James Wyk's Staging Area

Overall this was a well done race. This is a smaller race, so dont expect a lot of extra frills, but the course itself was absolutely beautiful. You are bussed out of Ashton for the course start. The first part of the marathon is along rural asphalt roads. Keep in mind these roads are active during the run, no traffic control at all, so it is best to pay close attention, although the roads are not that busy and generally drivers were very gracious. At Mesa falls you turn into a camp ground and run along dirt paths, if you want to see the falls, you will need to stop, before turning back out onto the main road. The course is generally flat initially but then has some major downhills after mile 11. At Mile 13 you turn onto trails that run along the river for approximately 4 miles. My only complaint was at this point, as there seemed to be a pretty large gap in add stations here. At mile 17 you start an uphill climb that ends at mile 20 and you then begin some rolling hills back into the city. The last 4 or 5 miles are less scenic as you head into town, but still a good overall experience.

This is a smaller race, so there was not as much crowd support along the way, but those that were out were very supportive. Aid stations were sometimes staffed, sometimes not so they could range from someone being ready to hand you water, to grabbing it off the table, to having to serve yourself. Post race snacks were good, with electrolytes, water, fruit, and bagels, crackers and other snacks. Packet pick up was also pretty basic, no vendors, so make sure you bring everything with you that you need.

We stayed in Rexberg, about 30 minutes away and were even able to head into yellowstone the day before to enjoy the park. Overall this was a scenic race through a small town in the beautiful yellowstone area.

About the only positive to this race is the cool medal and easy parking.

The first issue was a lack of communication from the race after signing up. After paying my entry fee, I never received another email from the race with any info.

The expo was incredibly small. One vendor selling shirts for the marathon, which admittedly were better then the race shirt given out. One vendor selling race accessories, like fuel, and fueling belts. Several local businesses were there, but also several water filtration companies with no business being there. Garmin was also there offering a small discount on their products, but it wasn’t any better then any other race I have been too. They were handing out lots of electrolyte samples, I think I walked out with different bottles. Very small.

Parking was easy as there was ample room in the lot right by the start line which was nice. They did a wave start which was not announced until start time. Not a big deal, but would have been nice to know about before hand.

The race through some urban areas to start and there were some people out supporting the runners, but not many. The race then connected onto several trails that run from Olathe out to Lenexa and back. Several times we had to switch to alternate sides of the road and it did not always seem clear which side of the cones we should be running on, especially in the neighborhoods. Aid stations were ok. The initial aid stations had several tables and more volunteers, however as we got further into the race, they shrunk drastically and there were only portajohn at each. At one aid station, no one was there to hand out liquid, you had to grab it off the table.

The last 8 miles of the course had significant uphill gain. The biggest error on the part of the race was failing to properly mark a turn which caused a significant number of runners to have to double back causing an additional .5 to 1 mile length on the overall route. Reading reviews, issues with course length seem to be a trend.

There was no afterparty. No music, no vendors. A small area set up to grab a granola bar, bagel, and milk.

Overall, not a great experience.