This marathon is great for setting a new pr. The weather was perfect. It does have a few uphill segments mainly in the first half of the marathon. Overall I highly recommend this marathon. I ran a 3:14 and qualified for Boston. My previous pr was 3:36 five weeks before in Tupelo, MS.

What an exceptional marathon. Warm fires greeted the runners at the start and a warm reception from the town at the finish. It does mean something when the community gets involved and it makes the race that much more special. You couldn?t go anywhere in St. George without talking about the marathon.

The course is fast. You will lose about a half mile in elevation from the start to the finish. Mostly downhill but there is this ugly uphill from mile 7 to 9; enough to take the wind out of anyone?s sails. And I remember still running uphill far past mile 9. I think it was around mile 11 before we started the descent again. I don?t recall seeing that on the elevation chart. Although the crowds are few and far between the natural beauty of Utah?s high desert is second only to the Big Sur Marathon. Dress accordingly because the start can be quite cold and finish could be in the 70?s. Traffic was non-existent on most of the course and there was plenty of room to run. The course got a little tight running into town and some of course appeared to be newly paved which was a little rough on the footing.

High quality long sleeve shirt and unique finishers medal were a plus. Overall organization was good but communication could be a little better. I brought my own ChampionChip and I had to ask three people to find out how to get it registered. Also, the instructions said that the discarded clothing could be picked up at the tennis courts until 8PM that night. We got there around 6PM and all the clothes were packed in a truck behind a building across the street. Luckily we weren?t the only ones on the scavenger hunt. And yes you have to dig to find your stuff. They do a great job in collecting everything that gets dropped and put them in boxes marked with the mile marker they were located at but it?s a free-for-all trying to get it back. Some advice: Discard your warm clothes in the first few miles before anyone has broken a sweat yet. Going through the box marked Mile 9 was pretty gamy! Also people were more successful when they had their race number visible on their clothes.

More advice. St. George is a small community with a limited number of hotel rooms geared towards the weekend traveler. Book early! I booked in early April and most of the hotels were already sold out. Mesquite, NV is a 30 minute drive and you could probably get a better deal since the town has a few casinos. But Mesquite is in a different time zone and its a white knuckle drive through the canyon in daylight I can?t imagine doing it in the predawn hours. If you?re flying in, St. George has a small airport (on top of a mesa) but you?ll probably find it cheaper to fly into Vegas. We went a day earlier and found some great deals on hotel rooms in Las Vegas. From Vegas it?s about a two hour drive to St. George.

What a fantastic race. The course was beautiful, but definitely challenging. There are just as many ups as downs, the only flat is the last 3/4 of a mile. The people of St. George really make this a fun experience....we especially loved all the great signs for runners and loved ones along the course (especially the one just past mile 25.5 that said '4821 feet to go, you people are nuts!). The expo and post race events were good, the organization of all race activities was awesome, very unique and appropriate medals, and who could not love the bon-fires to keep warm at the start. I've run 6 marathons (both large and small) and this one competes with them all. Thanks for a great day in St. George!

I ran it in 2002 and the weather was perfect. Organization was great except that you had better only discard clothing you don't want to get back or spend hours looking for. The large guy running the clothing pick-up was callous and more concerned about making things easy on him than helping people find their clothes. Thousands of items were in several huge boxes that were four ft. deep and he didn't want people pulling items out and complained openly if you did. He also made comments such as 'you shouldn't have discarded anything that you wanted to keep'. It's pretty darn cold at the top when the race starts in the dark and this guy doesn't know the first thing about what it's like to be up there running. Some people looking for their stuff were visibly upset at the arrangement and treatment. I never found my jacket either. If things were placed on the ground by mile drop then it would have been so easy. I think all of this was due to one bad apple in the volunteer pool. Everything else about the race was world class! The town really comes out to cheer runners on and if you train properly for hills you can PR here. You really need to train for the descents though. I've known of several people that have had leg and foot trouble in the last half of this race.

Ran on 10/5/02 as first time SGM runner with goal of Boston bound 3:20. Ran 3:17 on a perfect course and perfect morning. The course is as advertised-a moderate climb at 9-11 and a fast finish with downhill miles at 15 and 16 and 20-25. The race is well organized and the volunteers are terrific. The townsfolk really turnout in the last 3-4 miles with spectator support minimal (although spunky) prior to that point. The scenery as you drop into/next to Snow Canyon (on downhill miles) is worth the wait. Highly recommend this race as a qualifier or PR attempt.

This is my 8th marathon and first ST. GEORGE. Only place where I have seen the whole town get involved. The organization is great, t-shirts are very nice == cool-mesh fabric, unique medal, but the course!!! YIPES! No flat parts. Just hills, hills, and more hills. So be prepared. Weather was perfect in 2002, not really any crowd support til you get back to town, aid stations are terrific and the First Aid Tent did a good job. They were packed.

This marathon has started to become a tradition even though I'm a fan of trying new marathons. I ran it in 2000 and 2001 and both times, the weather was great, the fans were truly enthusiastic and the volunteers were helpful and kind. It does get warm later in the morning, but this is just another motivation for coming in a little sooner. I whole-heartedly recommend this marathon. Other marathons I've run include New York City and the Marine Corps Marathon (D.C.) and although I also enjoyed those races, the St. George Marathon is a more manageable size.

I finally got lucky and my number came up in the St. George lottery for 2001. It was an awesome event and I was able to beat my Boston qualification time by 12 minutes, a PR for me at 3hr 18min 03sec.

The steep hill at about mile 8 was more than I had expected, so for 2002 I will train more for the hill and will target a 3:15 goal.

If you get lucky on the lottery be sure to run this race and expect the best pure running expereince you have ever had. The crowd in Boston cannot be beat, but for a small town marathon, the St. George people do a great job.

I live in Austin, Texas and train on the Town Lake running trails, and do hill work up Mt. Bonnell. You can be sure that Mt. Bonnell will see more of me this summer. Enjoy. Run4Fun, Run4Life.

Everything about this marathon was awesome. Very well organized. Great course. Beautiful weather. And the people of St George were terrific. The bonfires at the start line were a nice touch. And the kids with the gummi bears and the cold washcloths near the end of the race were a Godsend. I would repeat this marathon in a heartbeat. I can't say enough good things about this race. Plus I got a PR.

Ran a PR by 15 minutes at St. George and qualified for my first trip to Boston! This is an excellent downhill course with great pre and post-race support from the staff. Very scenic course without a lot of spectators but lots of natural beauty. The bonfires at the starting line made an o' dark thirty start a bit cheerier! In the wake of the terrorist attacks, the patriotic start was very moving. Great finish line with PLENTY of food and fluids! I don't plan on repeating many marathons (I'm trying for one in each state), but I WILL definitely go back to St. George. Thanks for a great experience