York Marathon and Half Marathon

This was my third marathon and even though it does not have the feel of a big time race, it was still a very nice well organized event. It was nice the marathoners started an hour before the half. 6 AM is an early start but you are done sooner and you can enjoy the beautiful sounds of nature as you run on the trail early in the morning. Not many spectators but when there was they were very supportive. Aid stations always had gels, Gatorade and water.Volunteers were great at directing traffic. Like I said, it's not a big time race, no expo or much crowd support. It's a flat and fast course. The course is over marked. My watch said 26.5 miles. So beware if you are trying to PR. I still was able to get my sub 4 hour goal. Great finish line and after party. I would run this race again.

The beginning was completely different, and very cool. Staggered start times, but you could start at any time in your 10 minute period. So, runners just sort of walked up near the line, looked around and started when they felt like it. The water stops were well managed. Every crossing had traffic guys controlling them. No close calls anywhere. The trail actually is almost in people's yards, so they came out to watch. Fans also drove to see us. Lots of enthusiasm. No awards ceremony due to the rolling start. We knew that ahead of time. The City of York has a downtown area with restaurants and bars. We got to town two days before the race, so we got to experience the area. Highly recommend this race

This was my 5th Marathon and I cannot say enough about the Race Director, Staff and Volunteers. I would give 10 Stars if I could. The communication was excellent and I felt very informed on COVID Related changes and Updates. Parking and walking to the Start Line was a breeze. They had a rolling start (50 runners every 10 minutes) and I felt very safe and stress free which was very important to me running an organized race in the middle of a pandemic. The course was flat and slightly uphill for the first half and downhill for the back half. The race was run on rail trail with a crushed stone feel under foot. I had been fighting an injury for the last 6 weeks so I was grateful to have a chance to run and had to hobble/walk the last 4 miles but I finished. Water/Gatorade/Gels, Port-o-Pots and Aid stations were ever 1.5 to 2 miles so you never felt too far away from support if needed. Medal and Shirt were nice and Post Race Food was nice as well. I am glad this was moved to October instead of May (Due to Covid) because it was a beautiful race with lots of trees and nice scenery.