Done the marathon twice. Victoria is a great city and very walkable. Good pubs, great hotels, stuff to do. Hotels are near the start/finish - EASY! Packet pick-up near hotels - EASY! Race shirt and jacket - Good Quality! Food after - YUMMY! Hills - rolling, not too bad. Will definitely come back another year.

The full marathon course has its share of rolling hills, some of which hurt near the end. So if you're a flat-lander like me, do some hill training. The hurt certainly doesn't detract from the wonderful course, the high energy and well stocked aid stations, the beautiful neighbourhoods and inspiring ocean views. The volunteers at the finish are supportive, friendly and there is plenty of post-race fuel for all. LOVED that we got chocolate milk! Highly recommend this one.

I love this race! I have run the half and the full and I have been totally impressed with both. The course is great, the aid stations are perfectly spaced. This year the shirt was actually a nice jacket! I love the size of it as well. It feels big because of the other races and the support of the community but while you are running you have plenty of space.

This was my 4th time running the marathon here and loved every minute of it. The course is fantastic, the organization could not be better and the fans inspiring. The weather was perfect and whole atmosphere was extremely upbeat.
I only have a couple of suggestions and one is to start the marathon earlier. 8:45 am is too late on a warm sunny day. Us slower marathoners had to run in the blazing sun in mid day, had it been any warmer this would have caused problems.
I heard a marathoner saying that last year she only just made it in under the five and a half hour cut off as she was having a lot of pain. I think the early start should be more flexible and allow runners five hours and longer to start early. I was in under 5 hours but I would have not have liked to worry about the cut off time if I was having a bad day.
Other than these two points the race was totally positive. Rob Reid is a great race director and ambassador for the city.
The jacket the marathoners received was excellent and good quality too. This race always has the best shirts and this time jackets. Nice medals and I received a beautiful age group award.
Excellent job and thank you for a great race experience.

We ran the very popular half marathon. Course is beautiful - run right along the ocean. This is the 33rd year of this race, and you can tell they know what they're doing. Finish area very well organized with medals, medical support and food readily available. Lovely city and great fans along the route. Highly recommended.

Having read complaints about previous years problems with food after the race and water along the course I was a little worried. But that was not my experience in the 2012 race. The course was beautiful, the hills are rolling and scattered throughout the course -nothing too steep or long (at least compared to Seattle where I live and train).

There was plentiful cytomax and water at all stops and there was loads of food after the race (I finished after 4:30 so with their early start for the 5:30+ folks, there weren't too many people finishing after me I imagine). Crowd support was sparse in places but the water and mountain views made up for it. Bib pickup was simple and the starting line organization was simple since the marathon had less than 2000 people running with a separate start time for the half marathoners. You just showed up and started off.

I started toward the back and crossed the starting line just a minute after the gun time start. Victoria is a great place to visit too. I highly recommend this marathon as a destination marathon.

This was my 10th marathon and I was impressed with the organization. Quick, easy package pickup, start line was well orgainzed and aid stations were well manned. It's not an easy course, the last 15k are hilly and against the wind. Probably one of the best finish line race food tables that I've had.

My wife & I did the half as our 30th anniversary vacation and loved every minute of our stay in Victoria. The route was not difficult by any means. Running along Dallas Road and finishing in front of the parliment building was great. Great organization on race day though the race kit pick up has room for improvement. Great pubs with excellent local beers and everything is within walking distance down town. If you're interested in vacation races this should be on the list.

Done the race twice but limited aid stations that were emptied out by the the half marathon racers. Carry your own supplies.

No fuel or water for 15 plus km is unacceptable. Gave the organization a pass one year, but not two.

Spend more time on your athletes in the full or else just scrap it and make money off the half.

This was a very well organized event, which was what made the parts of the race itself so disappointing. I was around the 73 percentile or so on the finish list. At the turning point, 23K, there was no water available - they were out. There was Gatorade. This is pretty much how it went at a number of the hydration stations on the way back. For some reason near the end of the course there were three hydration stations within what seemed like five kilometers. What was most worrisome was that there were only two gel stations on the course (really one that you ran by twice), but on the way back there were NO gels. I had taken extra, so for me it wasn't too bad, but for some people this must have been a real problem.

The course is fairly consistent with its slightly rolling hills - nothing extreme, just consistent. Book hotels early or consider a B&B in Victoria, as they are plentiful. Beautiful course!