Alyx Schrecengost's Staging Area

Beautiful course through Falmouth with ocean view for most of the run! The volunteers are always amazing and the afterparty is a blast! This is definitely a community race where many people know each other. It is the perfect event to lead us into the cold months.

This is my second time running this half marathon, and it was even more fun a second time! The course is beautiful the entire time, I will never get over how picturesque Falmouth is. From the volunteers, to the crowds, Falmouth and the surrounding towns, turn out and provides some of the most amazing support for a race. The medals were huge and I absolutely love the long sleeve tech-tee they give out. A special shoutout to Julianna, the announcer, she was there to bring in every runner both days and her energy is unmatched!

A great course to try and PR at! It is both trail and road running and tree lined the whole way except for the last couple of miles where you run around Bass Lake. As someone from sea level, altitude is always a concern at these mountainous areas, but it was not a factor really here. Vacation Races did a great job of dealing with a last minute bussing issue and still put on an amazing race. It is a point to point and neither point has parking so you do need to take the shuttle both ways.

Conditions and injuries made this a rough race for me, but I am honored to have run the oldest marathon. The crowds were good and the volunteers were amazing. Don’t let Heartbreak hill scare you, it’s not that bad, the real killer is the downhill start.

Mother nature heard our prayers and held off with the rain storm until after the race; so shout out to her. While there were a good amount of rolling hills, they were very manageable. Perspective, I usually stick to “flat and fast” courses, but this was local and I actually ended up with a new PR! The volunteers were all super nice, but the pre-race correspondence was lacking, there were mix-ups with the bib pick-ups and conflicting race start times. Overall, it was a great small race that I would do again.

The best laid plans… They moved the date to avoid the end of October bad weather, and Hurricane Ian came in hot with high winds and downpouring. Aside from the weather, it was a great race with beautiful views of the Cape. The shirt is by far my favorite I have received thus far; the medal was disappointing as it was just a sticker on a generic medal. All the volunteers were AMAZING! It’s one thing to have great volunteers on a warm, sunny day; but these volunteers were out there in the cold and rain with great attitudes!

The crowd is incredible! there are thousands of people line the streets to cheer you on for every mile. This year was apparently their hottest year yet, and the crowds still showed up! The race itself was well done, and the volunteers were excellent. I will definitely be running this race for years to come.

Well organized, great volunteers, and an even better afterparty!
The course was technically easy, the heat made it a bit more challenging. My only complaint is that there was some serious bottle necking for about the first mile. The course starts on a narrow path (narrow for 600+ runners), which gives little to no room to pass and/or gain speed. From chatting with other runners, it seems that they changed the course from previous years, so maybe next year they will reevaluate the start of the race. A wave start would significantly help this issue. All things considered, I would definitely recommend this race to anyone looking for a mid-summer race!

This was an incredible race to run!
Weather: In typical Vineyard fashion it was overcast and foggy in the morning which helped keep it cool for the first half of the race. Once the fog burnt off it was a beautifully sunny rest of the day!
Course: Mostly flat, with some slight inclines, the most being at the end of the race, but nothing to deter you from running. The route was on the covered bike paths for a large portion, and then along the beach for the final stretch.
Logistically: As someone with family that lives here and has ben coming since I was a newborn, it was logistically easy. Though I can see, and did hear, that it was difficult with the ferries and buses the morning of to get to the start line (but this isn’t something the race coordinators can control, you can’t rush the Steamship).
Personally: I plan to run this one many more times! I PRed by 6 minutes, which definitely adds to my enthusiasm about the race. The shirts and medals are among the best I have received and they had beer AND mimosas at the finish line which was a super cool add.

This was my first ever organized race and they far exceeded my expectations with how fun a race can be! All the volunteers were amazing and happy to be there and help out. This race was one of the first races in New England in person since COVID began and they did an AMAZING job of keeping it fun while also taking precautions.