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Sugarloaf Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Sugarloaf Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.5 
Organization 4.5 
Spectators 3.2
Number of comments: 81 [displaying comments 11 to 21]
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W. C. from Massachusetts
(5/20/2014)
"Good organization, fast course" (about: 2014)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Sugarloaf Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 If you are close to your BQ time and need a fast race to get you over the hump, this is the race for you. Make sure you add plenty of hills (down and up) in your training and be disciplined not to go out too fast and you will do great. Transportation to the start and back to the lodge was fine, plenty of port o potties at the start, water stations every 2 miles and two GU stations, water station volunteers were great (I liked that they wore signs indicating if they had water or Gatorade), and the weather was perfect with even a tailwind towards the end. Nice small race. | |
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A. O. from MA
(5/19/2014)
"Great scenery, fun course" (about: 2014)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Sugarloaf Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Ran this on the one-month-training-plan. Had a great race. A few notes: * They use a shotgun for the start. Not a starter's pistol. A shotgun. (From the start it's 26 miles to the finish and 26 miles to Canada, give or take.) * The scenery is spectacular: mountains rising up 3000 feet for the first 10 miles, along a river the last 15. One big downhill at mile 11 and another at 16. Great mountain views without huge uphills. * The road is generally exposed (2014 had high clouds) so it could get warm on a sunny day, but the 7 a.m. start almost guarantees tolerable temperatures. * Many mentions of the hills in the last few miles on this forum. None more than a gain of 20 feet or so, and a nice respite for the legs after 10 miles gradually downhill. (I'm better suited to long distances than constant leg pounding, I guess.) You follow the river grade, and while the river flattens out, it keeps going down, and so do you. * No enforcement of 'no bike pacing' rules, but plenty of room for it, so not a big deal. Even car support wasn't a problem. * I ran slightly positive splits, even with the elevation; quite a bit of climb 7 to 10. November Project hills helped. * Plenty of feeds, well-marked volunteers (literally wearing signs reading 'water' and 'gatorade') * Road was open to traffic but all stayed in the other lane and went very slowly. There are only two places to access most of the road so everyone knew there was a race on (cops at both ends, I think). No trouble running in the middle of the lane. * Great organization. A guy in a flannel shirt and santa claus beard is in charge of transportation. My friend forgot his number, and they had no trouble giving him a new one. We got a ride to the start without issue (the buses leave wicked early, for a wicked early start). I left my gear bag and offered to come pick it up (we have a camp nearby), they offered to send it to me. Wow. * Bib pick-up on Saturday lets you get a slightly later start on Sunday, but if you are taking the bus anyway, there's no need to go up to Sugarloaf the day before. If you have a ride (or even if taking the bus) staying in Farmington or even Augusta/Waterville is doable (assuming you're coming from the south and want to save some driving). * Good lord they could use a better course map. If you stop by Maine Huts and Trails in Kingfield they have a hiking map which happens to show the whole of the marathon course (with contours). It's free! | |
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r. m. from Bangor, Maine
(5/27/2012)
"Nice event" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Sugarloaf Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Being from Maine I Found the overall event exactly as advertised. While the coarse can be run fast you will want to make sure you incorporate plenty of hills in your training before tackling this event. My Garmin had the first 10 miles showing an elevation increase of 600 ft followed by a 1200 ft decline to the finish. Mile 8-10 incline was the slowest pace of race for me. Mile 11-18 offer several steep downhills that allow you to make up for the loss. Really felt the quads burning from the steep downhills during the last few rolling miles. Enjoyed the beautiful scenery and small town feel of this event. Saw several people driving the coarse stopping every few miles to pit crew for their runner. With the temps in the 80's this year that was definately a benefit. The crowds were small but very supportive and water stops workers were very encouraging as well. Pros: 1)Scenic getaway. 2) fast coarse if you train hills. 3) early start with normally cool temps. 4)good food, drink, and live timing finish. 5) free showers after event host hotel. Cons: 1)Shotgun start with no instructions. 2)15k and marathon medal are same and don't change from year to year. 3)Only 1 ambulance for event with 1300 people between both races. 80 degree temps overwhelmed the local ems crews. Assisted several runners that dropped after I finished. Many waited 10 plus minutes before receiving any medical attention. | |
