Marathon Details - New Jersey Marathon

North America Marathons > USA > NJ > Long Branch > New Jersey Marathon

Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon & Half Marathon, Marathon Relay, 5K

Long Branch, NJ USA

~~October 17, 2021~~ - CANCELLED

http://www.thenewjerseymarathon.com

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Address:	1841 Broadway, Suite 508 New York, NY 10023
Phone Number:	(212) 691-2200
Email:	Email the organizers



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Reviews

Course 4.3

Organization 4.5

Spectators 3.9

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Number of comments: 464 [displaying comments 1 to 11]

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R. M. from New York City (11/17/2019) "Easy race but organisation could be improved" (about: 2019) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 This race is generally a simple, flat race to run. Spectators are in patches but that is fine by me. There are 2 or 3 areas where the route is narrowed in to tight twists to shift from one path to another - very hard on legs after 20M. Biggest issue is getting to start. I paid my $35 for the Manhattan bus. The buses never arrived at pick-up place, let alone depart, until half hour after designated departure time. This exaggerated near-venue traffic jam, for which the buses were afforded no priority. At venue, the buses could have dropped us at the 'front gate' but no allowance was made for the very late arrival for 300 runners who then needed to pick up bibs before race! The buses parked at very rear of parking area before letting us out. Can't do this race again like this.
J. H. from New Jersey (5/24/2018) "Disappointed" (about: 2018) 50+ previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I ran this marathon in '08 when it was a two loop course. The organization, expo, and finish line accommodations then were very good. My schedule allowed a return this year so I was anticipating great things. Didn't happen. The course has far too many turns and cutting the tangents still resulted in a 26.42 to 26.49 mile course by every runner I talked to. The expo had one vendor and signs were non existent for locating it. Signage on race day was just as poor. The start area was located by following the crowd of runners, following a crowd of runners... There were a good number of spectators and volunteers on the course. At the finish I picked up my drop bag to learn that I had to leave it behind to re-enter the finish area. A long walk to the tent that was bannered 'results' turned out to not have results. They were available only online. Food and drink at the finish were adequate but hardly noteworthy. Then the lack of signage resulted in runners wandering westwardly until we observed the shuttle buses that took us back to the start area and our vehicles. Maybe in ten more years they'll get it right?
M. S. from New Jersey (5/3/2018) "Good place to BQ" (about: 2018) 4-5 previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This was my second year running this race. Last year was my first marathon and I BQd by 3 minutes (Yet I ended up missing by 25 seconds.) This year I BQd by six minutes. The course is flat (300 feet of net elevation), but has a lot of turns, so running the tangents are tough (my Strava showed 26.5 miles total). Weather was great this year. Rain stopped at raceme and temps were perfect. Wind can be an issue at the shore, but was manageable, although when you ran West you had a good headwind (you really only run due west a few times, probably for less than half a mile). Crowd support is thin. The pacers are great: friendly, and mine got us to mile 26 about a minute ahead and said if you've got it, use it. I must add, the expo was nonexistent (2 booths), the shirt is a weakly designed poly cotton blend, and the medal is pretty weak (I'm kind of over medals, so not a huge deal). Course support is great- water, gatorade, occasional goo. I got my BQ, so I probably won't run it again, but its definitely worth a try, especially for a first timer.
D. C. from Greenville, SC (5/1/2018) "An Unexpected Surprise" (about: 2018) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I'm not sure why, but I did not have very high expectations for this race. It was my NJ marathon on my 50 states quest. I ended up loving it! I was nervous about the very long out-and-back portion of the race, but the course flew by as we ran past gigantic seaside mansions and on and off the boardwalk. Not many spectators, but the ones that were out there were enthusiastic. Water stops were seemingly every mile, and there were porta potties at each. The volunteers were fantastic, parking at the start was ample, and the finish line was easy to navigate. It's a little tricky (and a somewhat long walk) to find the shuttles after the race, but that's a small complaint. The race shirt and medal are unique and well designed, and we had perfect weather. I'd recommend this race to anyone!
