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Georgia Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Georgia Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.1 
Organization 3.1 
Spectators 4.0
Number of comments: 459 [displaying comments 351 to 361]
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C. T. from DC
(3/27/2007)
"H2O and hydration planning was reckless" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 This was my 10th marathon. The course was beautiful. Now for the bad news: this was the hottest marathon I ever ran with, by far, the worst hydration support. With a new marathon you expect some glitches. But it is not rocket science to figure out that you need water stations every mile and Powerade/Gatorade stops every two miles. These folks did not do their homework - they simply needed to speak with a similar sized marathon and see what the necessary logistics are for hydration support. Granted the weather was unusually hot; but in any case, this is still a warm weather marathon considering the date and location. The planning folks should know better. There were no water stations of any kind between miles 8 and 12. Twice there were signs that said 'Powerade Station straight ahead!' and there were no stations of any kind for several miles, which became a running joke among runners. This also suggests that the planners dropped the ball on actually getting these stations set up (although the sign committee folks seem to be on top of things!) A number of water stations that did exist could not handle the volume of runners -they had about 1/3 to 1/2 the volunteers manning them as compared to other marathons I have run. If not for a number of good folks who set up water stands independently in front of their houses, it would have been an unmitigated disaster. THE PLANNING FOR HYDRATION STATIONS AT THIS MARATHON WAS OUTRIGHT RECKLESS, and the planners should be ashamed. There was no excuse for this. The lack of planning when it came to staging and corrals I can forgive, as these are live and learn type of things, but if you are going to plan a marathon in Atlanta in late March, you better have your act together when it comes to water support. I WOULD NOT RUN THIS MARATHON UNLESS THE DIRECTORS OPENLY APOLOGIZE FOR THIS AND PLEDGE IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. Otherwise you have no assurance they even realize it was a problem. Barring that, wait until the third of this marathon to see if they fix the problem in the second. COME ON PLANNERS - YOU CREATED A DANGEROUS SITUATION! | |
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S. D. from Atlanta
(3/27/2007)
"Disaster" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Race organizers dropped the ball and left the running community high and dry. Maybe they made a lot of profit and will call this race a huge success. They certainly didn't spend any money on aid station support. Several aid stations were non-existent. I only hit one station on the entire marathon course that had P'Ade. Traffic gridlock was a nightmare. You can't even expect any improvement next year. There was a lot of apprehension prior to this race from the locals and poor support was expected. Even so, I had hoped for much better from my city. We like to believe that we're runner friendly. This race was not. Course was beautiful! Rolling hills if you run hills a lot. Flatlanders will call this course very challenging. Crowd support was minimal but enthusiastic when present. Several homeowners set up running hoses to try and assist. Overall, incredibly disappointing. I ran San Diego in 98. That race will always be remembered for running out of water. Sadly, the inaugural ING Georgia Marathon will be remembered as being an even bigger failure. | |
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D. W. from Roswell, Georgia
(3/27/2007)
""Get it - it's free"" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 5 What started as a joyful, exciting race turned into a fight for life for several runners. I saw experienced, trained runners falling to the pavement starting at the 20-mile mark. The lack of much-needed fuel had taken its toll. The situation at the finish line was equally disappointing. Spectators crowded inside the race corrals and enjoyed the runner's refreshments. One woman (dressed in her Sunday best) rushed past me with her arms and purse full of bagels and fruit. I heard her tell her kids, "Get it - it's free." While I enjoyed the course and local Atlantans' support, I am disappointed in the lack of organization. | |
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P. H. from North Carolina
(3/27/2007)
"Good Job for the Inaugural Marathon" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Many thanks for the neighborhoods and volunteers that brought out water sponges, ice cubes and water hoses in their own to help runners cool off on a very hot day for running marathon. Thank you for the little kids that operated free Lemonade stands and kids that hand-out candies. Thanks to all the fans for cheering and encouragement runners in the extreme heat (in the 80's). The course is a roller-coast and challenge but it runs through nice neighborhoods. The GA inaugural marathon has pretty good expo, a lot of free food samples and goodies, nice technical T-shirt and medal. It needs to have more water (Sport drink) stops on both side of the road and mile marks with clocks. Oh, forgot to thank the Security folks on Peach street who were very friendly and cheerfully helped visitors and Police force who directed and kept runners safe from trafic. Overall the GA marathon was very good but still it has room to improve. I will run it again. | |
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D. M. from Wilmington, De
(3/27/2007)
"ING is not a race organization" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 To the previous comment: ING is a bank and financial services company that has decided to market to athletes, and so sponsors a lot of races. It did not "organize" the race, but merely backed the organizers with money. Blame Georgia Marathon LLC for the unconscionable error of not having electrolytes. | |
