Saskatchewan Marathon

I just did this race as my first ever marathon. I chose the race as it was a little smaller than others which provided a great chance for my family to get around and see me in several places (including the finish). Race packet pickup was super easy. Getting to the start was also easy and there were plenty of bathrooms at the beginning (if you didn't wait until 2 min before race time) for everyone. There were not that many spectators, especially after the halfway point, but I don't have anything to compare it to. The ones we did see were amazing! I really liked the course. There was a pretty good climb around 21km and then again from 40-41km. I definitely needed to walk it. All-in-all, a great experience for my first time!

This was my first full marathon. I'd only done 2 - 5k's and 1 - 10k last year. I loved the calmness surrounding the race start. I loved the name tag numbers, so very personal, and many people called out my name for encouragement. I loved the beautiful colored shirt, and the medal, and the buff. You all did an awesome job!! I appreciated everything about the day and all the volunteers as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making my first marathon so personal and special!!

There is one big oddity about this race and that is that it is called the 'Saskatchewan Marathon' when it really is a small race (especially the marathon) to the point where once the halfers had split off there were times when I didn't see anyone else on the running path. That's fine, I've run small races before, but the name kind of gives the impression that there will be a goodly number of runners and there just aren't. It's a small city race that hasn't yet grown into its billing. The pros: nicely organized with outstanding volunteers. The volunteers all along the course did a great job of cheering and making the runners feel special. Without them it would have been utterly dismal out there. Also really good was parking and access to the start/finish area. Easy is good! On the cons side: no package pickup for out of towners on race day. As I only live 2 1/2 hours drive from Saskatoon, having to get up there before the 5 pm prior day cutoff to pick up the race number was a real pain and wasted much of my time. I know it adds a problem for organizers to do this, but I'd happily have paid an extra fee to have someone hand me the number on race day. It can be done as I've experienced at other larger races. Another con is that there was only one portapotty at each water stop and thus there were lineups during the first half of the race. Who wants to wait in line for 5 + minutes? (A plus is that there were plenty at the start line). Finally, the biggest con is that the course, though mostly in the scenic river valley, really was extremely boring to run. This might have been because there were so few people on it, made worse by the fact that the cool and windy weather kept non-runners away from the park and pathways, but in the end I felt more like I was doing a long run at home than in a race. This may be an unfair criticism: you put your race in the most interesting part of your city and it still ends up being, well, uninteresting, what are you supposed to do? A ton more runners would have helped... Finally, there was really and truly zero spectator support (ok, there were maybe 10-20). Nobody seems interested in this race in Saskatoon which is a shame. I wonder if the organizers added a marathon relay if it would help the whole situation. I've done smaller marathons where the presence of a hundred or so relay teams adds to the excitement, keeps the course busy, etc. Will I run this one again?  possibly, but I'll likely choose another if I'm looking to run a race in May next year.