Wow! What a beautiful race. By far my slowest, but I had to stop a few times and look over the cliffs! I thought it ran smoothly, expo was a breeze, getting across to the island was easy, race started well. Trails were nice, technical, but not crazy. Some easy two track parts, but most was fun. Volunteers/staff were friendly and the water stops were sufficient.

This is my 3rd Grand Island Marathon. It is a hilly course, but beautiful. For the 2nd straight year the shirts were at least 2 sizes too small. I advised them about this last year too. The medal was exactly the same as last year's except with 2012 on them. Is this what repeat runners deserve? You can bring your own food and drinks to correct that problem, but you can't fix the shirt and medal problem. That is up to the race director.

This was my 25th Marathon and my third trail marathon and as far as the course goes, it is at the top of my list. There were comments about it being flat, not true see course link http://connect.garmin.com/course/1781717#.UBprSfcnPrs.email . My advice would be to take your time and enjoy the view.

That being said i still have some comments about a couple things..

Shuttle to the boat dock and transport to the island (A) went very smooth

Course (A+) (even with the hills)

Shirt (F) ~ I know it's made from recycled bottles but if it does not fit, it's worthless (unless I wear it as a half shirt)

Aid stations (A) ~ Bring your own bottle they fill them up with pitures and the process is pretty fast, Hammer Gels at every stop

Finish Line (D+) they print you off a slip that you have to take to get your medal.. no one standing there to hand them out

Medal (C-) ~ although unique its pretty cheap

Finish Line food (D) Green Bananas and some nasty energy bar stuff

This race is very eco friendly so there is very little impact to the island.. carry in carry out

We planned our summer vacation around this race. The race course was beautiful. We started out running the course backwards...how this happened is beyond anything I can explain. How does an organization let a large group of runners start out running the race course backwards? Then once they figured it out they told us just to turn around at mile 5 and it will equal out to 26.2 miles. Very unorganized. This was after the race started 9 minutes late to let some runners use the bathroom one last time! The food at the end of this course was horrible with very unfriendly volunteers working the food tent. The medal was the most cheap medal I have ever received! Paying $100 for a race you should get a decent medal and some good food. Love the course, but everything else gets low rating.

Grand Island Marathon is an excellent trail run. They put on a very well organized and enjoyable race. The shuttle from a local hotel, to the ferry, to the return back to the hotel was flawless. Running on the beach at mile 4 was a challenge though. You will enjoy the weather, the people who run the water stops, and the race shirt. The course was a little flatter than I initially thought. I look forward to running this race again.

This is my third year running Grand Island. It's a very scenic but challenging course with aid stations well placed for runners carrying their own hydration, HOWEVER,

1. The shirts are getting cheaper - no more North Face or Mountain Hardware.
2. Post race nutrition was non-existent for a 4+ hour finisher.
3. The spectator bus to the north end of the island did not make it back to the start/finish area in time to see 4 hour finishers! After paying an extra $10 to get there!
4. That said, aid station volunteers were great - very cheerful and supportive.

Not sure if I'll run again...

What a beautiful place!! We thankfully arrived Thursday night, affording us time to hike to several waterfalls & a lighthouse. We also went on a boat tour of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I highly recommend spending time here when running this race. The set-up was fantastic...easy packet-pickup which was well-organized, love the shirts!!! Pasta dinner at a local eatery which was excellent for $12/person. We stayed at the Econolodge. A shuttle took us to the ferry, the ferry took us to the island. Easy!! There was time to use porta-pottys after being transported. The course was beautiful and mostly flat. Great first trail marathon for someone. There were hills at 4 (decent climb), 8.5 (easier climb), 15.5 (hard, but short) and some around 17-18. The sand at 7.5ish was difficult to run on. The last 10K, you could fly. I managed to run fairly even splits and lead the whole way :) I had a great run and won a free pair of shoes :) Gorgeous age group blown glass finishers medals or wood medallion if you didn't win age group. Awesome! Took a dip in Lake Superior after the race :)

My review of the 1/2 marathon.

The Good: The beach mile was the most beautiful mile of my life. Everything seemed to go smoothly in terms of organization, shuttles, and ferries.

Munising is a nice place to see, especially the Pictured Rocks and the waterfalls.

The Bad: The organizers seem more like the Gestapo sometimes than organizers. I watched the race director literally screaming with a bull horn at people for throwing a water bottle in the bin marked compost and disqualify 2 runners and 'publicly shame them by listing their names as disqualified on the internet'. This fits with what I have read from prior years. I understand the importance of being clean and environmentally friendly, but this is supposed to be a fun event; chill the hell out.

Also, I thought the trails were unimpressive. I like to run on single track and the majority of the half was 2 track, sandy, fire roads. Minimal views on the half since you are running through the middle of the island.

One final gripe, the shirts for the half marathon sucked and were this 'organic cotton' urine yellow faded cotton look; compared to the cool Mountain Hardware marathon shirts. They didn't have 'any' XL's. Definitely something I don't plan on wearing out in public.

Overall, a fun and unique race in a cool place to check out. Will I return, probably not.

The organization of the race is very good. I can imagine the logistics of getting everything on an island for a marathon, including PORTA-JOHNS! We brought food for a picnic and ate on the beach, it was a great way to wind down after a race. The finisher medals were a nice touch and I like that they were made by a local artist. Finally, I am glad the race directors DQ'd the guy who did not register for the race and picked up someone else's packet to have a race number and shirt. I think the race directors need to start requesting photo ID's at packet pick up. Don't we all have to pay for dishonest people?

Beware, road runners, this is a TRAIL marathon. Be ready for steep inclines on rocky trails. The area is beautiful. Unfortunately, most of the run is covered by trees, which block out the fantastic views around the island. Overall, the race is very challenging and the scenery is beautiful! Medals were very disappointing... no writing on them??? Post-race food was terrible. Bring your own food and drinks and you will be good to go!