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Palm Beaches Marathon Festival Runner Comments

Back to Palm Beaches Marathon Festival Information & Reviews

Course Rating Course 3.7 
 
Oranization Rating Organization 3.6 
 
Spectator Rating Spectators 3.1 
 
 
Number of comments: 106 [displaying comments 101 to 106]
More Comments: [ < 1 .. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 > ]

 

K. M. from Florida, USA (11/17/2004)
"What a great, fun, inaugural marathon. " (about: 2004)

First Marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 5


This was my first half marathon and it was lots of fun. The wacky water stations made the miles fly by. I will definitely be back next year for the full marathon.
 

joseph sanders from Jax Florida (11/16/2004)
"WET but nice course" (about: 2004)

50+ previous marathons | 1 Palm Beaches Marathon Festival
COURSE: 3  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 3


Not a bad race for a first-time event. The volunteers were great, especially considering the pouring rain for most of the entire course.

Only downside was I couldn't make expo so there weren't any race t-shirts for the late morning pickup people.

If the race director is reading this, yes, you can send me one.

A great job by all. I'll do it again and hope for better weather.
 

M. R. from Florida, USA (11/16/2004)
"Second 1/2 lacked everything" (about: 2004)

6-10 previous marathons | 1 Palm Beaches Marathon Festival
COURSE: 3  ORGANIZATION: 3  FANS: 3


The course has a scenic first 1/2 and the last 5 miles are also beautiful. Lots of twists and turns. It is annoying running a race and you see runners ahead of you coming towards you but there is no turn-around in sight, too much of that at this race. The course was supposed to be fast and flat but there were no records broken, maybe the hurricane-like conditions were the contributing factor for that.
 

S. V. from Delray Beach (11/16/2004)
"Nice start but needs work" (about: 2004)

11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 3  ORGANIZATION: 3  FANS: 3


I ran the HALF. Things to do or improve, in order of importance (constructive criticisms):

1) Move 3-4 weeks into December; chance for cooler temps and gives fall marathoners like myself (Chicago) more time to recover. Can't imagine many NY runners showed up here. Your argument about expensive hotels in December? Tampa has the same problem, how did they work it out?

2) Run loop, into PB, over two bridges. Wow!!! Now you've got a real hook. Miami runs into South Beach, PB runs into PB... adds real marketing punch too.

3) Drink stations: Water on left side, Gatorade or whatever on right side; or water front tables, Gatorade back tables. Be consistent! The inconsistency on first two stops led to uncertainty at every stop for me and people running into each other. Drove me nuts.

4) Eliminate $5 fee to park at expo to pick up stuff. Yikes. Finding place to park and walk over is inhospitable.

5) Expand expo. I'm sure you will with the run's general success. But it was lacking--in gear, particularly. Didn't even have cold water available.

6) Bring back Bill Rodgers to expo. He was great!
 

M. M. from FLorida (11/14/2004)
"Great Marathon " (about: 2004)

11-50 previous marathons | 1 Palm Beaches Marathon Festival
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 1


Great S. Florida scenery, well organized marathon.
 

J. B. from Yulee, FL (11/14/2004)
"Waste of time" (about: 2004)

6-10 previous marathons | 1 Palm Beaches Marathon Festival
COURSE: 2  ORGANIZATION: 1  FANS: 2


The inaugural Marathon of the Palm Beaches was a huge waste of time. Where should I start? For the most part the people of the Palm Beaches area are snooty, or shall I say snotty. When it started to rain the people who were manning the massage tent kicked everyone out into the rain. It only rains hard for a few minutes, is that really necessary? The half marathoners were not even near the finish, but that was the excuse they gave. Needless to say, my wife had to take a trip back to our room to change.

And why does a marathon that goes by this name not even go through Palm Beach? Are they too good to have marathoners run through their community? I'm sure that a much better course could have been devised as West Palm Beach is an absolute disaster with all the road construction going on. I'm lucky that I didn't injure myself on the course.

The services were nil at the finish line. Nothing except a bottle of 'Trump Ice' water. You really have to see it to believe it. At least Trump's toupee looks nice on the bottle. Come on, even with a major sponser like GM they couldn't splurge on some cookies? And if there were services they were all gone by the time I finished (3:29:30). The marathon t-shirt I recived is now the most repulsive piece of clothing that I own. I'm not even sure that Goodwill will take it.

If anyone is considering this marathon next year for some unknown reason, make it a point not to stay at the Hibiscus House Downtown Bed and Breakfast. This place was on the marathon 'housing bureau's' places to stay list. Big mistake. I got about three hours of sleep previous to the marathon. I do believe that I actually feared for my life, and paid nearly $160 to do it. I was actually surprised that I did not hear gunshots that night. There was a crowd of at least 100 people on the corner outside my window screaming at each other the entire night with the infusion of a car with bass so loud that it caused a concussion in our room every 15-20 seconds until at the earliest 2:30a.m.

I would like to thank the nice couple in Riveria Beach that gave out popsicles and bananas. I would also like to thank the local Hash House Harriers for the tasty beverage that they provided. ON-ON!

In summary, don't waste your time or money... And to the organizers, thanks for wasting my time and money. This was the worst running event that I have ever participated in, and that includes everything down to 5k's.
 

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