Beaver Island Marathon

If you're looking for a beautiful destination race to enjoy the scenery, this is it! If you need a lot of crowd and runner support, this is NOT it. Very small race (only 100 marathoners), so there were many parts where you were completely alone and had to make sure you stayed on course and didn't get lost. But the race was well organized, the townfolk and volunteers were so friendly, we felt like family by the time we left. Would definitely recommend this race, especially to combine with a nice vacation! Pros: Very organized, Scenic course, friendly volunteers, great post race food and festivities, awesome place to do a destination race. Cons: Many areas of course you're alone, some parts of course not marked clearly enough, many parts of course on gravel so if it rains, you'll be running through a lot of mud. Overall: totally recommend if you're going for speed or for sightseeing!

This was my 8th marathon and overall it was a beautifully scenic, quiet, and at some points hilly course, but mostly flat on pavement and dirt roads doing 2 loops around the north end of the island. I gotta say I really loved the race despite my criticism. I think there is great potential for this one if the organizers update a one or two small but important items (I'll cover shortly). There were very few spectators, but everyone who did come out to watch was very friendly and supportive. But that was okay, there was more than enough superb views of the lake, woods, boats, dunes, lighthouses, etc. to keep you engaged. The roads stayed open to traffic, but it was not a problem. The big problem was hydration: even though there were plenty of aid stations, the cups resembled Dixie cups and were generally half-full or less. Each water stop featured a handful of warm people kindly handing out water and Gatorade, but the small portions made it very difficult to take in enough fluids. I tried to grab at least 2 cups at each station and this seemed to surprise the volunteers and we ended up spilling quite a bit in the hand-off. Yelling out, Gatorade! (versus water) didn't always help either, I often ended up with water anyway. I don't fault the volunteers, but I think the race organizers need to understand that they simply needed some standard sized cups and to be ready with a few more cups per runner. Certainly it is a small race and this was only the 3rd iteration (less than 60 finishers for the full) so I understand that finding volunteers was probably also challenging. My friend ended up in the hospital after bonked from dehydration; I simply teetered off the last 5 miles. I saw one other girl get taken to the hospital, I suspect also as a result of dehydration. Admittedly, it was also raining and cool during most of the race (which made the dirt roads quite muddy and a fun challenge), so gauging your sweat rate was difficult to begin with, but had it been hot and sunny I think we would have really seen the negative impacts of the lack of sufficient water/Gatorade. But this race is still worth running if you live somewhere near this remote island. Hopefully the organizers will stock larger cups, and more of them, next year.

I ran this race both years. In 2010 the course was changed, making this race a favorite of mine. The roads are dirt, gravel and pavement, and the scenery was spectacular with about 8 miles along Lake Michigan! I would recommend this race if you like races with 250 or so runners, wonderful scenery, and a well organized event! The island was wonderful and I cannot wait to do this race again this year. I have done many of the "big marathons" in Michigan - this by far is the BEST one. The volunteers and race owners are so organized and friendly. They know how to make a race successful. I am so excited for this race - I just signed up!