J. J. from Wisconsin (5/1/2018) "Fast course pretty flat" (about: 2018) 50+ previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Nice flat course through some neighborhoods before heading out and back along the ocean highway. Eventually you get to run a couple short sections along the boardwalk both out and back near the end of the race. Parking gets really busy so get there early like they recommend. Not much food at the finish but plenty of liquids, expo very small, not many spectators until the finish, water stops frequent and enthusiastically manned. Bit of a hike to board the shuttle from finish back to parking lots. But all in all a good race.
P. L. from New Jersey, USA (5/1/2018) "Well organized, fair course and great fan support" (about: 2018) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Good overall race. Pros: excellent organization, great audience support, lots of hydration and refueling stations and post race celebration. Cons: 1) You have to have a Technical Shirt for marathon finishers/runners 2) The marathon finisher's medal gotta be better (It should not be same medal for the half and full) 3) The return shuttle must drop finishers at the parking lot, Not half a mile away. 4) The Expo was ok, but for NJ it should be better than ok. The Course is fair but not flat or fast. There are long inclines,some minor hills and a number of turns.
G. N. from Connecticut (5/3/2017) "Well Done Race!" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 Well done race. Course is very flat and a nice mix of things including boardwalks. I don't care about expo's anymore and I don't care about big crowds anymore. I have done 15 marathons and a lot of the bigger ones but this ranked up very high for me (and this was my slowest)....Highly recommend
N. G. from New York (5/3/2017) "Flat and Fast Course - Worth doing" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I will be succinct: Expo was a big disappointment. Very small and really nothing to see. So if you're a runner looking for the whole marathon experience, including Expo, you're not going to like this race. Lodging/Asbury Park: We stayed right on the beach at Asbury park. Convenient location to everything, including expo, food, race start and finish. And it's a nice little town. Big Plus. Race Logistics: Getting to the start was fine. Parking was fine. Getting to the Start (from the finish) via the Shuttle bus was fine. From a logistical standpoint, the race was well run. The Course: Fantastic course. Very fast and flat. There are some sharp turns though. But if you're an experienced runner, you know how to handle it. I think there was only one 'reasonable' incline at approximately mile 23 or 24. If you're looking to BQ (which I did) or PR, this is the race to do it in. Of course the weather has to cooperate though and for 2017, the weather was near perfect for a marathon. In summation, I recommend doing this marathon if you're looking to BQ or PR. It is well run and organized. Keep in mind it's a tiny race, so you're not going to get all the same hoopla and crowd support (if you care about that sort've thing - I don't) at a bigger race.
D. R. from Philadelphia PA (5/3/2017) "nice flat course" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I was originally scheduled to run a race on mother's day but I was a little banged up so I decided to taper and switched to this race the week before. In the past the negative to this race was it was a double loop, but they have corrected that. I stayed at a courtyard Marriott about 5 miles from the start, no issues with traffic or parking. The start is at a very large horse race track, so parking was easy with a short walk (I have had to walk a long way to the start in Philadelphia, the short walk was appreciated afterwards). The weather was cloudy but otherwise perfect, and the course is completely flat. The last part of the race was into the wind, but you would expect this on a seaside course. Accurate that there are spots with little fan support, but that's not why I run and I could make the same comment about several larger marathons I have run in. No issues with the shuttle getting back to the start. The only slight downside to this race is that there are many more half marathoners running as well as some relays, and I always find this format throws my pacing off and despite best efforts I run too fast in the first half. All in, I would recommend this race and would run it again
