What I liked: a good flat course. I loved going to Windsor, Belle Isle, the bridge, tunnel, and Indian Village.
A lot of water,gatorade, gu, and friendly crowds. Great weather this year.
What I didn't like: not enough porta johns at beginning, no family/friends meeting area - unable to meet friends because of this. Could have simply stated that in the stadium certain sections could be chosen to meet. Parking is expensive, both at race and local hotels.
Suggestions: keep this course! more porta johns at start and on course. Better family friend meeting area.

Well done marathon with a few key improvements needed. The race ran out of marathon t-shirts for the pre-registered runners (supposedly to be received by mail at a later date). MORE porta-johns needed at the start. The volunteers were excellent, lots of water/gatorade stops, small number of race fans, finish in the Ford Field was great! I might not call this course 'fast' as there are 2 significant uphill climbs (over the bridge and exiting the tunnel) and a head wind at segments of the last 3 mile stretch. Overall good marathon if you are looking for an excuse to go to Detroit!

Just ran this race yesterday, and I'm still beaming: beautiful (if not actually perfect) weather, a great course, fantastic volunteers -- truly, you couldn't ask for a better big city marathon. From the start at the new baseball stadium, to and over the breath-taking bridge to Canada, to the bike path along the beautiful river (with fantastic views of barges), to the fun run through the tunnel back into Detroit, then the loop around beautiful Belle Isle, and taking in the neighborhood and the lovely homes in Indian Village, and then the awesome finish in the new football stadium, I was awed throughout 26.2 miles by the all the friendly folks who helped make this the best running event of my life. Way to go Detroit!

Fantastic marathon package that matches up very well with all the much more expensive big marathons out there. This was my 20th run and I will say that I enjoyed this as well as Chicago, Marine Corps, and the music marathons in San Diego and Nashville.

The weather was ideal, the expo was very good, and the essentially flat and fast course was perfect as the trip over the Ambassador Bridge to Canada was brought back for the 25th anniversary. Volunteer support was tremendous as thousands of folks helped out with all the details including manning more water stops that one can imagine complete with oranges and GU. Upon finishing you receive a great finisher's medal, a goody bag, and a great concert.

I really enjoyed the scenary as a lot of the course takes you alongside both sides of the Detroit River and through Belle Island park, a stretch through some of Detroit's neighborhoods, and a finish in Ford Field. To finish inside Ford Field and see myself up finishing on the big screen was just AWESOME and makes this run very special!

This is one great marathon that is well worth the trip. Thank you Detroit.

It is said that the 'Welcome to Michigan' sign is made of orange barrels with lights atop them which blink at night. Well, welcome to the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank International Marathon and get ready for a whole bunch of confusion, congestion, and a road system that'll not be fixed by next years race. This is not an impression of the race once the gun went off, that's how difficult the process was to just retrieve your race number (which had to be picked up one of the two days preceeding the race due immigration rules because you cross the border into Canada during the race).

Normally I would never comment negatively about a race put on in my home state. However I have seen time and again that the City of Detroit and State of Michigan do so little to support this marathon. Logic says that one hopes that staging an event that can potentially bring in elite athletes along with millions of dollars in tourism -- and if the participants were impressed with the vitality and direction of the city, they will return. This in my opinion, cannot happen with the constant road blocks (pun intended) being placed before the race commitee.

The race itself was terrific and we had a beautiful day to run. I've completed this race six of the last nine years and the entire time I was on the course I thought of the changes made yearly due to some sort of bureaucratic snafu. The course is seemingly never set until a month before the event.

Like I say though: come for the race, try to overlook roads/building construction, and you'll have as good a time as any marathon.

What a great marathon! Small field; fantastic aide stations (essentially every mile!) plus a Gu station at mile 15; wonderful course; PERFECT weather; plus the opportunity to sleep in my own bed! What more could you ask for? Plus, a very fast, flat course with the only hills being on the bridge to Canada and in the tunnel returning to the USA (both before mile 9). And running in the tunnel to finish in Ford Field was so much fun---although the steep downhill was a bit much on the tired quad muscles! I don't understand why so many Michiganders opt to go to Chicago to run with 37000 other people to try to get to Boston when they could stay home for this fantastic marathon! My only small complaints: not very many spectators in some areas (but the fans that were there were wonderful!) and not a great variety of finish area refreshments. I would definitely recommend this to everyone!

Flat fast, well managed. 3-4000 runners is good for PR's and Boston-qualifying as it is easy to get into your pace quickly.

If you can overlook the occasional burned out building, this is a well run marathon - they could use more portajohns at the start, but I've yet been to a race without lines to use the bathroom. My only regret is that the 9/11 incident required the race to cancel the Canadian stretch.

Plusses: Superflat course, with aid every mile with lots of well trained and organized volunteers, GU at 15 and 23 (officially @ 15 only) with candy, etc at the last 3 miles. Good views of the downtown area.

Minuses: No pace marks at start, no portajohns after about 9 miles or so, some long stretches with very few spectators, and more than a few blighted abandoned buildings on the route.

Really an outstanding race. This year could've been an organizational nightmare due to the last minute change restricting the race to the US and eliminating the border crossing into Canada. Instead, the organizers created a new course that was fast, flat, and well-marked. The Belle Isle part of the race is absolutely beautiful, and you also hit every noteworthy section of Detroit. The water stops were smoothly run, and there were a couple of Gu stations on the course. The number of spectators was consistent with the race size, and their enthusiasm was both welcome and impressive. The volunteers were outstanding. The only hindrances were a headwind from about 13-24 that did slow the field somewhat, and crowded conditions at the race start -- Hart Plaza is a bit limited. This race is very good for first timers, who receive specially colored bibs noting their 'newbie' status. A companion relay race is run concurrent with the marathon, but the relay runners also wear special bibs so that the full marathoners aren't discouraged by those at a faster pace. The expo, while on the smaller side, was very friendly and had a lot of good munchies. Congrats to the folks who put this on -- it was a job well done!

I have run 12 marathons and Detroit is right up there for being one of the best... even though the course was changed I thought the organizers did a nice job of extending it into the residential areas of Detroit....the water stations were plentiful, the exchange areas were not congested and the spectators were incredibly supportive.... I was running with my coach and we were both wearing our patriotic Canada singlets - we were cheered and encouraged with a 'Go Canada Go' for most of our race.. I look forward to running Detroit again...