Marathon Details - The Kensington Marathon

North America Marathons > USA > MI > Milford > The Kensington Marathon

The Kensington Marathon & 50K, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K

Milford, MI USA

July 30, 2023

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Phone Number:	313-492-4644
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Reviews

Course 3.3

Organization 3.5

Spectators 2.3

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Number of comments: 4

Robert Ginnow from WI (8/7/2020) "Well organized- COVID compliant event" (about: 2020) 50+ previous marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 1 The race was exactly as promised. All procedures were in place and enforced to be compliant with COVID-19 prevention. The park the race is run at is amazing scenery. Hills and heat were tough on me but as expected. Would do again next year!
Rick Armes from Michigan (4/11/2016) "Stay Away" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 The Kensington Marathon COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 The race was very unorganized. The course was not marked well. Lead runners got lost. Terrible aid stations. Don't waste your money. Registered on race day and did not get into results. I wrote the race director and never got a response.
Rob Klein from Paradise, Michigan (7/29/2015) "Hot, Humid, and Hilly" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 The Kensington Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 A great marathon event centered around Kent Lake in Kensington Park. The park is close to Brighton. It is a good sized park, and was a bit of a drive to get to Maple Beach (the start/finish line area) once in the park. This race did check-in and late registration all in the 40 minutes or so before the marathon started. I got there early, so I was in and out quickly, but a line formed right after that. I am not aware that any runner had difficulty checking in. The course was almost all asphalt bike/foot path. We started out heading south along the lake for about 2.5 mile out and back, then north along the lake. Then another out and back from about mile 7 to 11. From there, we turned left and completed circling the lake. Then one more loop around the lake. The course was laid out well. It was well marked, and there were several aid stations - some we passed three times. There was adequate water and Gatorade, and gels were abundantly available too. The turn-around point at the north end of the out-and-back was somewhat lacking. There was a sign in the grass and if you read it, you knew to make a U-turn. There needed to be a person there, a cone, or a U-turn arrow on the pavement. This race was electronically timed, and usually that is where they would put a timing mat, but there was not a mat there. One guy, on his way back cautioned me to be careful, because he missed the sign and kept on going for ¼ mile further. Heading back, I cautioned others approaching the turn-around point too. There were lots of hills, but they were not steep or long grades. We were kind of following the lake-shore, so the hills were moderated by that. There were some that pushed too hard, and I saw one guy down. The paramedic said that he passed out while still running, then went down. He passed out from heat exhaustion, but then sustained additional injuries from the fall and had to go to the hospital. There were perhaps a half-dozen runners that got overheated and required assistance. The medical people were there and doing their job, helping runners in need. At the finish line there were cut up bagels, bananas, (warm) water, chips, and cups of ice cream. Also, this was a pavilion right on the lake-shore, and many were swimming. I also took the opportunity to get in the lake and cool off too, then changed into dry clothes before heading back to the Upper Peninsula. The race was well executed, support for the runners was very good, and it was safe. Good job Rick!
M. R. from Detroit, Michigan (7/27/2015) "good race so long as it remains small" (about: 2015) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 The Kensington Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I used this race as a training run for a fall marathon so it fit my needs very well. I believe 2015 was the second year this was run. It takes place in a large park that features a 8.5 mile loop paved walking and biking trail around Kensington Lake with 2 out and back loops thrown in. The website includes a well marked map and the race director gave everyone clear instructions directly before the start. Unfortunately, this did not prevent the lead runners from missing the first turn around. There should have been a race official at the turn around to prevent this though. This is a fundamental requirement to any race. The trail is just wide enough for 4 runners side by side. However, it is not closed to other park users (bikers and runners/walkers) so in reality only 2 runners can run side by side and anyone passing would have to pull out into oncoming people traffic. This was not a problem at the 7am start but became more of a concern later in the day as more visitors entered the park. Fortunately, most people recognized that there was a running event going and made way for the runners. However, if the race ever gets a lot bigger, I would check to see if it was closed to other trail traffic or I would avoid the race. Distance marking and accuracy was good overall although around mile 11 - 15, my Garmin was off by about 0.2 miles. By the end my Garmin was accurate and read 26.19. Another improvement opportunity would be to show the locations of the drink stations on the course map and also add more of them. 80+ deg weather should be expected for a July marathon and so more drinks stations would have been welcome. I liked the hills for training. Note that the course map indicated 1,600ft of climb but my Garmin only recorded 900ft of total elevation gain. Nevertheless, it is not flat like some other races around here. The spectators were very few and far between due to the small race size but those that did show up provided plenty of cheer and encouragement. Food and drink at the end was typical of many races and perfectly adequate. Nice touch was the difference flavor ice creams. Overall, I liked the race and with a few easy to implement fixes, this would be a good summer marathon - so long as the numbers remain small.

