What a great weekend! I cross the marathon finish line, walk literally next door to the cabin where we were staying, take a shower and before you know it, I'm out on White River hauling in rainbow trout after rainbow trout. If the fishing part isn't your thing, do this race anyway. Friendly people, nice flat course and an incredible spread afterward.

Also a very cool medal, though I wish both it and the T-shirt had said where this race took place. And another minor disappointment: For the first time ever, I actually won my age group (it helps to get older, not to mention running in an age group where there aren't many people). Alas, by the time they got to us old folks, they were all out of the plaques.

Also, be aware that although it's chip timing there's no mat at the start. If you're on the cusp of Boston, line up near the front. My official time was almost three minutes off my watch time. Not a big deal because it wasn't a BQ or a PR, and the rest of the experience was so much fun that it made up for that.

This was my 1st White River and 4th marathon. It will be hard not to ink this race into my 2013 race calendar. Everything was beyond any race I have been to. It's a MUST run!!

Drove in from Oklahoma on Friday. Wanted a change of scenery from White Rock and we got it! Small, flat, fast. Perfect. As stated in other comments, the weather couldn't have been better-33-39 degrees for the half. Used to 20,000 + people and loved the smaller non crowded road. It was nice to see the horses and homes along the foggy river. I thought it was pretty. I had a great PR because of the temp! Our group of 5 will be back next year and will bring more of our running group. The homemade soups and food was wonderful, as well as the massages after the run. Thanks for the Gu along the route. It's the extra little items that make this race better.
Wouldn't mind packet pick up earlier, but I know that takes volunteers.
Overall, this race gets an 'A' for a well ran race. Great medals also. Thank you Cotter!

Great marathon. Love race day pickup, small race, great volunteers and SHOWERS after! When my friend and I checked into the hotel the night before, our desk clerk told us he was volunteering at it - great to see him at the water stop!

Thank you for a well-organized, fun (despite the fog) event. The post-race hot meals and snacks were so appreciated; great volunteers, wonderful cause! See you next year!

My husband and I loved this race! The race course was so pretty and the weather was perfect!! One thing that we both loved was that it was a small race. It was so nice just being able to just run and not worry about walkers or bumping into anyone. A must do race!!!

Get there early, parking is a breeze. No spectators (awesome not a single cow bell), great group of runners. First 3/4 mile is steep downhill, remainder of the course is pancake flat. Course is open to vehicles as advertised, had no issues with vehicles. Only 600 runners so that was nice. Shuttle back to the start was fantastic, more than enough vans to handle it. BTW I ran the Half

This was my kind of marathon. Small enough that there were no problems with things like bathrooms and parking, but not so small that you feel alone on the course. The course starts with a big downhill, but the organizers laid our the course so you don't have to go back up that hill. The weather was niceabout 30 degrees with heavy fog at the start and I'm guessing in the high 40s at the finish. I wouldn't call this a scenic race, but it was in a nice area nonetheless. I gave the spectators 4 stars because I prefer a quite course to one with cow bells and screaming. If you're like me, you'll like the quiet of this run. But if you feed off crowds, you won't find them here.

A couple suggestions to the race director:

Turn the music down at the finish line. It was so ear-splittingly loud it was impossible to stick around and wait for my wife to finish. I had to walk over to the RV park and watch from there so my ears wouldn't start bleeding. At the very least, move the speakers to the north side of the finish line so they face out onto the course instead of the finish area.

Start the packet pickup earlier. Having to wait until 5PM to get our packets was a hassle, and by 5PM before a marathon we prefer to be finishing dinner, preparing our gear, and winding down so we can sleep early. At the latest, packet pickup should start at 3PM.

It took some effort to make it to Cotter on a Saturday, but it turned out to be worth the trip. No PR, but my best time in three years. Once you're in town, everything is easy to get to. Great organization and friendly folks. A truck driver did run me and another runner off the road  there is no shoulder  but I wouldn't hesitate to run it again, although I definitely hope it stays small. It might be nice if marathon runners had a separate start. It would also be more convenient to have the race on Sunday, so I wouldn't have to take a day off from work.

A beautiful as well as flat course, great organizers, great charity. Cotter is a wonderful small town. The out-and-back out-and-back course was perfect for this race as you got to see friends and Maniacs several times so you didn't feel alone. Very friendly runners on the course. The medal was my only disappointment of the race but the Race Director says they will do better next year. Make sure to go to Nima's Pizza in Gassville after the race&world pizza competition winner!