Tyrone Cook's Staging Area

Easy packet pickup, with nice energy…two shuttle bus locations were within a mile walk from my hotel…excellent start/finish location near NDSU Fargo Dome…nearly flat course with a couple of short underpasses…nice crowd energy/volunteer support along the course…great finish line energy with DJ…I suggest taking some selfies at the popular FARGO movie theater sign (not guaranteed the photographer will get capture your moment at that point)….HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This was a well organized race. Easy packet pickup the day before, with race day pickup option. Staging area in Waterfront Park was an excellent location for all of the distances! Restaurants, food trucks and breakfast spots on site and within walking distance. Excellent water views and waterfront scenery. I was the 2nd leg of a 2-person relay. Had plenty of time to explore the park, enjoy the water views, find quiet areas to stretch, get food from food trucks on site, get coffee & use a clean bathroom from one of the local breakfast spots. Also, I was able to cheer on the runners coming through the 10k checkpoint – including my partner. The relay exchange area was perfectly organized. I was able to locate my partner coming in from a short distance and stage myself accordingly. Then it was my turn to run the exact same loop. I have to rate this course as difficult due to the long hilly sections – and one straightaway section that seemed to last forever. The course was a mix of downtown (great crowd support & energy), residential (nice crowd support & energy in many spots), and park (along a very nice and wide bike pathway back to the start/finish area). The energy from the finish line crowd was amazing! You could hear the announcer, music and crowd before you saw them and the finish line banner! The ideal weather (mild temps with a breeze) probably made this run more enjoyable.

This was a well organized race that included a marathon, a relay, the International half, and a U.S.-only half! That a lot of logistics. Ran across the Ambassador Bridge into Canada – the highlight – and ran a few miles there before running through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel back into Detroit. Excellent pre/post race. Great swag! Overall, this was an excellent race that I highly recommend.