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Marathon Details - Sunburst Marathon

North America Marathons > USA > IN > South Bend > Sunburst Marathon

Sunburst Marathon

Sunburst Marathon & Half Marathon, 10K, 5K

South Bend, IN USA

~~June 4, 2022~~ - CANCELLED

http://www.beaconhealthsystem.org/sunburst-races

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Marathon Results

By Year:

2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Top 3 Finishers

Race Details

All events start at the College Football Hall of Fame and finish at the University of Notre Dame. USATF certified, Boston qualifier. Out & back course winds along the St. Joseph River traffic-free city streets thru parks and neighborhoods. Elevations noted on our website, otherwise flat. 6400 in combined events, 750 in marathon. Finisher certificate and medal. Great food, cold, wet towels, lots of TLC.

Contact Information

Name:	Molly Sullivan
Address:	Memorial Health & Lifestyle Center 111 W. Jefferson Blvd. Suite 300 South Bend, IN 46601
Phone Number:	574-647-3394
Fax Number:	574-239-6458
Email:	Email the organizers

Runner Reviews (197)

Course 3.7

Organization 4.1

Spectators 2.9

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Number of comments: 197 [displaying comments 1 to 11]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 20 > ]

Joe Ely from Indiana (6/17/2017) "General Organization of Race in Decline" (about: 2017) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 I've run the full or half at Sunburst in 11 of the past 13 years. In short, I've seen the attention to detail in this race decline over the years. What I saw this year was some misattention to the full details of course marking. I almost missed a turn and saw another runner miss one altogether...though a volunteer ran and helped him turn around. I did learn on race day there was a major course mixup for some marathon and half marathon leaders which ended up adding nearly a mile to their course. And then the final ranking was juggled on the claim of one runner, vaulting him over other runners who crossed the finish line ahead of him. This just shouldn't be. This race could be a magnificent regional fixture but the details are leaking. I honestly wonder if the organizers would feel better by dropping the marathon altogether and just have a half/10K/5K extravaganza. Only 300 of us started the marathon and fewer finished. I wish the organizers the best. They have some work to do, though, IMHO.
T. B. from Columbus, OH (6/4/2017) "Need separate course for 5K's" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I came from out of town and went to the expo the day before. Nice sized for a marathon with less than 300 finishers. I got to the start line a little later than I wanted, but the bathroom line went quick, because there were plenty of porta-potties for the size of the event at the 6:30 start. The course had A LOT of turns, and a few short out and backs that really sucked momentum and made focusing on tangents a priority. The good thing is each turn was well marked or had a volunteer giving directions. Plenty of water stops for the hot day as well. Some timely hills in the last seven miles were pretty big challenges as well. The unforgivable sin of the event was the 5K shared the same final 1.5 miles of the course. By the time I got there it was full of walkers. They covered the entire road, and I lost a lot of speed and gained distance weaving through them. Any Marathoner from 3:00-3:35 probably had to contend with 5K walkers at the end. The chute was well stocked until at least the 4:00 marathoners/half marathoners finished; It looked like enough stuff for the rest of marathoners coming through over the next two hours. At first I was annoyed by the ~2000 5K finishers, but I just cut the 'line' and grabbed food off the table. It wasn't supposed to be a line anyway; you take what you want from the table and leave.
J. G. from IN (6/4/2017) "Don't do the race. They will mess up something." (about: 2017) 50+ previous marathons \| 3 Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 So I was in the lead pack and wasn't directed to turn on a road was no sign and a cop was there but wasn't telling runners to turn and the group and I ended up running down a little more than a half mile before a volunteer at an intersection said we went the wrong way. Then we went back to the road to make the correct turn. It added 1.17 miles. When we got back to that road a sunburst race volunteer was then at the spot directing people. I had to bust tail to catch up to the other marathon people who got directed the correct way. I ended up crossing the finish line 3rd. Well one of the runners who got misdirected with me complained to race director about the 1.17 mile issue and they gave him 2nd place dropping another guy down to 3rd and me to 4th. They also gave him a bogus 2:45 because he said he had that time on his watch at 26.2. Mind you I passed this guy at mile 20.5 too! Moral of the story don't do Sunburst they always have had mistakes in the last 5 years.
J. G. from Zeeland, Michigan (6/6/2016) "Alternate Course too Long" (about: 2016) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Every person with GPS devise had the marathon 26.88 to 26.99. I personally had 26.91miles. Sunburst is going to have it re-measured but .7 off would be a huge error for GPS and since I've yet to find anyone with the course coming in the ball park of 26.2 tells me something went wrong with the course. It's a decent race to run but the course length this year is an issue. The course has many side tangents and out and backs that are annoying in my opinion. This race is a good race course away form being a wonderful event.
