Great Augusta Marathon & Half
Augusta, ME
- Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The Great Augusta Marathon & Half will start at The Furniture Gallery and head north on Route 11 to Belgrade Center and back to the start. This beautiful route has rolling hills through a beautiful scenic country setting. Lots of free parking and explore the Great Capital of Maine – … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Jul 12):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 72 | 86 | 88 | 83 | 78 |
| L (°F) | 62 | 70 | 66 | 63 | 64 |
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Not so Great
I usually do the Shoreline Half Marathon near Rochester, NY this weekend but I had to stay more local as I had plans in Boston on Friday. I was very … MORE
I usually do the Shoreline Half Marathon near Rochester, NY this weekend but I had to stay more local as I had plans in Boston on Friday. I was very happy this race appeared as my only other option for a localish half marathon was with YukanRun a running company out of MA that puts on mediocre races that have tight 3 hour time limits and I don’t like messing with tight time limits in the summer. While this race wasn’t great, it did not have a time limit so I am happy I was able to run it. Pre race communication was fine with updated emails. One thing that would have been helpful is to have a map for each distance. The course is an out and back and they only had a marathon map with the total elevation for the marathon. I assumed the half would be about half the elevation which seemed correct but would have liked to have had more specifics about the half course. This race takes place in Augusta, ME which is about an hour past Portland. I did need a hotel as it’s an over 2 hours drive. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in the next town up. I was able to get my packet the day before. Packet pick up was simple and outside a store. Packet included bib and a shirt. It’s a white cotton shirt though the design is nice. Packet pick-up took awhile as a participant was asking a ton of questions specific to the half (see my comment on pre race communication). The RD though was very nice and helpful and answered everything. I kind of feel bad not giving this race the best review as I do feel like the RD tried to put on a great race but my interactions. The race had parking at the Elks Lodge in August and it was easy. The race was pretty small and manually timed. It was an out and back along a rather busy road. It was not a great set up but the road did have a large shoulder to run on so didn’t feel unsafe. I’ve heard from another runner that the RD had a hard time working with the city and this was the only course they could agree upon. The course was really easy to navigate as it was just an out and back. There were signs and cones for runners. Production was okay. There were 3 water stops and 2 that you passed twice so they were a little more spaced than ideal. They had water and electrolyte drink. No nutrition. There were no porta potties on the course and I really had to go. I saw a nice spectator who let me use the restroom in their storage unit but it would be ideal to have official bathrooms as I had to take a bit of a detour but thank you to the person who let me use their restroom. The turn around was clearly marked. The scenery is okay. Maine is a very pretty state so it is a rather pretty, boring somewhat busy road but it wasn’t urban enough to have a lot of spectators or interesting sights and it wasn’t rural enough to be quiet and peaceful as you were passed by cars most of the race. The course was hilly but manageable. Luckily it was cooler today than most of the summer but it was still really humid. Knowing I had no time limit I didn’t push myself too hard so my finishing time was only okay but I didn’t break 3 hours. While I probably could have gone under 3 hours if I pushed myself I was glad I was doing a race without a strict time limit. I had no issues being near the back during the half but I heard they pulled a water station from the later marathoners. The finish line was okay. The RD cheered you on. I guess the medals didn’t come on time. They did give us some make shift medals with a sticker of the race logo. I appreciate getting something but it would have been nice to get the real medal. There was water bottles and a piece of fruit at the end. Overall this wasn’t not the greatest half marathon. I’m glad I was able to do it as it was this or an equally mediocre race that I might not have made the time cutoff in the humidity. However unless I have plans in New England I will likely be traveling to the Shoreline Half Marathon in Western NY this weekend in the future. I actually made plans in Toronto this weekend next year so will definitely be at Shoreline unless they change the date.