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K. R. from West Chester, OH
(5/22/2012)
"Beautiful, small race, but tougher than I thought" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I ran this to check Maine off the list, but I was expecting a better race time than I ended up with. Most of what I would say about this race has already been said, but there are a few things I would like to reiterate because I feel they are important to note. PROS: - beautiful, scenic course. Who needs a band at every mile when you have such natural beauty to entertain you? - real runners. No one in costume, no gimmicky runners, no fluffy expo advertising an upcoming Donut Dash or Gorilla Suit Run. This was a marathon for marathoners and I liked the simplicity of it. - Small field with no half-marathoners to split off. The crowd you settle in with during the early miles is with you through the entire event. - Plenty of food at the end, and plenty of Gu, GatorAid, and water along the route. - Free massages at the finish. CONS: - My only REAL complaint is that there were no portable toilets on the course! The only exception was at Mile 17, which was also the start area of the 15K. I have the unfortunate problem of often needing to stop during a race. Driving to the start and seeing NO port-o-potties on the course caused me considerable anxiety. There ARE places to add these along the course. Please don't make runners dash into the woods - it's a bad idea for plenty of reasons. - Hillier last few miles than expected. Other reviewers have mentioned this but it bears repeating. Not BIG hills, but uphill climbs nonetheless. If you expect to let gravity take you from 10 through the finish, you'll be disappointed. I never saw an elevation map, which would be helpful for the future. Prepare to work some towards the end and keep some energy in the tank. I didn't, and paid the price. All in all, a great event which I would recommend for those who enjoy smaller, scenic events. | |
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R. C. from Burlington, Vermont
(5/22/2012)
"Fast Course" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Sugarloaf Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Despite what other were saying, this was a fast course. You just need to be careful between miles 8-11 where there is both a significant uphill and downhill. The 75-80 temperatures were not ideal and they were not typical for this time of year. I had two negatives for this race. The first were the GU stops were not well marked or manned. I ran by both of them without even noticing them. I planned on using them and I consequently hit the wall at mile 22. The second negative is that both lanes are open to traffic which prevented me from sticking to the tangents, it also allowed most of the front runners to have support teams on bikes and in cars which made it even more dangerous. Overall I would recommend this course to someone that wants to run a decent time. | |
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D. P. from York, Maine
(5/21/2012)
"A very nice small marathon" (about: 2012)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 Sugarloaf Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my second Sugarloaf, having first run it in 2010. The race was noticeably larger this year, but not so much that it lost its small town feel. The race has a very relaxed atmosphere. The course is both scenic and challenging. While runners should be prepared for the long uphill climb through miles 8-10, the downhill portion from miles 10-20 is really fast, but a quad-buster, so prep for that as well. As for being all downhill after mile 10, everyone would be far better served by noting that the course gets back to relatively minor rolling after mile 20. Even small rollers are not trivial after many downhill miles! Spectators are minimal over the length of the course, but enthusiastic. There seems to be plenty of room at the start area, although there were fairly long lines for the porta-potties. And speaking of those, on the course there were a few at mile 17, but no others I was aware of. It would be nice if more could be added in a few spots and all porta-potty locations noted on the course map. The water stops were spaced at 2 mile intervals, then at every mile starting around mile 19. I found the folks manning them to be very enthusiastic and friendly, with plenty of water and Gatorade at every stop. The road is not closed to traffic, which did not bother me at all. I always had plenty of room and never felt cramped by either other runners or vehicles. The food at the finish was plentiful and consisted of the usual bagels, fruits, hot soup (not really needed on a very warm day), and yogurt. I liked the move of the finish area to a large field behind the hardware store where the race previously finished. Highlights: Well organized, plenty of well-stocked water stops, very scenic course, a fast course if you are ready for both uphill and downhill running Areas for improvement: As the race gets larger it really needs full chip timing with a start mat, porta-potty locations should be added to the course map | |