B. K. from South Whitley, Indiana (6/6/2016) "Great scenic course" (about: 2016) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my fist Sunburst Marathon and I thought it was great. The course was very well marked with lots of volunteers, every one was really nice and supportive. The course was beautiful along the river and my favorite part was running through the zoo. I would definitely recommended this race to others. By far it has been my favorite marathon course
M. E. from South Bend, IN (6/5/2016) "Big Let Down" (about: 2016) 3 previous marathons \| 3 Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 This was my 20th year in a row running this race and third marathon. Two big complaints. Inexcusable that the race was actually about 27.0 miles long. Organizers improbably measured the course. I feel sorry for those that just missed a Boston qualifying time. This should never happen. Also, this race needs a separate tent for the marathoners at the finish. The 5k walkers and runners hit the tent like vultures and leave nothing for the people that actually need it and paid $90 for their race. Not a bad race but this event has had some issues the last few years and needs improving.
a. r. from Connecticut (6/5/2016) "Do not run this race" (about: 2016) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 For the following reasons: 1. IT IS LONG. over 1/2 mile long (.8 on my Garmin) and this all happens in one mile so we know they measured wrong. That's pretty important: that a marathon be 26.2 miles, no? 2. It runs through a 'zoo' that is about as inhumane of a facility as I've ever seen. Think: lions in dog pens. 3. There is a horrible steep hill at mile 25.5. seems to me that could be avoided easily. 4. MOBS of bugs all along the river path. The only upsides I have to this race are the volunteers (great), the # of water stops (tons) and the fact that as a 50stater, one can check Indiana off the list. That's it unless and until they learn to measure or PETA steps in.
J. E. from Indiana (6/10/2015) "Solid Marathon, good ending for Notre Dame people" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was the 10th time I've run the full or half at Sunburst. The entire marathon course was flip-flopped from earlier years. While basically OK, it moved one major hill from what used to be mile 11 to mile 23 now. Construction at ND stadium really triggered other course addenda, with several funky little out and backs to get 26.2 put together. It seemed a smaller marathon than what I remember...I don't know if the lack of finishing inside the ND stadium was the factor or the glut of marathons we have options to enter now. My Dad played football at ND, so this is always a terrific race for me. I loved the course change to route us down Notre Dame Avenue in the last mile, with the striking view of the Golden Dome right ahead. That was special, as I remembered and honored my Dad, a 1938 graduate. Thanks to the organizers for all their hard work!
T. E. from Michiana (6/6/2015) "Nice race overall" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I've ran this marathon several times & with the exception of just a couple items, this years' event was very nice. After having the same course for several years, this years' course was changed. Buetter Park was placed at the beginning, which was much nicer & the run through IUSB, Greenlawn & Colfax was really nice & fairly shaded. The 10k merged with the marathon for a few miles starting at IUSB. For about a mile it was fairly congested because of the sidewalks. However, if you weren't racing, it wasn't that bad & a nice change of pace having new company. The second half of the race was (for the most part) the first half of the old course. With the exception of the miles on the river walk, this was tough. This part of the course is fairly boring & had a couple new short out & backs. At this point in the race, it would be nice to have a bit better course. However, running this area most weekends, I don't know that many other options exist. The last mile & finish were great. I was afraid that the change to the finish area would take something away from the race, but I think I like it better. It was great to come down Eddy St & see the finish vs running around the stadium, which always seems to take forever :) Medals were great & shirts were ok. The amount of safety patrols on bikes on the course was outstanding! And they were stocked with everything - very good add there!! The only thing I didn't like was that my Garmin showed an extra half mile. I run many, many marathons & know how to run the tangents, etc. & I know this course is certified...so, I'm not sure how I ended with so much more. I've never had that much of excess mileage in a marathon before. Very well could be me & not the course, but it's definitely not something you want to see in a marathon :)
S. H. from Charleston, S.C. (3/4/2015) "small town gem" (about: 2014) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I chose this marathon based on date only; my 17 year old daughter wanted to complete her first marathon and had limited availability. What a happy surprise! Every person we met - taxi driver, hotel clerks, restaurant staff, and marathon volunteers were friendly and helpful. Packet pick up was a breeze. Start time allowed for cool morning running, and the course followed the river and provided much shade. Aid stations offered wet sponges (awesome!). Plenty of cheering from the community; in addition, residents set up sprinklers and handed out bottled water along the way. Plenty of finish food - even for a 4:54 finish! Sat in the stadium and took pics. Shuttle bus back to start was a tour bus - no sticking to old school bus vinyl - and was air conditioned! Yes! Only negative of the whole race - aid station at 23 was out of water (but had gatorade). Not to worry, random resident 2 blocks down had us covered! I will be back for 2015 :) Thanks for a great, organized race!