S. B. from Texas (5/1/2017) "Nice Ocean Running in New Jersey" (about: 2017) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I really enjoyed the New Jersey Marathon, I was expecting a good event but had read several negatives in prior reviews so I came into the race a little unsure of what to expect. The expo was very small, but it was proportionate to the size of the race. I actually really enjoy spending time walking through expos and seeing the different events being promoted and some of the new gear that's available. So, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more going on at this expo, but it was in keeping with the size of the event. This expo did have the unique aspect of being held at the Monmouth Park race track and that made up for the lack of size. I'm not a big horse racing fan, but that track was obviously very old and had a ton of history. I probably spent almost an hour wandering around the grounds with everything being completely wide open. That was a neat experience. The morning of the race I got up very early so that I could get on the road from my hotel and to the parking area. Almost every prior review I read made comments about how awful the traffic situation was getting to the parking area with several people saying the traffic was so bad they advised leaving with 2 hours to spare. I made it onto the road with a little over an hour and a half before race time and breezed right into a parking spot so whatever issues they have had in the past must have been resolved and I got about 30 minutes of nice quiet time in the car. The weather on race morning was fantastic, about 58 degrees and mostly overcast. There was a cool front coming in and the temperatures actually fell slightly during the race. There was a decent breeze that was fairly sustained during the race, but it wasn't terribly bad, I spent the last 7 miles running into it but it was more cold than anything else. The course was good, I was expecting a huge bottleneck at the beginning that never materialized, I guess we should take all reviews with a grain of salt (this one included). The course started with a little uphill climb that flattened out quickly and represented all of the elevation change on the first half. The first half went through some nice neighborhoods and some urban area, a nice mix of things to see. The half marathoners split off between 11 and 12 and I went from running with a decent group to being by myself, there was a huge difference in half and full runners in this race. Just after the split, the elite runners started to pass me going the other way on the opposite side of the road (yes, I am that slow). This was the first indication of how long the out and back section was going to be. I happened to notice the back of the mile 23 marker while watching the elites and wanting to see the front of that marker was stuck in my head for the next 2 hours. The course made its way down to the boardwalk with some fairly nice downhill stretches which would become uphills into the wind on the way back. The turn around point didn't come until between miles 18 and 19 and it was a sharp turn which was not terribly welcome. As much as that long of an out and back is hard to deal with mentally, it is a tremendous boost when you finally hit that turnaround and are headed home. After the turnaround the course spends a lot of time on the boardwalk along the ocean which is really nice. It was amusing to see all the tourists who had no idea they had wandered into a marathon while out on the boardwalk. I spent more time along the ocean in this marathon than I did at Rock&Roll San Diego so kudos to New Jersey for all the ocean front running. The finish was well organized with boxed water instead of bottled which I had only seen once before when I ran San Francisco so good to see the east coast being a little proactive environmentally. I finished in 4:48 which is a 10 minute PR for me so this will be a course I remember very fondly. Now for the massive negative for this event. The race is point to point so you park at the start and there are shuttles to take you back to the start line after you finish. First, there were no signs in the finisher area indicating where the buses were located and it was a bad sign that they weren't close enough that you could see them. Myself and a couple of other runners got with the local police and they were able to direct us to the shuttle bus area which was at least a 3/4 mile walk from the finisher area. Then the buses themselves didn't drop the runners off in the runner parking lot, we were dropped off on the other side of the race track and had to walk almost another mile to get to our vehicles. My step counter had me at almost 31 miles for the day by the time I got back to my car. This is a great event that really does a great job for the runners, but with so many people needing the shuttles to get back to their cars it shouldn't be such an afterthought. That, however, does not come close to dampening my enthusiasm for this event, it was well run and an enjoyable course, well worth the trip to Jersey.

