Ventura Marathon

Just enough downhill to encourage quick times. Management foresaw potential weather and flooding problems and had backup plans. The race went off without problems....course was accurate and safe. Plenty of aid and port-a-lets.Great time of year for cool weather. Thanks for a great event.

This is a super fast course, downhill most of the way, with just one hill of any note around miles 7-8. The race starts early, just before sunrise, which is good, because it can be warm, but this year there was a nice breeze and it was barely 70 by the time I finished. Plus, you're shaded most of the way, until the last 10K or so. Few spectators beyond Ojai, which I didn't mind. The bike path this runs on is a great surface, and there were tons of aid stations and ports potties along the way. Would have loved a course map and a few more details prior, plus the expo isn't remarkable, but all in all this race is totally a best kept secret - lovely, peaceful and FAST!! I PRd by 5 minutes!

The Route and the Condition: Ventura Marathon shares a large portion of route with Mountain to Beach Marathon. M2B holds in the spring time. Ventura holds in the fall. Ventura Marathon loops around Ojai for 1.5 laps with about 9 miles distance before entering the narrower bike path. With this arrangement, there were no crowded condition after you entered the narrower bike path. This is a better arrangement in comparing with M2B. The route is mainly downhill. The first 9 miles around Ojai have a few uphill miles. Close to the end of the route, there were a few miles without shade. We were very lucky to have a normal weather on the day of the event. The temperature was high 70s and low 80s. The next day, the entire southern California reached 100 degree at noon time. The Organization: The shuttle bus in the morning was smooth as the bus station was next to Ventura Fairground parking lot. There were plenty of parking available in the fairground parking lot with $5.00 parking fee. If you have extra time, it is not hard to find a free street parking nearby. There were a number of pacers. However, the pacing time are not 3:30; 3:45; 4:00 as we commonly see. I did not understand how the pacer has a time of 3:27; 3:42, etc. There were plenty of aid stations. The placement of water in front of Gatorade or otherwise were randomly arranged in different stations. A few stations stocked with cliff shots or some cliff candy. There were volunteers guided the traffic in all traffic intersections. However, I did see a car accident near an intersection, not runners involved, though. The party with live band at the finish area were excellent and fun. The organizers provide sorted out photos to runners. The photos are free of charge if you don't need high resolution photos. The Spectators: Not many spectators. Ventura is a small town. The route is mainly bike path.