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 20 > ]



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Joe Ely from Indiana (6/17/2017) "General Organization of Race in Decline" (about: 2017) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 I've run the full or half at Sunburst in 11 of the past 13 years. In short, I've seen the attention to detail in this race decline over the years. What I saw this year was some misattention to the full details of course marking. I almost missed a turn and saw another runner miss one altogether...though a volunteer ran and helped him turn around. I did learn on race day there was a major course mixup for some marathon and half marathon leaders which ended up adding nearly a mile to their course. And then the final ranking was juggled on the claim of one runner, vaulting him over other runners who crossed the finish line ahead of him. This just shouldn't be. This race could be a magnificent regional fixture but the details are leaking. I honestly wonder if the organizers would feel better by dropping the marathon altogether and just have a half/10K/5K extravaganza. Only 300 of us started the marathon and fewer finished. I wish the organizers the best. They have some work to do, though, IMHO.
T. B. from Columbus, OH (6/4/2017) "Need separate course for 5K's" (about: 2017) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I came from out of town and went to the expo the day before. Nice sized for a marathon with less than 300 finishers. I got to the start line a little later than I wanted, but the bathroom line went quick, because there were plenty of porta-potties for the size of the event at the 6:30 start. The course had A LOT of turns, and a few short out and backs that really sucked momentum and made focusing on tangents a priority. The good thing is each turn was well marked or had a volunteer giving directions. Plenty of water stops for the hot day as well. Some timely hills in the last seven miles were pretty big challenges as well. The unforgivable sin of the event was the 5K shared the same final 1.5 miles of the course. By the time I got there it was full of walkers. They covered the entire road, and I lost a lot of speed and gained distance weaving through them. Any Marathoner from 3:00-3:35 probably had to contend with 5K walkers at the end. The chute was well stocked until at least the 4:00 marathoners/half marathoners finished; It looked like enough stuff for the rest of marathoners coming through over the next two hours. At first I was annoyed by the ~2000 5K finishers, but I just cut the 'line' and grabbed food off the table. It wasn't supposed to be a line anyway; you take what you want from the table and leave.
J. G. from IN (6/4/2017) "Don't do the race. They will mess up something." (about: 2017) 50+ previous marathons \| 3 Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 So I was in the lead pack and wasn't directed to turn on a road was no sign and a cop was there but wasn't telling runners to turn and the group and I ended up running down a little more than a half mile before a volunteer at an intersection said we went the wrong way. Then we went back to the road to make the correct turn. It added 1.17 miles. When we got back to that road a sunburst race volunteer was then at the spot directing people. I had to bust tail to catch up to the other marathon people who got directed the correct way. I ended up crossing the finish line 3rd. Well one of the runners who got misdirected with me complained to race director about the 1.17 mile issue and they gave him 2nd place dropping another guy down to 3rd and me to 4th. They also gave him a bogus 2:45 because he said he had that time on his watch at 26.2. Mind you I passed this guy at mile 20.5 too! Moral of the story don't do Sunburst they always have had mistakes in the last 5 years.
J. G. from Zeeland, Michigan (6/6/2016) "Alternate Course too Long" (about: 2016) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Every person with GPS devise had the marathon 26.88 to 26.99. I personally had 26.91miles. Sunburst is going to have it re-measured but .7 off would be a huge error for GPS and since I've yet to find anyone with the course coming in the ball park of 26.2 tells me something went wrong with the course. It's a decent race to run but the course length this year is an issue. The course has many side tangents and out and backs that are annoying in my opinion. This race is a good race course away form being a wonderful event.
B. K. from South Whitley, Indiana (6/6/2016) "Great scenic course" (about: 2016) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my fist Sunburst Marathon and I thought it was great. The course was very well marked with lots of volunteers, every one was really nice and supportive. The course was beautiful along the river and my favorite part was running through the zoo. I would definitely recommended this race to others. By far it has been my favorite marathon course
