This was a brutal, difficult course, with hill after hill. Don't do this marathon if you want a PB. Do it only if you want to challenge yourself to a course that is harder than Boston and won't qualify you for Boston. The medal is cool; it doubles as a belt buckle. It's good if you are a cowboy. The shirt was a little lame, but better than the Vegas Marathon's cotton shirt.

Having run several course variants of this marathon over the years, I have concluded that this one is a tactician's course, with a "hill" (1200 meters long), a few shorter (but fairly steep) inclines throughout kilometers 20-31, and some banked surfaces. It's not a B.Q. for those close to the line. I do rate it highly for reasons of varied scenery. Organization is top-notch.

I was brought to the Calgary Marathon to run with my brother-in-law (way to go, David!!) in the half-marathon. Being from the very flat city of Winnipeg, I found the course to be hilly, which was a welcome challenge. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way, but was especially impressed with the volunteers along the route. Our names were listed on our bibs, so volunteers would cheer us on by names - nice touch!! The combination of big smiles and encouraging words kept me pushing it to the end. A big "thank you" goes out to all of the great people who made for a great race!!

I found the 2009 revamped marathon course more challenging than in previous years but very pleasant. Shaganappi Hill comes at 15K, and if you have done your hill training, it doesn't pose a problem. I found that going down this same hill at 31K hurt more, as the quads were getting beat up by then. University and Varsity (17K to 30K) offer gently rolling hills in a scenic, well established neighborhood with supportive families. The last 9K are flat, running along Memorial Drive to the finish in Bridgeland.

Both the volunteers at the well-stocked aid stations and the course marshals did a superb job.

I ran the Calgary Half-Marathon and loved it! It wasn't too hilly, there were lots of aid/sponge stations, and there were yummy snacks at the end! I can see how it might have been tough for the full marathoners to run into the sun for much of the last half, but I thought the course was very pretty! I ran a PB (1:45) and would recommend this half-marathon for sure!

Yes, there is a long hill on the course, but if you are looking for a qualifier, then you'll have to run hills sometime before the end of the Boston Marathon....

What goes up, must come down. The hill is long, probably a mile, but it comes before the halfway mark and you'll run down it on the homebound stretch.

With the Red Mile and Shaganappi Hill, the Calgary Marathon finally has something to talk about other than, "Ooh, look at the caged animals in the zoo." Bring on the hill.

I live in Calgary and the new course has a brutal hill in it. I aspire one day in my running career to actually run up this hill. It is VERY long and steep. If you are looking for a qualifier, this is definitely NOT it.

Well organized, lots of very friendly volunteers, and a beautiful city. Looking forward to 2009.

This was my 80th marathon, but my first time to run Calgary. I was pleasantly surprised by how flat the course was. The only part that was not flat was the short section through the zoo. No way could you call this course hard, as in some of the comments here.
The only 2 things I have to nit-pick about was the unpaved steets under construction around 15-20 miles, but this probably won't be an issue in future years. Also, splits were off by over a minute on 2 different kilometers somewhere around the zoo and near halfway.
Other than that this was a well organized event that I would come back for.

This is my second time running the Calgary Marathon. I liked that they had the half marathon runners start at the same time this year - more company for us slowpokes. The course isn't that flat - there is a hill just past the Stampede Grounds and the zoo has some rises, but that is the part of the course that I liked the best - where else can you get cheered on by a mountain goat?! My only complaint is the road surface in the Bowness area was being paved and was uneven and hard to run on. Since it was an out-and-back route at that point, we had to run on that twice, but the people in the area are very supportive and enthusiastic. Love the belt buckle medal. Lots of water/Gatorade stations. It was also nice to have sponges at the water stops. There was quite a bit of musical entertainment on the route. The Elvis impersonator was hilarious - I needed a good laugh by that point. Brooks technical shirts were attractive and it was good they included ladies' shirts this time! Great volunteers and a fun run. I'll be back.