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Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.3 
Organization 4.1 
Spectators 3.7
Number of comments: 362 [displaying comments 41 to 51]
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G. F. from Cedar Grove, Tenn.
(5/1/2013)
"Nice half marathon course" (about: 2013)
First Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I chose to run this race for the opportunity to run through Churchhill Downs and it was really cool! The half course is easy and mostly flat, nice folks along the route. Plenty of water stops, Powerade and seemed to be enough toilets. The only complaint I had was the finish at the park, very crowded, runners need to be 'funneled' better after the race, but here was plenty of food and drinks. Reunion area was not well marked. Overall a really good race. Louisville is a very cool city with lots to see and do especially during Derby week. HOWEVER do not stay at the Galt House Hotel, the race hotel! Very run down, no breakfast, nothing for runners, $9.95 for internet access.wo Marriots and Hampton Inn were closer to the start/finish line, and were probably nicer and had something for the runners in the morning. Check the prices and make your own decision but take my advice and book one of the other hotels. But run the race! | |
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M. C. from U.S.
(4/30/2013)
"Lack of food at finish line spoiled a great race" (about: 2013)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Loved this marathon. Weather was perfect. Volunteers were exceptional. Running through Churchill Downs and watching the horses taking their morning runs was beautiful. I stayed at the Hampton Inn Downtown and recommend it very highly - just a short walk to start and from finish lines. Dry bagels at the finish were dreadfull, saw lots of them discarded as I left the park. | |
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G. R. from Wheeler, MI
(4/30/2013)
"Mostly Great!" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 They must have fixed the start from previous years, I found it very spread out with enough room for everyone. As in every race, there were people who started way ahead of where they should have, but this wasn't a big problem. I started in Coral E, and crossed the start 14 minutes after the gun. The course itself I thought was great! Nice mix of city, country, nice neighborhoods, and a cool park. The people that complained about hills aren't used to running in hills, I think. 21 or 22 of the miles were flat as a pancake. There were rolling hills through the park miles 12-15, and a few rolling hills from 22-24. My biggest complaint was the finish line area. There were people about 20 yards back with blankets, which was appreciated. 20 yards behind that were the medals, and another 40 yards or so after that was a cup of water for you. Then you had to search for anything else. I did find the food (bananas, chips, and bagels), but I never did find the free beer. You had to hunt to find things, which isn't cool after running a marathon. As someone mentioned earlier, they have plenty of room to make it a much better finish area. There was heavy security this year, and I always felt safe on the course. It is completely closed off to traffic except for a few busy cross streets. Overall a good marathon, I recommend it. | |
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Roy Sharp from USA
(4/30/2013)
"Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Would recommend this course for season runners. The course has a six hour time limit so new runners should be aware of this before running. I ran with the 5:45 group and the police started opening streets before the 6 hour time limit. Recommend sweeper on course and police should not open streets up till sweeper passes. | |
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M. P. from Rocky River, OH
(4/29/2013)
"Still room for improvement" (about: 2013)
50+ previous marathons
| 2 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 The Derby Marathon has grown quite a bit due largely to the half(mini) marathon. Both the marathon and mini marathon share the same course for the first nine miles. As with any large field(18,000 total) event, the course was congested for the first several miles. This proved troublesome as the water stops were not on both sides of the course and did not have nearly enough volunteers to deal with the crowds. There was also no sports drink at several of the water stops in the middle portion of the course. The course itself offers a nice mixture of city streets, Churchill Downs, and Iriquois Park. Finish area was well stocked with food and beverages. Medal is quite nice while the technical shirt design is not very creative compared to most marathons. | |
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Steven Page from Paducah, KY
(4/28/2013)
"Course is full of highlights" (about: 2013)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my fifth FM and the best in terms of course. Old Louisville, UofL campus, Churchill Downs, Iroquois Park, the Highlands, it's a great tour of the city! The weather was perfect, that helped me get a PR by 5 minutes. Two things that aren't a big deal to me, but may be a big deal to some folks: crowd support and finisher medal. Not much crowd, but a great/heavy medal. If I had a negative, it was just the fact that I had to walk three blocks to actually be 'out' of the finishers' area. I needed to get to my car pretty quickly after the race, and I was parked very close, but the area was pretty well fenced off. Of course, some of that may have been extra post-Boston security. It's my first marathon that I would love to run again! | |
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A. H. from Fresno, California
(4/28/2013)
