Grizzly Marathon

Don't let the small size of this race scare you off, this is a terrific race with great organization and a great layout. When they say no fans, they mean it - we're talking ZERO fans along the route. But what a beautiful course! Some tough rolling hills, but a net downhill overall. Gravel roads were fine to run on, not the issue other posts make it out to be. This is a race I would highly recommend to 50 Staters - the people in Montana could not be friendlier. Point to point this year, so you have to be on the bus pretty early (4 a.m.), but running through the scenic ranch country at sun up was pretty awesome. Overall, one of my favorite races.

This race begins and ends in the town of Choteau, but the majority of the race is run on rock and gravel roads in the rural countryside. Very scenic, as you progress through many rolling hills on this out-and-back journey. Organization was wonderful. Aid stations are adequately stocked and roaming volunteers do a great job monitoring everyone's progress. Pre- and post-race meals are well-organized and the workshop/presentation session on the eve of the marathon is both beneficial and enjoyable. Since it is a rural area, you won't see many spectators, but the hospitality is wonderful and the places to visit in the Choteau area are an added bonus that I would definitely run it again. Hills can be very challenging, however, and it would be beneficial for any participant to train for them prior to running. Kudos to Syd for making this race a small-town sensation!

Grizzly Marathon Choteau, MT Saturday, July 31, 2010 6:00 a.m. I flew into Great Falls via Denver on Thursday. From the airport to Choteau was a 55-mile drive. I stayed in Stage Stop Inn, a nice hotel with super friendly staff, located within a short walking distance to the start/finish of the marathon. Packet pick-up was on Friday afternoon/evening at the elementary school, where the Spring Creek 4-H Club served a pretty good pre-race spaghetti dinner, which seemed like a fund-raising event ($8 per person). The race packet included a technical short-sleeved T-shirt, an embroidered race ski hat, and a few other items. The start and finish were at the elementary school. Race day temperatures ranged from high 50's to mid 80's. The 6:00 a.m. start was very helpful. Mother Nature was kind to us by keeping the sun hidden behind the clouds for a while. The air was dry. In short, the weather turned out to be much better than what I had expected it to be. As advertised, the out-and-back course was hilly and challenging. The first 1.8 and last 1.2 miles were on paved roads; the rest of the course was on gravel roads. The route was scenic and I found myself amazed by the Big Sky Country. There were more hills on the way out than on the way back, which made the run suitable for negative splits. There were aid stations every other mile. There were mile markers. As expected, there was no crowd support. The route was very well monitored by volunteers on all-terrain vehicles. We shared the first several miles with half marathoners. Each finisher received a nice medallion in the shape of bear claw. There were plenty of recovery food items and drinks at the finish. In short, this was a well organized running event for which I salute the race director and her staff of friendly and cheerful volunteers. There were 76 (42 male, 34 female) finishers with the average finish time of 4:49:47.