Marabana Havana Marathon

A different marathon, but a great opportunity to be in touch with Cuban people, and is important to recognized that they are unique. 2016 was an excellent experience and for this 2017 I'm already decided, I'm going with Letty's Cuba for just 849, in my opinion right now is the best offer, I invited everybody to participate in this event, will be in November 19.

Fun (especially for a US resident) to run in Cuba . . . but organizational problems abound! The website said where to pick up the race packet - but the place was locked, and the people behind the gate said to go somewhere miles away - luckily a passing German runner told us that that information was correct too, and gave us the correct info - turns out the Spanish website you connect to when you register didn't update the info, so unless you went to the separate Cuban website you would never know! The 10k and half-marathon and full marathon runners all start together, with no corrals, so the start is a mess with people bumping into each other all over . . . very few people do the full marathon, so on the 2nd time round the half-marathon course there are very few spectators, and there was very poor organization at the end to separate out the finishing half-marathoners from the full marathoners, who seem to be treated as a bit of an after-thought. The roads were not very well cleared, and the famous Havana diesel pollution didn't help. But all in all it is worth doing!

Positives: Started right on time. LOTS of water stops. About every 2 km. Nice shirt. Good medal. Issues: No port-a-potties. Not even at the start area. Those old cars were somewhat of a problem. A few places we were running too much with traffic. Not much, but a little concerning. It was hot and humid, so a real challenge for this northerner. The course is a two lap event. Not many people doing the second lap! It got a little lonely out there at times. Nearly everyone I encountered the last 10k was from Canada or Europe. VERY few Americans. STAY AT A HOTEL by the start/finish area. You'll appreciate it if you need to use the toilet. Our guide picked up our shirts and numbers so I have no idea how chaotic it might have been inside that dank building.