Unfortunately, I had to drop in this race (first time ever in any race in 7 years). The bridges do slow you down considerably and the course meanders with no real direction.

The worst part is that it took a half-hour for an ambulance to come and then the driver drove the course backwards to return to the finish. (I was at Mile 23.)

I really enjoyed the course and support of this marathon - especially running along the river in Canada and then through Belle Isle. Very scenic! I ran with my fuel belt but never had to refill, as there was ample water and Gatorade, as well as other assorted goodies graciously provided by spectators. Only complaints were the logjam at the entrance to the Ambassador Bridge due to construction, and the lackluster post-race bag. Thanks for the great music on the course - that wonderful trio singing "Dancing in the Streets" was a big pick-me-up!

The course is fairly fast but the bridge and tunnel are definitely a factor, taking a bit out of you and your quads for the rest of the race. One reason I gave the course only 3 stars was the fact that over half the course is on concrete, which over the marathon distance can really beat up the legs. The other reason is that there are just too many turns. Nice city, but too many turns.

Organization: Trying to get to the starting corral was a nightmare. Just too many people including spectators jamming the sidewalks along side the corrals. I really don't like the fact that the full and half and relays running concurrently. Should have had them start at the same time at least. Delaying the half by 5 minutes is not only a pain for the half marathoners to make their way through the pack, but means that full marathoners are being passed for the whole first half of the race. Not knowing if the people passing are full or half runners leaves a person wondering if they're pacing appropriately. The expo was ridiculously laid out. Instead of going in one end and out the other, you had to walk all the way through the serpentine layout of booths to get to packet pick-up, and then all the way back through it all again to get back out. If I'd known that the goody bag just had a few advertising fliers in it I would have said keep it. Finally, the food at the end was lame. Seriously they should be embarrassed. Once you pick up your brown bag with the dry bagel and banana and small bag of oily chips, you're released to a fenced in parking lot area. Once you stepped out of that it was hard to get around like to get near the finish to watch other runners come in. Ford Field might have been better.


Spectators were good, although there were large parts of the course that were pretty much spectator-free. I don't mind that actually.

Having said all of that, I ran a PR, which allowed me to hobble back to the Marriott RenCen well before noon because they would absolutely not allow a late checkout, even though we had called ahead and they said no problem!

This all may sound a bit negative, so here are a few positives:
The downtown was nicer and cleaner than I expected.
Belle Isle is beautiful.
The views of the river, especially from the bridge, are very nice, and have a calming influence to keep you relaxed.
The whole cross-border thing with passports, etc., was a non-issue, and didn't add any time to the packet pickup.
The last 5-6 miles are very pleasant, through a well-treed residential area, before heading back into the downtown core.

This is a great marathon. Running into Canada over the Ambassador Bridge and back through the tunnel (underwater mile) is a fun and unique experience. The downtown section had nice views of Cobo Hall and Corktown and then running along the new Detroit riverwalk leading to Belle Isle was beautiful. Belle Isle and Indian Village are wonderful, representing some bright spots in the city. The fan support in Indian Village is great and they even handed out food and beer. The fan support was good (especially nice to see World Class Brian Sell cheer all of us amateurs on). Weather was great and I look forward to running the race again.

Had a great time with my first Detroit Marathon. Everything was absolutely perfect, as was my PR run. The sunrise coming over the Ambassador Bridge, welcoming Canadians, cheering crowds returning thru the mile long tunnel, live bands and great fan support all along the route - all great. Stayed at the Marriott, which was very nice, and right next to the tunnel toll booths, which is convenient for spectators. The medal is the best and heaviest one I've gotten.

The course was flat and fast, and they had lots of enthusiastic workers at the fluid stations, plenty of water and Gatorade, and a good GU station with several flavors.

I am ready to sign up for next year! Only please, do have the promised shirt in my size... no excuse for running out of large and extra large shirts at the expo pick-up. The expo was very good and energizing.
The Whole Foods snack at the finish was poor to hand to those who just ran for many hours without food. But I was just so darn happy to have a great run that I could not let that bother me much. Detroit is almost perfect.

Thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers, the fans for being out in the cold morning air and the organizers. I was smiling all the way!

This was only my second marathon, the first being in Cleveland, so I don't have a wide frame of reference. The Detroit Marathon course was highly enjoyable. The run over the bridge into Canada was fantastic, with a tremendous view of downtown as the sun was coming up. Fan support was very good, especially within the last couple of miles. I highly recommend this race. Like other runners posting here, my minor quibbles were with the lack of large and extra-large T-shirts, and the food selection at the end of the race. The medal is very nice, though, and I appreciated the Mylar covers handed to runners at the finish line to help keep us warm in the cool weather. The goody bag was light (a friend said it was the worst of any race he's been in). But that shouldn't deter runners from trying this race.

(However, I agree with an earlier poster about avoiding the Detroit Sheraton Riverside Hotel. Although the location was tremendous, right next to the expo and on the course, the one working elevator was extremely annoying and made me more than a little nervous as people crammed onto it. Sheraton actually has removed their name from the hotel because of maintenance problems.)

I loved it! Evidently Detroit has a negative image in the US. But I have been telling everyone about what a great race this was. The Canadians were very friendly too! Nice view of Detroit neighborhoods too! I plan on doing this again.

The weather was perfect, with temps in the high 40's to mid 50's and no wind. The course makes Detroit look great with the bridge and tunnel crossings, the new section on the River Walk, Belle Isle, and the finish area. The tunnel can get a bit humid, but it is worth it for the experience. I liked the large medal. Technical shirt is okay. Good expo. The finish line food could be better - those bagels tasted like cardboard, but that was no big deal. Another minor complaint was starting the half-marathon five minutes behind the marathon - I was constantly being passed during the first half as they caught up to me. It made me feel slow! I had to resist the temptation to increase my pace. But I know the different starts was a one-time deal to thin the crowd out because of construction on the bridge. I would highly recommend the Detroit Marathon to anyone.

This is an old, well-established marathon drawing only about 15,000 runners, of which only about 5,000 were full marathoners. The course is cool because it takes you on the bridge to Canada giving you a gorgeous sunrise and brings you back in the underwater tunnel before running along the river onto Belle Isle. On the other hand, it also took you through a couple miles of suburban mansions that seemed like forever and wasn't very motivating and kind of disorienting. I'd like to see them take the course around the downtown stadiums perhaps, or through Greektown instead. I have no complaints about the fans. This is probably as much spectator support as one could expect from a mid-major race on a breezy Detroit Sunday. There were bands and plenty of support, however.

I guess my only real beef was with the packet pickup and my hotel stay. To get your chip/bib/etc you had to weave through to the end of the race expo only to find they had run out of large and extra large tech shirts! Interesting ,considering when you register you record your shirt size.... I failed to see one single volunteer, however, that didn't have on an oversized tech race shirt. Aid stations were plentiful and always had water and Gatorade and were clearly marked; they had more people sweeping the cups off the street, though.

One word to the wise: choose where you stay carefully. I didn't realize it was so easy to drive in the morning of the race and park atop Cobo Hall. Instead I forked over the dough to stay at the downtown Sheraton. This old dump had had one single elevator working (five-person capacity), had a wedding reception that kept me up till 2 a.m., and the 5:30 wake up call I requested came at 5 a.m. instead. My complaints were met with a shrug from the manager. No class. I'd like to see this marathon make it to the next level. I really think they're going in that direction, but theyre definitely not there yet.

I completed Detroit as the last of 7 full marathons in 23 days. I enjoyed each and every marathon but Detroit was without question the most fun. I would highly recommend this marathon to anyone. Very nice expo, great shirt, nice course, well supplied aid stations, great crowd support and a very nice medal with ribbon. This course would be a good target for a BQ or PR.

My only complaint was the post-race food. My goody bag had a banana, a plain bagel and a bag of crackers. I tried to get an extra banana and was told no.

I was the 3:30 pace team leader for full marathon and the group of people running along with me were awesome.