and there was little concern for them.

I have run Hawaii marathons a couple of times and this one is by far the most enjoyable. Although it would have been nice to have an additional water stop between mile 20 and 23, runners have to understand the conditions. You need to do homework when you do marathons in Hawaii; it will get hot no matter what time of year.

I did not expect any spectators, but the ones who did show up were enthusiastic and the aid stations provided friendly faces. I thought they did a great job.

Pros: Course is beautiful - I saw a number of whales.
Other than a couple of minor hills, the course is fairly flat.
Packet pickup was simple and efficient.
Nice tech shirt.
Very nice medal.

Cons: No real negative comments. I knew it would get hot and paced myself accordingly and felt great at the finish.

My suggestion for anyone running this race is to get to the island a couple of days before the race to get used to the heat and reduce the effects of jetlag. Run the race at the beginning of your vacation so you can enjoy the sun and the beaches afterwards.

I plan to come back next year. It is a vacation with a nice, small marathon as a bonus.

There was not nearly enough water or sports drink. Also, they dumped the 5K runners right into the middle of the half marathon, making the already-small shoulder of the road very crowded. The lack of chip timing is unacceptable - they have chip timing at small-town 5Ks - and there were absolutely no goody bags whatsoever, and not even a gel. I think this race could be a great race - obviously the location is gorgeous - but it needs a lot of work to make it!

Loved, loved the course, but the heat by mid-race caught up to a lot of people I think. It was 70 degrees (F) when I got out of the car at 4:15 a.m. to catch a shuttle bus to the start and 81 F when I got back into the car at the end, so it was probably 85 or more on the pavement in the last hour or so. Just too hot. Loved the refreshments and upbeat encouragement along the way, but would agree with a previous review that they were light on eats at the finish line. Great shirt; great medal. Not sure what they can do about the boiling temperatures, but the course is certainly memorable. Just don't expect to run your best time if the heat is the same every year. Really loved the experience all around, and thanks to the lovely Hawaiian lady - Big Mama (her words) - at the finish line for the huge hug after giving me the medal. I needed that.

This marathon could use a little help. The course is difficult, but no more so than I expected it to be, and I also expected it to be warm (hot) and it was. The scenery is beautiful, with whales and waves; after all, it is Hawaii. The Hawaiian prayer ceremony at the start was a wonderful touch.

What I didn't expect was the lack of organization associated with the race. I don't need fancy expos and stuff like that, but some water stops along the real hot stretch would have been nice and a bit of "undiluted" sports drink. How about some "food" at the end of the race besides airline pretzels and stale donuts? I guess the real stuff was gobbled up by the 5K, 10K, 15K, and half runners. It also would have been nice to have some sports drink at the finish besides incredibly diluted Endurox. I think they used one of the 20-ounce bottle packs for an entire cooler. The free massage, however, was a bonus. Kudos for that.

Upon leaving the race, a police officer stopped us (I guess he thought we looked like runners) to ask what to do about a runner who was just approaching mile 17 on the course since the water stops were shutting down. Were they supposed to tell him he couldn't finish or what? Hmm, organization - no one in town even knew there was a race(s) going on. At the start, the police didn't even know which way to send the lead runners.

Needless to say, it was Hawaii, and it was beautiful - it could just use some work.

The reviews from the first year did not help in the planning of the second annual race. Packet pickup was uneventful and frankly a disappointment. I get better goody bags at our local fun runs in a town of 3,000 people that cost us $15.00. Marathon t-shirts should be different from the shirts for other racers!

I felt very misled as far as the elevation went for this race. After mile 13, you pretty much run over a mountain pass. After mile 20 I believe they put a lot of people at risk by not having water available at least every mile during that hard, long stretch (even if the elevation gets a little easier). They probably found it difficult to get a volunteer to stand on a hot, dry road without shade on a winding, uphill, heavy-traffic highway. Lesson learned... you cannot rely on the aid stations they say are available for this race; 17 of the 19 are before mile 20. Bring your own water! Like the last review, there was no fruit at our finish, which was around 4 hours (they must have given it all to the 5K runners who evidently needed it more than us). No, I would not do this race again, even if it is in Maui!

What's not to like about a run along the Maui coast from Wailea Beach to Lahaina? As expected, the course was lovely, with plenty of whales to spot and ocean vistas. The tech t-shirt had a beautiful graphic by a local artist, and I got many compliments when wearing it the next day around the island. The medal is unexpectedly nice for a small marathon. The aid stations were manned by enthusiastic young volunteers in competition for the best station.
But it was certainly not an easy marathon, as the weather got very hot and sunny after the first 90 minutes and there were significant hills. On the "constructive criticism" side: 1) The sport drink was diluted and should have not been of the no-cal variety - we need those glucose molecules! 2) The fruit was gone at the finish by 4:15 after the start, before half of the runners had finished. 3) The older age division awards were inexplicably lumped by 40+, with no way to disentangle the subgroups (some snafu with the timing company that is still to be solved).

Still, in all, a great experience, and a nice excuse to plan a Hawaii vacation at a good time of year. Many thanks!

I must say that I was disappointed. My husband and I ran the marathon, and our daughter ran the 5K. With the money that we spent on registration fees, we expected a bit more. When we went to pick up our race packet, we followed handwritten cardboard signs to find the room where some poorly informed ladies (although very sweet) were handing out the ugliest race shirt I may have ever received. (Mind you, our family owns 3 of them.) With this race being sponsored by the Lahaina merchants, I was surprised that there was not a race packet. The race start was nice; the extra mile was one of those things. However, I wonder why the finish couldn't have been moved up a mile. My husband would have qualified for Boston. I think the course was misrepresented as to its difficulty, but it was doable. Yes, the awards went deep. I realized that I placed when I was home from vacation. Yet it was never sent. I guess I'm not surprised. More effort could have been made to take care of the runners. As beautiful as the course was, I wouldn't do it again.

I really enjoyed this run, even the extra mile we had added on. Having run the Lake Tahoe Marathon many times, I knew with Les Wright directing this race that we would be well cared for and that was the case. Plenty of aid stations, accurate miles and a great course. Always a pleasure running in Maui along the ocean, and even more so in January, as opposed to September when it's very hot.

I echo comments about having a tech shirt for the marathon only; make it a finisher one.

The age-group awards were really nice and given very deep.

I look forward to running this again in 2010. It's not a race to set any kind of time goals due to temperature and humidity, but when you finish you are in Hawaii, so that is a small price to pay.