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R. M. from New York City (11/17/2019) "Easy race but organisation could be improved" (about: 2019) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 This race is generally a simple, flat race to run. Spectators are in patches but that is fine by me. There are 2 or 3 areas where the route is narrowed in to tight twists to shift from one path to another - very hard on legs after 20M. Biggest issue is getting to start. I paid my $35 for the Manhattan bus. The buses never arrived at pick-up place, let alone depart, until half hour after designated departure time. This exaggerated near-venue traffic jam, for which the buses were afforded no priority. At venue, the buses could have dropped us at the 'front gate' but no allowance was made for the very late arrival for 300 runners who then needed to pick up bibs before race! The buses parked at very rear of parking area before letting us out. Can't do this race again like this.
J. H. from New Jersey (5/24/2018) "Disappointed" (about: 2018) 50+ previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I ran this marathon in '08 when it was a two loop course. The organization, expo, and finish line accommodations then were very good. My schedule allowed a return this year so I was anticipating great things. Didn't happen. The course has far too many turns and cutting the tangents still resulted in a 26.42 to 26.49 mile course by every runner I talked to. The expo had one vendor and signs were non existent for locating it. Signage on race day was just as poor. The start area was located by following the crowd of runners, following a crowd of runners... There were a good number of spectators and volunteers on the course. At the finish I picked up my drop bag to learn that I had to leave it behind to re-enter the finish area. A long walk to the tent that was bannered 'results' turned out to not have results. They were available only online. Food and drink at the finish were adequate but hardly noteworthy. Then the lack of signage resulted in runners wandering westwardly until we observed the shuttle buses that took us back to the start area and our vehicles. Maybe in ten more years they'll get it right?
M. S. from New Jersey (5/3/2018) "Good place to BQ" (about: 2018) 4-5 previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This was my second year running this race. Last year was my first marathon and I BQd by 3 minutes (Yet I ended up missing by 25 seconds.) This year I BQd by six minutes. The course is flat (300 feet of net elevation), but has a lot of turns, so running the tangents are tough (my Strava showed 26.5 miles total). Weather was great this year. Rain stopped at raceme and temps were perfect. Wind can be an issue at the shore, but was manageable, although when you ran West you had a good headwind (you really only run due west a few times, probably for less than half a mile). Crowd support is thin. The pacers are great: friendly, and mine got us to mile 26 about a minute ahead and said if you've got it, use it. I must add, the expo was nonexistent (2 booths), the shirt is a weakly designed poly cotton blend, and the medal is pretty weak (I'm kind of over medals, so not a huge deal). Course support is great- water, gatorade, occasional goo. I got my BQ, so I probably won't run it again, but its definitely worth a try, especially for a first timer.
D. C. from Greenville, SC (5/1/2018) "An Unexpected Surprise" (about: 2018) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I'm not sure why, but I did not have very high expectations for this race. It was my NJ marathon on my 50 states quest. I ended up loving it! I was nervous about the very long out-and-back portion of the race, but the course flew by as we ran past gigantic seaside mansions and on and off the boardwalk. Not many spectators, but the ones that were out there were enthusiastic. Water stops were seemingly every mile, and there were porta potties at each. The volunteers were fantastic, parking at the start was ample, and the finish line was easy to navigate. It's a little tricky (and a somewhat long walk) to find the shuttles after the race, but that's a small complaint. The race shirt and medal are unique and well designed, and we had perfect weather. I'd recommend this race to anyone!
J. J. from Wisconsin (5/1/2018) "Fast course pretty flat" (about: 2018) 50+ previous marathons \| 2 New Jersey Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Nice flat course through some neighborhoods before heading out and back along the ocean highway. Eventually you get to run a couple short sections along the boardwalk both out and back near the end of the race. Parking gets really busy so get there early like they recommend. Not much food at the finish but plenty of liquids, expo very small, not many spectators until the finish, water stops frequent and enthusiastically manned. Bit of a hike to board the shuttle from finish back to parking lots. But all in all a good race.
P. L. from New Jersey, USA (5/1/2018) "Well organized, fair course and great fan support" (about: 2018) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Good overall race. Pros: excellent organization, great audience support, lots of hydration and refueling stations and post race celebration. Cons: 1) You have to have a Technical Shirt for marathon finishers/runners 2) The marathon finisher's medal gotta be better (It should not be same medal for the half and full) 3) The return shuttle must drop finishers at the parking lot, Not half a mile away. 4) The Expo was ok, but for NJ it should be better than ok. The Course is fair but not flat or fast. There are long inclines,some minor hills and a number of turns.
G. N. from Connecticut (5/3/2017) "Well Done Race!" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 Well done race. Course is very flat and a nice mix of things including boardwalks. I don't care about expo's anymore and I don't care about big crowds anymore. I have done 15 marathons and a lot of the bigger ones but this ranked up very high for me (and this was my slowest)....Highly recommend
N. G. from New York (5/3/2017) "Flat and Fast Course - Worth doing" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I will be succinct: Expo was a big disappointment. Very small and really nothing to see. So if you're a runner looking for the whole marathon experience, including Expo, you're not going to like this race. Lodging/Asbury Park: We stayed right on the beach at Asbury park. Convenient location to everything, including expo, food, race start and finish. And it's a nice little town. Big Plus. Race Logistics: Getting to the start was fine. Parking was fine. Getting to the Start (from the finish) via the Shuttle bus was fine. From a logistical standpoint, the race was well run. The Course: Fantastic course. Very fast and flat. There are some sharp turns though. But if you're an experienced runner, you know how to handle it. I think there was only one 'reasonable' incline at approximately mile 23 or 24. If you're looking to BQ (which I did) or PR, this is the race to do it in. Of course the weather has to cooperate though and for 2017, the weather was near perfect for a marathon. In summation, I recommend doing this marathon if you're looking to BQ or PR. It is well run and organized. Keep in mind it's a tiny race, so you're not going to get all the same hoopla and crowd support (if you care about that sort've thing - I don't) at a bigger race.
