Ottawa Fall Colours Marathon - Race Reviews

Hello, This is my 28th marathon in 16 different cities all over North America and overall, it was a great marathon course (despite the out and back twice). The organization and support is fantastic, but the second half of the course, I felt I was running alone at times for long periods and I ran my marathon in 4 hours and should have some runners around me. I would recommend to move the marathon start time earlier, as I find 10:00am to late as many marathoners take 3:45 or longer and I was very hungry two hours into the marathon. Another recommendation for runner safety is to close the entire lane of the road as we were forced to run on the edge of the road, which was on broken asphalt and uneven gravel for the second half of the marathon due to oncoming traffic. Overall, if you want a small marathon with good organization, this may be a race for you, but keep in mind of the late start time and rolling hills.

This was my 32nd Overall Marathon, and it was beautiful. The course is out and back, which you do twice. The volunteers and organization was great, with lots of support at each water station. If you want a scenic, small race, then this is it!! The positives: - The medal and t-shirt were exceptional for a small-town race. - Excellent course support and volunteers (16 water stations for the Marathon) - Very scenic and beautiful Fall Colours Areas for Improvement: 1. The start time (10am) is very late for a Marathon. When you finish the Marathon, you feel all alone. All the other runners have left since all the races start within 10 minutes of each other. If you can start the Marathon at 8am or even 9am, then the atmosphere at the Finish will be much better. 2. The course was supposed to be closed for one lane, but we had cars zipping by us on the 'closed' lane. This is very dangerous and unsafe for runners. 3. It would be nice to have a chip timing mat at the 10K turnaround, so you can see your progress throughout the Marathon. 4. Please have a two loop course, because out and back twice gets very boring and mundane for the Marathoners. The course is beautiful, but with a few tweaks, it can be amazing.

Very small race but well organized. I trained on hills but thought it was very hilly for a marathon. It takes a lot out of you. Loved running it though because it's not flat, but very hard to BQ on it. People very friendly, second part of the marathon a bit lonely. The only big negative point for me was ...one porta potty every 10km is NOT enough :(.

Autumn Colours is correct. Beautiful scenery. Quiet neighbourhoods. If you want large crowds, this ain't it. Nice rolling hills to challenge you but not kill you. Great support on the course. Start included 100 marathoners and 300 half-marathoners, 2 laps, out & back course, so second part of course you were sometimes alone except for aid stations which were quite frequent. I recommend... whole-heartingly in fact.

Small-town atmosphere, so you don't have to worry about getting lost in the crowds of runners. You run one full 21K loop, and on the second one you turn around about halfway or for the last 10K back to the Cumberland Village start. I've done a bunch of marathons and really technical trail ultras, but for some reason was thinking this wouldn't be any tougher than the NYCM course. I didn't pay attention to the elevation chart, so I was wondering when we'd finally summit the course in the first loop. It was really windy for this year's event, and of course it was mostly headwinds while climbing some of the steeper or long, gradual inclines. You look forward to going back on mostly downhill but there are some rollers on the way back to the finish with the one nice, steep one right before it. It's not the most challenging but don't expect it to be a fast course. Volunteers were great. Some spectators/friends/family of runners interspersed throughout but you get to run with only a few others or by yourself at times, which is a nice change. Vegetarian and meat chili at the end was ok. Didn't have to wait too long for a massage and they actually took their time with each person, which was a nice surprise. Parking was easy and scenery was pretty good. You have a choice to fill out and submit some background info before the event, which they announce as you're crossing the finish line, and that adds that special touch for each individual.

This marathon is 25 minutes outside of Ottawa in a residential rural area. No fans. Somewhat hilly. Of the 18 marathons I've run, I'd rank this one the lowest in every category. On the plus side, spending a couple of nights in Ottawa was fun - it's a great city.

I did this as my first marathon and it did not disappoint me. Last week I saw my hubby run the larger Ottawa spring marathon (find your way in the crowd!). He only had one gel station and was always fighting his way. And I am thrilled that I did this one. Great weather and scenery. The hills are not too bad, even for a first-time runner! If you are doing your first marathon, and want exceptional service (and lots of pictures available as a memory), then come here! You are treated like gold, not a number!

I just read comments about this run being hilly. I don't mean to make fun of anyone, but it was a beautiful run and if you want hills, try coming to BC and doing a run out here. Now we're talking hills. I loved the setting; it reminded me of the Historic Langley Half Marathon here in BC, which ended at Old Fort Langley. Weather was perfect running weather, and I didn't notice the traffic. More spectators for us slower runners at the end would have been nice, but otherwise I thought it was very nice.