"Beautiful course, crowded first 8 mi" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Loved the course for its beauty. Interesting downtown, you run a loop through Churchill Downs infield with peeks at horses working out, then a hilly but scenic park at the halfway point, then more lovely neighborhoods. Sure there are a couple of not-great neighborhoods, but hey they had some friendly folks out there and cheering just like everywhere else. Not super-fast because of the rolling halfway point and rolling miles 22 - 24-ish (tough at that point!). Sparse but friendly spectators, if you like crowds you'll be disappointed, especially at the finish. My only beef was I've never seen such a mess at waterstops, although this was only through the first 8 mi (the half marathoners split off after Churchill Downs). I didn't take any fluids until mile 10 (not a big deal, it was cool and cloudy). This was because runners had to come to a complete stop and fill their own cups, the poor volunteers were simply overwhelmed. There were plenty of tables and cups, just seemed like a few more volunteers would do the trick. I know you can do this, Louisville! I would recommend this one, there's loads to do in the area, it's beautiful, it's not expensive, but maybe bring some water for those first few miles just in case it's warm. | |
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M. R. from Cincinnati Ohio
(4/28/2013)
"Half marathoner" (about: 2013)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 So most comments seem to be from the marathoners who dog the mini runners. I'm sorry but 13.1 miles is nothing to balk at. Your 26 is much longer yes we all get it. We deserved food just as you did. I thought the course was lovely and scenic. Not nearly as hilly as the elevation chart seemed. The start was over crowded and the course got crowded much of the way but also made you feel a part of something and together with others. Finish was frustrating in that it was hard to see how to get back to the parking garage. Also no water bottles at the end just small cups of water. Wish there were oranges at the finish. They had them on the course which was nice. Churchill downs portion was priceless. Great race. Recommend it! | |
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D. R. from Cincinnati, OH
(4/28/2013)
"Recommend this race!" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I ran the full marathon. After reading the comments from prior years, I was concerned, but in 2013, all problems were addressed. 1. The start line is more organized with port-o-potties. 2. Corral system did help in keeping congestion down. 3. Support throughout the course was excellent. Plenty of water, Gatorade and gel. 4. Running through Churchill Downs was awesome...can see the horses running. 5. Course safety was excellent. Most of the roads were completely closed and intersections that were not were patrolled well. 6. Finish line was great. Plenty of water, Gatorade, chips, fruit, etc. 7. Medal and shirt were awesome! 8. Expo was well organized. 9. This is a Saturday race, making it difficult for hotels to give late checkout, but I did call the YMCA (within one block of the Marriott) and learned that they have $10.00 day passes allowing you to use the facilities and shower before heading home. Parking is only $1.00 for three hours, so for $11.00 total, you can relax a bit and shower before heading home. | |
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K. W. from Indiana
(4/27/2013)
"Consider a different marathon" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Let's start with the expo. I asked where along the course gels would be given out. I was directed to 'the course map' which I'd previously inspected to no avail, but considered I had missed the info the first time. But it wasn't there. While looking for the non-existent info on the map I another volunteer came up and asked if I had any questions. I asked the same question. He didn't know, but said I should carry my own since you can't rely on the gels to be given out where they're supposed to be, wherever that is. Later, in the hotel room I found written material in the goody bag about the course, etc that said gels would be at miles 18 and 22. Good enough, but on the marathon website I found a response to someone's email indicating they'd be at 10, 16, and 22 for the marathoners. If there were any at 16 or 18 neither me or anyone else in the pace group saw them. At 22 I got one, but others didn't because I think there was only one person handing them out. I was running with a group of 4 at this point. The hydration stations failed. I normally hydrate at every other station but here the cups had maybe an inch of fluid, so I had to try to drink at every one or get two drinks per station even. There were too few volunteers. I was running with a small group of 6-8 initially after the half split off and it was chaos. I can't imagine what those running in a larger pack experienced. Also there didn't seem to be any standardization of water at the first table and powered at the second. Backing up to pre-race. We approached from the direction the race went and were in A corral. The bag check was at the complete tail end of the start. We couldn't get there due to the throng of people, so we gave our bags to a friend who wasn't running to check for us. The bag check truck was gone by the time he got there. Why I don't know, it was going to be 2 1/2hrs before anyone finished. Our friends who did make it to the bag check said it was chaos, with only 4 volunteers taking bags. One friend cramps so bad that he pulled out at mile 20 where the half and full split again he walked it in the last 2 miles on the half course but didn't cross the finish line because he didn't want to get a time that wasn't legitimate, so he jumped the rail. But, he still wanted to get into the finishers area to get some fluids, and get his checked bag, after all, he still covered 22 miles. Get this, he wasn't allowed into the finishers area by the gate staff even though he had a bib on and everything! Really? The organizers need to step up their game or fewer marathoners will show up till this goes back to only a half marathon event. |
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