Rock/Creek Scenic City Trail Marathon

Course is nice, on a good day. But this day was close to worst-case. Trail running is different, but I am experienced with it. Apparently there was a very tight cutoff (for trail) that the RD does not disclose on the website. This is unethical at worst, incompetent at best. I have two Pikes Peak finishes, many other trail races, and never missed a cutoff. But it's hard to make a cutoff if you don't know about it. I found out about the cutoff around mile 15 by another runner who was talking about it. That's not the place to learn about a cutoff. Given the conditions, the cutoff should have been adjusted; it wasn't. Vote with your feet, people. Avoid.

This marathon was a serious disappointment. Do not register for this without being warned. Several of us were pulled from the course at 20 miles and told of the previously-unannounced cut-off time. After traveling a long distance and paying $90 it feels crappy to be prevented from finishing. Cut off times are reasonable but should be disclosed in advanced. The way this was handled is well outside the industry standard. No credit for TN, & no medal, & nothing. Nowhere in any of the advertising is there any mention of a cut-off time. It rained the entire day so times were slower than usual since there was unsure footing and lots of shoe-sucking mud. The volunteers were nice and the course was lovely but difficult. The race directors owe some of us an apology and some sort of compensation.

First of all, this race is organized by Wild Trails in Chattanooga, not Rock/Creek. The course is challenging, but not too difficult and very runnable. As far as trails in Chatanooga, Raccoon Mountain is one of the easiest and very beautiful. If you are looking for a Trail PR, this is a race for it. The biggest issue I had with the race organization is that they have their aid stations labeled incorrectly. They label them as miles 13 and 18, which in actuality it is more like 15 and 22. When you mention this to the directors, they get snippy and blame it on 'GPS is unreliable on this mountain'. The mislabeled aid stations wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the strict cutoff. They will sweep people at aid stations as if they have 8 more miles to run when in actuality it's around 4. I believe this is very unethical. I have run and finished this race twice (2016 & 2017), hoping that the issues were addressed, but they were not. The overall attitude of the aid station crews and race directors were worse this year because of the 'GPS issues', and they were dismissive whenever runners would bring the topic up. I have run other races on Raccoon Mountain with other RDs, and GPS never seems to be an issue. Would I recommend this race to other runners: possibly, if you are a faster runner. Just be prepared to bring extra fuel, because you will be running an extra 2-3 miles between some aid stations.