D. R. from Philadelphia PA (5/3/2017) "nice flat course" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I was originally scheduled to run a race on mother's day but I was a little banged up so I decided to taper and switched to this race the week before. In the past the negative to this race was it was a double loop, but they have corrected that. I stayed at a courtyard Marriott about 5 miles from the start, no issues with traffic or parking. The start is at a very large horse race track, so parking was easy with a short walk (I have had to walk a long way to the start in Philadelphia, the short walk was appreciated afterwards). The weather was cloudy but otherwise perfect, and the course is completely flat. The last part of the race was into the wind, but you would expect this on a seaside course. Accurate that there are spots with little fan support, but that's not why I run and I could make the same comment about several larger marathons I have run in. No issues with the shuttle getting back to the start. The only slight downside to this race is that there are many more half marathoners running as well as some relays, and I always find this format throws my pacing off and despite best efforts I run too fast in the first half. All in, I would recommend this race and would run it again
S. B. from Texas (5/1/2017) "Nice Ocean Running in New Jersey" (about: 2017) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 New Jersey Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I really enjoyed the New Jersey Marathon, I was expecting a good event but had read several negatives in prior reviews so I came into the race a little unsure of what to expect. The expo was very small, but it was proportionate to the size of the race. I actually really enjoy spending time walking through expos and seeing the different events being promoted and some of the new gear that's available. So, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more going on at this expo, but it was in keeping with the size of the event. This expo did have the unique aspect of being held at the Monmouth Park race track and that made up for the lack of size. I'm not a big horse racing fan, but that track was obviously very old and had a ton of history. I probably spent almost an hour wandering around the grounds with everything being completely wide open. That was a neat experience. The morning of the race I got up very early so that I could get on the road from my hotel and to the parking area. Almost every prior review I read made comments about how awful the traffic situation was getting to the parking area with several people saying the traffic was so bad they advised leaving with 2 hours to spare. I made it onto the road with a little over an hour and a half before race time and breezed right into a parking spot so whatever issues they have had in the past must have been resolved and I got about 30 minutes of nice quiet time in the car. The weather on race morning was fantastic, about 58 degrees and mostly overcast. There was a cool front coming in and the temperatures actually fell slightly during the race. There was a decent breeze that was fairly sustained during the race, but it wasn't terribly bad, I spent the last 7 miles running into it but it was more cold than anything else. The course was good, I was expecting a huge bottleneck at the beginning that never materialized, I guess we should take all reviews with a grain of salt (this one included). The course started with a little uphill climb that flattened out quickly and represented all of the elevation change on the first half. The first half went through some nice neighborhoods and some urban area, a nice mix of things to see. The half marathoners split off between 11 and 12 and I went from running with a decent group to being by myself, there was a huge difference in half and full runners in this race. Just after the split, the elite runners started to pass me going the other way on the opposite side of the road (yes, I am that slow). This was the first indication of how long the out and back section was going to be. I happened to notice the back of the mile 23 marker while watching the elites and wanting to see the front of that marker was stuck in my head for the next 2 hours. The course made its way down to the boardwalk with some fairly nice downhill stretches which would become uphills into the wind on the way back. The turn around point didn't come until between miles 18 and 19 and it was a sharp turn which was not terribly welcome. As much as that long of an out and back is hard to deal with mentally, it is a tremendous boost when you finally hit that turnaround and are headed home. After the turnaround the course spends a lot of time on the boardwalk along the ocean which is really nice. It was amusing to see all the tourists who had no idea they had wandered into a marathon while out on the boardwalk. I spent more time along the ocean in this marathon than I did at Rock&Roll San Diego so kudos to New Jersey for all the ocean front running. The finish was well organized with boxed water instead of bottled which I had only seen once before when I ran San Francisco so good to see the east coast being a little proactive environmentally. I finished in 4:48 which is a 10 minute PR for me so this will be a course I remember very fondly. Now for the massive negative for this event. The race is point to point so you park at the start and there are shuttles to take you back to the start line after you finish. First, there were no signs in the finisher area indicating where the buses were located and it was a bad sign that they weren't close enough that you could see them. Myself and a couple of other runners got with the local police and they were able to direct us to the shuttle bus area which was at least a 3/4 mile walk from the finisher area. Then the buses themselves didn't drop the runners off in the runner parking lot, we were dropped off on the other side of the race track and had to walk almost another mile to get to our vehicles. My step counter had me at almost 31 miles for the day by the time I got back to my car. This is a great event that really does a great job for the runners, but with so many people needing the shuttles to get back to their cars it shouldn't be such an afterthought. That, however, does not come close to dampening my enthusiasm for this event, it was well run and an enjoyable course, well worth the trip to Jersey.

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Marathon Details - New Jersey Marathon