Gay Renouf's Staging Area

The worst organized marathon of my nearly 200! Package pickup not done by race organization – only two sizes of men’s tshirts available. Three portapotties at the start for 9,000 runners. Fast, wide streets, but when we merged and unmerged with the halfers, confusion and air pollution from motorbikes on the sidewalk. At the end, no medals , crammed in tight space while runners around me nearly rioted.

The course is delightful, taking runners through the peaceful parks in Brussels. I could run the speed I wanted with no worries about crowding. Solid organization, and I liked seeing the flags on other runners bibs and seeing where they came from.

Gorgeous run along the coast and through park paths. It was a hot day and all the home owners came out to spray us with their garden sprinklers and yell Heya heya. The t-shirt was nice with women’s sizes available and the medal was classy and not very showy. I especially liked the countdown to the finish line every 100 m starting 3 km out.

What a beautiful course and well organized race. Steep downhill at start for two miles, and gradual uphill for the last mile. Conditions were hot (24 degrees), but the organizers took very good care of us – fire trucks sprayed us down. Wonderful finish line right next to an outdoor patio at the Hotel Moskva, so your family can sip drinks as they wait for you to finish.

A fantastic well organized event with fabulous medals. If you do the Triangle challenge (Mile Fri night,10k Sat,marathon Sun), your medals snap together to make one very artistic mega-medal. The course is hilly with excellent support. Lots of variety – lonely country lanes; coastal roads; bike path through a tunnel.

This race keeps getting better every year! The course winds a lot on narrow bike paths with two way traffic, so although it’s flat, it’s not one of the fastest. Organizers and volunteers are really friendly and very motivated to show the best of their city. Free photos post race! Flawless organization.

This was my final marathon on the seven continents quest, so naturally, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are many differences from a North American race. Registration was a challenge; the race was SUPER CHEAP (less than $20 if I remember correctly) with a great technical T-shirt and medal. On course support is less – usually only water available, but there were two energy drink (in plastic bags that you bite open) stations. Instead of gels, they handed out packages of peanuts! Two significant hills in the last 5 km.

I loved the course and the infectious crowd energy – lots of fun signs to laugh at. This was my Abbott world majors six star race so that made it extra Special. It was hot but I didn’t care – those spectators- wow! Everything done just perfectly.

Great crowds! Ran alongside runners dressed as Smurfs, helicopters, and rhinos. Impeccable organization with lots of porta potties at the start. Lots of landmarks but I didn’t see all because of crowding. T-shirt not as good as the other majors.

This small, uncrowded race is an ideal Boston qualifier. It has long straightaways, and you can almost always run the exact marathon distance. However, it’s sometimes cold, and runners have been known to get lost. Swag was great at one time, but in the 2020s, mostly useless junk.

This race had perfect weather. The course is not fast with 7 km of large gravel, and a very steep uphill RIGHT before the finish. It was well organized and medium sized – about 1,000 if I remember correctly.