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Robert Ginnow from WI (8/7/2020) "Well organized- COVID compliant event" (about: 2020) 50+ previous marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 1 The race was exactly as promised. All procedures were in place and enforced to be compliant with COVID-19 prevention. The park the race is run at is amazing scenery. Hills and heat were tough on me but as expected. Would do again next year!
Rick Armes from Michigan (4/11/2016) "Stay Away" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 The Kensington Marathon COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 The race was very unorganized. The course was not marked well. Lead runners got lost. Terrible aid stations. Don't waste your money. Registered on race day and did not get into results. I wrote the race director and never got a response.
Rob Klein from Paradise, Michigan (7/29/2015) "Hot, Humid, and Hilly" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 The Kensington Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 A great marathon event centered around Kent Lake in Kensington Park. The park is close to Brighton. It is a good sized park, and was a bit of a drive to get to Maple Beach (the start/finish line area) once in the park. This race did check-in and late registration all in the 40 minutes or so before the marathon started. I got there early, so I was in and out quickly, but a line formed right after that. I am not aware that any runner had difficulty checking in. The course was almost all asphalt bike/foot path. We started out heading south along the lake for about 2.5 mile out and back, then north along the lake. Then another out and back from about mile 7 to 11. From there, we turned left and completed circling the lake. Then one more loop around the lake. The course was laid out well. It was well marked, and there were several aid stations - some we passed three times. There was adequate water and Gatorade, and gels were abundantly available too. The turn-around point at the north end of the out-and-back was somewhat lacking. There was a sign in the grass and if you read it, you knew to make a U-turn. There needed to be a person there, a cone, or a U-turn arrow on the pavement. This race was electronically timed, and usually that is where they would put a timing mat, but there was not a mat there. One guy, on his way back cautioned me to be careful, because he missed the sign and kept on going for ¼ mile further. Heading back, I cautioned others approaching the turn-around point too. There were lots of hills, but they were not steep or long grades. We were kind of following the lake-shore, so the hills were moderated by that. There were some that pushed too hard, and I saw one guy down. The paramedic said that he passed out while still running, then went down. He passed out from heat exhaustion, but then sustained additional injuries from the fall and had to go to the hospital. There were perhaps a half-dozen runners that got overheated and required assistance. The medical people were there and doing their job, helping runners in need. At the finish line there were cut up bagels, bananas, (warm) water, chips, and cups of ice cream. Also, this was a pavilion right on the lake-shore, and many were swimming. I also took the opportunity to get in the lake and cool off too, then changed into dry clothes before heading back to the Upper Peninsula. The race was well executed, support for the runners was very good, and it was safe. Good job Rick!
M. R. from Detroit, Michigan (7/27/2015) "good race so long as it remains small" (about: 2015) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 The Kensington Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I used this race as a training run for a fall marathon so it fit my needs very well. I believe 2015 was the second year this was run. It takes place in a large park that features a 8.5 mile loop paved walking and biking trail around Kensington Lake with 2 out and back loops thrown in. The website includes a well marked map and the race director gave everyone clear instructions directly before the start. Unfortunately, this did not prevent the lead runners from missing the first turn around. There should have been a race official at the turn around to prevent this though. This is a fundamental requirement to any race. The trail is just wide enough for 4 runners side by side. However, it is not closed to other park users (bikers and runners/walkers) so in reality only 2 runners can run side by side and anyone passing would have to pull out into oncoming people traffic. This was not a problem at the 7am start but became more of a concern later in the day as more visitors entered the park. Fortunately, most people recognized that there was a running event going and made way for the runners. However, if the race ever gets a lot bigger, I would check to see if it was closed to other trail traffic or I would avoid the race. Distance marking and accuracy was good overall although around mile 11 - 15, my Garmin was off by about 0.2 miles. By the end my Garmin was accurate and read 26.19. Another improvement opportunity would be to show the locations of the drink stations on the course map and also add more of them. 80+ deg weather should be expected for a July marathon and so more drinks stations would have been welcome. I liked the hills for training. Note that the course map indicated 1,600ft of climb but my Garmin only recorded 900ft of total elevation gain. Nevertheless, it is not flat like some other races around here. The spectators were very few and far between due to the small race size but those that did show up provided plenty of cheer and encouragement. Food and drink at the end was typical of many races and perfectly adequate. Nice touch was the difference flavor ice creams. Overall, I liked the race and with a few easy to implement fixes, this would be a good summer marathon - so long as the numbers remain small.

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Marathon Details - The Kensington Marathon