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May 10, 2024

Morgantown Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 3.8

Organization 4.0

Spectators 3.6

Number of comments: 25 [displaying comments 11 to 21]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 > ]

E. M. from Baltimore, MD (10/7/2015) "If you love hills.........Run this way!" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 HALF MARATHON: Super excited as a WVU alumni to run this race. LOTS of hills, if you don't like hills do NOT run this race! But it's WV & you should expect hills. Course had a good amount of spectators & the aid stations were GREAT. Course itself was pretty boring, going through mostly neighborhoods. It would be great if the half course could run downtown or by the stadium. I know it's the 'Morgantown' marathon and not the WVU marathon, but it would have been nice to see some of the campus along the way. Expo was empty when we arrived at 5pm. Logistics were a bit tricky, but nothing major if you just read the pre-race information. Will definitely consider running again in 2016.
F. D. from Morgantown, WV (10/7/2015) "A hometown/small town marathon" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 Course is hilly but is as good as possible in Morgantown. Benefits our 'Wounded Warriors'. Water stops every 1.5-2miles. Significant hills about miles 18, 20, 21, 25.5 to 26 plus some before 13 miles. Decent fan support. Good law enforcement/traffic support. Train on hills if you plan on a time goal. And as with all other marathons stick to every inside corner if you don't want to run longer than 26.2. An urban course!
C. R. from North Carolina (10/7/2015) "Not a bad race to come home to" (about: 2015) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I'm a WV native and graduate of WVU. I was really looking forward to this race because it was a chance to come home. I was pleased with the race's course (I actually PR'ed, somehow) and thought the spectators that did come out (however few and far between) were enthusiastic. There were certainly bumps, namely the parking situation, the lack of sound for the announcements at the beginning of the race, and a small, skimpy expo. All in all, though, I thought it was a good first race in Morgantown. I only ran the Half Marathon, btw.
S. M. from West Virginia (10/7/2015) "Challenging and fun!" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was a great inaugural race for Morgantown, WV. Yes, there are things that can be improved. And, yes, it's challenging. There are hills. A fair amount of them. But since when have runners backed down from a challenge? Give it a chance and try this race. Proceeds benefit the Wounded Warriors Program - who can disagree with helping out such a great cause? This event will only get better and better with more experience. Great race for those looking for a challenge or looking to get WV under their 50-state belt!
B. P. from WV (10/7/2015) "Challenging course with great crowd support!" (about: 2015) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Really enjoyed the majority of the marathon course - the town was out in force to encourage the runners and offer support. Would have liked to have had more of the course on the great rail trail system in the area, especially by the river. Really enjoyed the tour of the city, though! Brought back lots of great memories for this WVU grad!
A. C. from Charleston, WV (10/7/2015) "Great Race for the Inaugural Year" (about: 2015) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 If you love hills you will LOVE this course. It is challenging but if you are running half/full marathons, you probably love a challenge anyways. I had no problems navigating the course, the crowd was pretty good for the 1st year, and the medal was great. :) Although the streets were not fully closed, they were shut down enough for runners to have plenty of room to safely navigate the course and pass people. I would absolutely do this run again. It can only get better next year! Thanks to everyone who made it possible!
A. R. from Chicago (10/7/2015) "A good innaguaral event that needs to get weird" (about: 2015) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 I recently moved from Morgantown and was excited to come back and run this race. I've run 4 other marathons (including Pittsburgh) and can say that this was by far the most challenging. The hills just kept coming, and the final one felt like a bit of a cruel joke. That said, Morgantown Marathon definitely has a personality of it's own, and I think the organizers should embrace the ridiculousness of the course and rebrand. Forget about the Boston qualifier. Call it the 'West Virginia Roller Coaster' and attract new runners by highlighting the difficulty. Small marathons have found success by selling themselves as parties that just happen to feature a crazy marathon. This is the way to go. The crowds were dismal except for the start/finish and a small section of South Park that seemed to really 'get it'. The only thing worse than no crowd is a crowd that looks totally confused about what is going on. This is more of a Morgantown problem than a Morgantown Marathon problem. Hopefully people will learn to embrace the event, like the resident's of Huntington have with the Marshall Marathon. Again, more focus on the party-like atmosphere could help. An out-and-back course might also help get the most out of a smaller crowd. Far too few water/med stations. Lead runners had to watch as people set up stations because they hadn't anticipated runners arriving so early. It if wasn't for a group of Bernie Sanders supporters I would have had no water going up Greenbag Road. Late stations had nothing but water and gatorade. Bananas, GU's and beer, please. If I sound critical it's because I think this event has a ton of potential. The start and finish were well-organized and had a good energy. I probably won't run it again, but I'd love to attend the party.
J. D. from Buckhannon, WV (10/7/2015) "Thoroughly enjoyed it." (about: 2015) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This is my first half marathon, so in fairness, I do not have anything against which to compare it. That being said, I had an absolutely great time running this race. I am not an accomplished runner, but did not think the course was too difficult. It had enough ups and downs to make it interesting, but not enough to be strenuously difficult. If there was a problem with the marking of the course it was for the first place runners and was quickly corrected. I was still in the top 20% of racers and had no issues with course marking. In fact, I was surprised when I heard there were problems with the marking. My only negatives were: I submitted an e-mail for late packet pickup and received no confirmation that my request had been processed. I called and left a few messages with no return call. I really didn't care for the finish line being in a different place from the starting line. I thought I was done, only to find out I wasn't. :) Overall, I very much appreciated all of the volunteers, the hard work that was put in to make it happen, and all of the people cheering us on. It was truly an enjoyable and memorable experience.
M. D. from Woodbridge, VA (10/7/2015) "Challenging tour of Morgantown - I loved it" (about: 2015) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I decided this year that I wanted to run a race in all 50 states. This would be my first time running in West Virginia and I'm so grateful to have come across this inaugural event. Supporting a great cause, our troops, and touring the various neighborhoods of Morgantown made this a no brainer for me. While the hills most definitely made this a challenging course, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Beautiful views in several spots and running through neighborhoods for me is actually a plus. Seeing the spectators and just overall seeing the town. Running through WVU campus was really cool. In spite of the hilly challenge, I only missed my average marathon time by 10 minutes. Just over 4:40 but I'll admit that last mile straight up a mountain to WVU reminded me of the Marine Corp Marathon events. They love making you work for it! :) Yes, there were a few areas along the way where spectators were sparse but I think the route made that a challenge. It made me appreciate the spectators I did see along the way! Fellow runners were awesome and so supportive too. I was late to the expo, arriving an hour before it closed, because I drove in from out of town so I missed receiving one of the WV quarters to place on my medal (but I've found one since then!). There wasn't much to the expo but I figured it was due to my being late. I LOVED how the medal was designed by the same artist for the quarter. Really cool. I could feel the overall pride from the race organizers and I would definitely recommend this experience to my friends.
R. f. from WV (10/7/2015) "Good first year race" (about: 2015) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Morgantown Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I thought this was a great race! I personally prefer small races without a lot of participants and in a small town setting. If you like big races in big cities...this may not be for you. Good course markings and good water stops. Wish they had a female specific shirt. Also, I hated the fact that it started/finished at the colosseum, but you weren't allowed to park there. There is plenty of parking available there. The fact that we had to take shuttles....RIDICULOUS!!! Also, I paid extras to have my stuff shipped to me; however, only half of my stuff came. I had to find a special tent after the race to pick up the rest of my items. That could have been better. I will do this race again....just hope some things improve!

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