The course itself can be resumed in one word: hills! It seems to be made up of hills, then more hills and finally more hills to climb... One thing though, the streets are not closed - some motorist are cruising by you at speeds of about 100 km/h... This is a local event (not international) thus you get local organization. It would had been nice to have a course map provided with registration (the one on google map was a combination of all the courses in a red outline; more difficult to read than helpful). Those of you who need spectator encouragement; forget about it! There is almost no spectators throughout the course (except the start and finish area). All in all a good local race. Don't pack up just to go race it but if you are from the area it is a nice race for you... I'll be back next year for sure.

To date I've only run two marathons - one relatively big one and this small one. The race also includes a half, 10K, 5K, and a 1K for the kids. Each start is comes in 10-minute increments after the start of the marathon, which makes the marathon start really cool because you do a 1K "promenade" inside the museum grounds with all of the other racers cheering you on. The other nice thing about this race is that you can bring your own fans. My family had unlimited access to the course, which was really nice. I saw them at least, at every water station. Speaking of which, stations are every 2.5 KMs with gels at every second one. The other runners were super. I chatted with several other runners as we jogged a sub-1:44 half, and after the race, the second-place finisher even came up to me and asked me how it went. There is a potentially tough series of hills at about 3 KMs, and since this is a two-lap race, they come again at about 24K, but once you get to the top, it's pretty flat or downhill. Make sure you've done your hills before you come, but do come. It's a super little race. After experiencing the two "sizes" of races, I'll be looking for more small ones. One little thing they need to work on is the course profile on the web. It makes the course look much tougher than it is.

This is a wonderful, small, marathon, through some beautiful fall scenery. The colors of the trees are beautiful. The race was well organized, with plenty of water and Gatorade stops, with great volunteers. Not that many spectators, as it is out in the country (hence the beautiful scenery). Great race and will run it again.

I just finished the 2004 event. It was a tough day with temps around 7 degrees Celsius and a very stiff wind. The course was tough. I would rated tougher than the Boston Marathon course. What made it really tough was that aside from around 1K that I ran with others, I ended up running 41K by myself and was 5th overall. I was prepared to do this, but man, was it tough. Its not a PB course, but a really nice one that will test your mental toughness. The organization was great and so were the aid stations. I'd recommend this small race as a great fall marathon option in the Northeast if you don't want to run with 20,000 people. Just don't expect to get a Boston qual time if you think you are on the 'brink' and need a fast course to make your time. Some others I spoke to said that it was 10 min slower than some of the flatter courses, and I tend to believe them. I will recommend to the organizers that they start the 500 half marathoner with the 100 full marathoners so that we have some company for at least 1 loop.

I've run this marathon both years it has been held, and enjoyed it very much each time. The 'Fall Colors' in the title is no lie - they are spectacular. The course isn't easy, but the scenery makes up for it. A couple of long-ish climbs at the beginning of each loop, plus a series of rollers in the last 4km make it challenging. The organization is very good, with accurate markers every km, and lots of aid stations. The rural nature of the course means that there are not a lot of spectators, but they are enthusiastic. The finish layout is excellent for spectating. I would highly recommend this growing event.

Hello all, I am very excited to share my first marathon with you. I ran the Ottawa Fall Colors Marathon in 4:16 last weekend. The weather was fabulous: 9°C at start time and about 20°C at finish with light winds. Here are some characteristics of this race: - Small marathon; about 130 runners, but about 1,000 more participants ran the half, 10k, 5k and 1k. - We start and finish in the Cumberland Heritage Village. It almost feels like you start and finish in a stadium. - Hilly course, but if you ran hills just a few times before, you are going to be just fine. - 21k loop. The second time around is pretty lonely due to the low number of runners and there is not much of a crowd (however, the ones that are there are very supportive), but if you are used to running your long runs alone, no problem there again. - All volunteers were GREAT!!! - One of the advantages of running a new marathon (only their second edition), is that you have no problem getting a massage after the race :-) - The after-race food was absolutely fabulous (hot chili, pasta, etc.) - Nice draw prizes, free shirts and finisher's medals. I would ABSOLUTELY recommend it!!! Lucie

A great course for those who like to run hills. Scenic and interesting with almost no traffic. The small number of participants and the start and finish on the museum grounds gave the race a very homey, comfortable aspect. Excellent, friendly volunteers throughout the race were very supportive. A very positive experience.

Hilly, double-loop course with lots of fall colors - starting and finishing at Heritage Village in Cumberland. Good support and volunteers - I even got offered a long-sleeve shirt from a spectator. Lots of weather changes throughout - sun, rain, hot, cold, but shorts and t-shirt were suitable. Lots of water/Cytomax stations along the way, and chip timing. Washrooms at beginning, end and middle - but lots of bush. Good variety of food at the end and nice, long-sleeve souvenir shirts. Lots of activities at the Heritage Centre for the spectators and their children (ex: pumpkin carving). Lower number of participants as race just starting up - which allowed my husband to finish 5th (bragging rights). A great race - only criticism is the turkeys at the start line were stinky. The designated hotel - the Chimo - had a great special rate and even upgraded us to a suite.