M. E. from South Bend, IN (6/5/2016) "Big Let Down" (about: 2016) 3 previous marathons \| 3 Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 This was my 20th year in a row running this race and third marathon. Two big complaints. Inexcusable that the race was actually about 27.0 miles long. Organizers improbably measured the course. I feel sorry for those that just missed a Boston qualifying time. This should never happen. Also, this race needs a separate tent for the marathoners at the finish. The 5k walkers and runners hit the tent like vultures and leave nothing for the people that actually need it and paid $90 for their race. Not a bad race but this event has had some issues the last few years and needs improving.
a. r. from Connecticut (6/5/2016) "Do not run this race" (about: 2016) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 For the following reasons: 1. IT IS LONG. over 1/2 mile long (.8 on my Garmin) and this all happens in one mile so we know they measured wrong. That's pretty important: that a marathon be 26.2 miles, no? 2. It runs through a 'zoo' that is about as inhumane of a facility as I've ever seen. Think: lions in dog pens. 3. There is a horrible steep hill at mile 25.5. seems to me that could be avoided easily. 4. MOBS of bugs all along the river path. The only upsides I have to this race are the volunteers (great), the # of water stops (tons) and the fact that as a 50stater, one can check Indiana off the list. That's it unless and until they learn to measure or PETA steps in.
J. E. from Indiana (6/10/2015) "Solid Marathon, good ending for Notre Dame people" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was the 10th time I've run the full or half at Sunburst. The entire marathon course was flip-flopped from earlier years. While basically OK, it moved one major hill from what used to be mile 11 to mile 23 now. Construction at ND stadium really triggered other course addenda, with several funky little out and backs to get 26.2 put together. It seemed a smaller marathon than what I remember...I don't know if the lack of finishing inside the ND stadium was the factor or the glut of marathons we have options to enter now. My Dad played football at ND, so this is always a terrific race for me. I loved the course change to route us down Notre Dame Avenue in the last mile, with the striking view of the Golden Dome right ahead. That was special, as I remembered and honored my Dad, a 1938 graduate. Thanks to the organizers for all their hard work!
T. E. from Michiana (6/6/2015) "Nice race overall" (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Sunburst Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I've ran this marathon several times & with the exception of just a couple items, this years' event was very nice. After having the same course for several years, this years' course was changed. Buetter Park was placed at the beginning, which was much nicer & the run through IUSB, Greenlawn & Colfax was really nice & fairly shaded. The 10k merged with the marathon for a few miles starting at IUSB. For about a mile it was fairly congested because of the sidewalks. However, if you weren't racing, it wasn't that bad & a nice change of pace having new company. The second half of the race was (for the most part) the first half of the old course. With the exception of the miles on the river walk, this was tough. This part of the course is fairly boring & had a couple new short out & backs. At this point in the race, it would be nice to have a bit better course. However, running this area most weekends, I don't know that many other options exist. The last mile & finish were great. I was afraid that the change to the finish area would take something away from the race, but I think I like it better. It was great to come down Eddy St & see the finish vs running around the stadium, which always seems to take forever :) Medals were great & shirts were ok. The amount of safety patrols on bikes on the course was outstanding! And they were stocked with everything - very good add there!! The only thing I didn't like was that my Garmin showed an extra half mile. I run many, many marathons & know how to run the tangents, etc. & I know this course is certified...so, I'm not sure how I ended with so much more. I've never had that much of excess mileage in a marathon before. Very well could be me & not the course, but it's definitely not something you want to see in a marathon :)
S. H. from Charleston, S.C. (3/4/2015) "small town gem" (about: 2014) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Sunburst Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I chose this marathon based on date only; my 17 year old daughter wanted to complete her first marathon and had limited availability. What a happy surprise! Every person we met - taxi driver, hotel clerks, restaurant staff, and marathon volunteers were friendly and helpful. Packet pick up was a breeze. Start time allowed for cool morning running, and the course followed the river and provided much shade. Aid stations offered wet sponges (awesome!). Plenty of cheering from the community; in addition, residents set up sprinklers and handed out bottled water along the way. Plenty of finish food - even for a 4:54 finish! Sat in the stadium and took pics. Shuttle bus back to start was a tour bus - no sticking to old school bus vinyl - and was air conditioned! Yes! Only negative of the whole race - aid station at 23 was out of water (but had gatorade). Not to worry, random resident 2 blocks down had us covered! I will be back for 2015 :) Thanks for a great, organized race!

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Marathon Details - Sunburst Marathon