Vancouver International Marathon

A generally good marathon that could be even better with a few tweaks. First the good: I loved that the half and full were split with the half starting 1.5 hours before the full. This made the congestion manageable. Racers did an excellent job of self seeding as I did not encounter a single walker in the second corral. The course is beautiful and varied with a major, daunting hill between miles 5-7 followed by a wonderful and long downhill. The crowds were frequently loud and very supportive.The finish line was packed and loud which created a very exciting experience. The shirt and medal are both beautiful. Some things that I would change include the water stations which, especially early in the race were not long enough which created some unnecessary congestion. The course itself could have been wider, but this was less of a problem because of the excellent self seeding, and the expo was a madhouse both inside and getting to the convention center. I overall liked the race and would recommend it with those few reservations. After the race, we enjoyed great beer at Brassneck and Steamworks Brewing

Vancouver is a stunning city, but the course was very challenging and could be set up better. You start in Queen Elizabeth Park and run into the city, ending around Stanley Park on the sea-wall. These 6 miles around the park are punishing. There are no spectators, lots of curves, unreliable kilometer markers, and since the race starts late in the day it's very hot and sunny. The rest of the course is beautiful but challenging, and I was really disappointed with the lack of crowd support throughout the entire race. For a big city marathon I really expected more people to come out and cheer, but for large chunks of the course there was nobody. I thought the finish line was disappointing. The beer ticket got you a tiny little beer, and they took it down before the finish cut-off time and my friend wasn't able to get a beer, after they'd advertised free beer during the whole course. If you want a beautiful marathon course in a destination city, Vancouver is a good choice, but overall I would not recommend this race.

This is my 3rd time running the current incarnation of the course. I primarily ran it again because it was close and I was unable to travel this month like I hoped for another marathon. For runners out for the experience and the scenery and tolerant of hills, this course can be nice. Running late in the race around the seawall with a cooling headwind can be pleasant. However, as the winner mentioned in the local newspaper, this course is actually tough and not conducive to fast times. I do a lot of hill work and have run many marathon with hills so I was able to handle the 'slopey' sections and easily get a BQ, but was still considerably slower than 5 marathons I ran last year (some with significant hills as well, including Boston). I also suffered late in the race because of the lack of carbohydrate on the course. I didn't see the last gel station (the map location was different then the aid station description location) and the drink was essentially carb-free. Far too long of a stretch on the course with no nutrition. Pros: - scenic beauty of Vancouver - decent expo - transportation pass for race morning - urinals at start (relieve pressure on the portables) - a few bands were really good Cons: - fair bit of ups and downs - a lot of curves along seawall late in race can be tough for holding a pace - slight uphill finish - lack of food and carb drink on the course - swag bag same one I got 3 years ago - finish food pretty sparse