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T. W. from Bar Harbor, Maine
(5/25/2011)
"Very well organized, super nice people" (about: 2011)
First Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Course is pretty much as advertised. I am from Maine, so got about what I expected. The only real hills are mile 8-10, and you are over them pretty quickly. The first part is quite steep, that shocked me a bit, but it is pretty short. It probably felt steeper than it was due to the flatness of the first part. The last 6 miles of the race do not feel easy - its pretty flat, but after several extremely fast miles from 12-20, it's a big enough change to feel sort of...hard. Very well organized, and everyone is very nice, the people at the end of the race were stellar. I was wrapped in a blanket in 2 seconds. The hot soup was very welcome on a very crappy, rainy day. The camber of the road is a challenge in a couple of spots. I HAVE ONE COMPLAINT - Some of the mile markers were off, Mile 2 in fact was WAY off. If I hadn't had a friend next to me with a Garmin I would have had a heart attack. Mile 2 was run in 8:50, but my watch said over 10 mins, that's how far off it was. This can really raise hell with your pace, and should be corrected. Other than that, I have nothing bad to say. Maybe put a few more porta potties at the start - long line. Thanks for a great race. I qualified for Boston! | |
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C. G. from Michigan
(5/21/2011)
"Enjoyable despite the poor weather." (about: 2011)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Sugarloaf Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 In my quest for a marathon in every state, I decided that Sugarloaf would be my next stop. I wanted to run a scenic/smaller race and figured that Sugarloaf was the one for that. It didn't disappoint on either count. I would like to make note that the "rolling hills" are more substantial than we were led to believe. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm from Michigan and rolling hills in Michigan are much different from those of Maine. Just a warning. Once past the climbs, the remainder of the course was actually downhill with some fairly steep descents. The marathon was very well organized and all of the spectators/volunteers who were out on that dreary day were top-notch. Much appreciated. That being said, If you are looking for a BQ, Sugarloaf wouldn't be my first choice, but if you're looking for a small/scenic marathon, it definitely delivers. | |
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T. H. from Maine
(5/15/2011)
"Needs more infrastructure" (about: 2011)
First Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I didn't run the marathon, but did run the 15K. This race needs more of many things. First off, at the start of the 15K there were only 4 porta-potties for about 500 runners. Not pretty. It was raining and 46 degrees. There was no shelter, so runners were huddled under the gas pump awnings at the store near the start. The one tent up in the parking lot had the late bib pickups under it. The advertised free-trade craft show had three small tables of items available. No marathon gear or typical expo. I will say the pasta dinner was well done, inexpensive, and fun to socialize with other runners. At the finish line, there was a very small tent with the food under it. I would say maybe 15 people could fit inside at once. While the food offerings were great, it was slow, and again there was no shelter for runners. Standing in the rain after having run in it for several hours was not pleasant. The finish times were based on gun time, not chip time, as there were not starting mats to run over. The volunteers and organizers were friendly and supportive, which is great, but this race really needs more thought put into it to effectively support the numbers of people in it. I am training for my first marathon, and will be running it in Portland, Maine. To those traveling to Maine to do a marathon, consider one of our other two unless you are pretty self-sufficient or bring your own support crew. | |
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T. M. from Boston
(7/12/2010)
"Loved it!!!!" (about: 2010)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Sugarloaf Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Conditions were perfect this year... cool morning with temps in the high 40s to start, sun with light, "fair weather" clouds, and a tailwind! The course is "as advertised" - except for the last few miles, where it was not exactly downhill. There are gradual uphills, which I didn't expect, and it caused me to be off-pace by a couple of minutes overall. One suggestion I would make is to have a timer in a few spots, or at least at the halfway point (just for the purposes of confirming your GPS time and mileage against the actual course time and mileage). I will do this again sometime... I love the Carrabasset Valley! |
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