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f. q. from Dayton, Ohio
(3/27/2007)
"THE KATRINA of MARATHONS!!!" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 PRO'S Beautiful scenic course. Friendly spectators. CON'S MARTA not operating as promised,some runners arrived late! NO POWERADE the entire course. To not have electrolytes on a hot day for the entire marathon was disaster! Hopefully no one DIED!! A race official told me that they knew there would not be any Powerade the day before the race and that it would be a very hot day but didn't 'shut it down'. Every 1-2 miles there was a sign that said Powerade and water up ahead. LIE!!!! There was not one drop of Powerade on the entire course and water stops if they were there were poorly organized. Some places where water stops were suppose to be had gallon jugs of water on the side of the road and desparate runners were just drinking from the gallon jugs and staggering on. Only to reach the finish line to be given a token bottle of water and STILL no Powerade! Georgia ING shame on you for your incompetent, immoral behavior. As far as I am concerned all the runners deserve a refund to help cover their medical care needed after this disaster. I won't be back! | |
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J. L. from Atlanta, GA
(3/27/2007)
"Poor organization from ING - expectations higher" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 It was a great course that led you through the scenic neighborhoods of Atlanta. The fans were great, out in droves, and helped spur you on. BUT the organization left a lot to be desired: 1. No corrals at the start, yielding mass confusion. 2. Fluid stations were not long enough and mismarked; they lacked PowerAde, ran out of cups, and ran out of water. 3. Half marathons bogged down the marathoners. 4. Seven-hour group was misrouted. 5. MARTA stalled out. 6. Mile markers were small/hard to see and there were no time clocks. 7. Did I say NO POWERADE?!?! Too bad ING didn't ask the Atlanta Track Club for assistance - they have done this before!! | |
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S. C. from Dallas, TX
(3/27/2007)
"No PowerAde; No Water Miles 3.5 - 8" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 DISAPPOINTING. Need to start the 1/2 marathon AFTER the full marathon - it was a zoo at the first 2 water stops, and then no liquids until mile 8! No PowerAde! ING's lack of liquids borders on negligence in 80-degree heat. | |
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J. E. from North Carolina
(3/27/2007)
"Not terribly impressed-expect more from ING" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 After running the ING NYC full marathon last Nov, I expected great things from the Georgia Full/Half. Unfortunately, they were not as great as they could be. To start with, I felt the expo was unorganized. We were told to have our bib number going in to the expo. Really, it didn't matter whether you did or didn't you still had to stand in this massive line (stretched around the building) to get in & find your bib number on a sheet. I feel there should have been 2 lines-one for people with their number & one for people without. There were a lot of free food samples there, but after waiting in such a long line, I was pushed for time & didn't have much time to enjoy the expo. I also felt that race day was unorganized. Traffic was a mess & that is to be expected in Atlanta. However, with an inaugural event of that magnitude, you would have thought that there would have been people out directing traffic & moving everyone along as quickly as possible. I was also disappointed with the lack of corrals at the start as well as the lack of mile markers for the half-marathoners. It was incredibly hot & without knowing how far you've come or what you've got left, it was easy to feel your motiviation dwindle. I brought my own PowerAde (thankfully after everything else I've read) but at the finish there was only one small bottle of warm water being handed out. I drank it & immediately felt nauseous, as it was so hot & hard to drink water that wasn't even slightly cold. Those were my negatives. My positives were: challenging, scenic course (would be great in January!) & neat little finishers medal & technical shirt. I do understand it was an inaugural marathon, but not having mile markers & running out of PowerAde are orgainzational problems, not inaugural ones. If it were run during a different time of the year, I might consider running it again. | |
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K. P. from Atlanta
(3/27/2007)
"Very good Marathon- fix the glitches" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 I'm a local as well and was thrilled when they announced the inaugural ING Ga Marathon. As a 'victim' of an inaugural marathon in the past (Rock and Roll Marathon '98), I'm well aware of the potential for problems that can come with first time marathons. The biggest complaint was the lack of powerade (though advertised) throughout the course. I stopped seeing powerade after mile 6 in the marathon. One aid station was completely missing. Saw police waving cars through the Park Dr/Monroe Dr intersection, cutting off a marathon runner just ahead of me. Apparently others saw similar instances. It became an effort to go around walls of 1/2 marathon walkers in the Va Highlands/Piedmont park area. Some groups where 5 - 8 wide on narrow streets and made no attempt to share the road. It would be nice to have more signage or direction at the start/staging area. There was an announcer giving instructions, but the organizers didn't put speakers throughout the staging area for runners to hear them -unless you were standing next to the starting line all morning. Speaking of signage- even though I ran the marathon, I noticed that there were no 1/2 marathon mile markers on the course once the marathon rejoined the 1/2. The good- Although challenging with lots of long, gradual hills, the course is a very scenic tour of some great Atlanta neighborhoods. Lots of shade in the first 17 miles of the marathon. Crowd support was good. Thank goodness the temps were managable. The shade and low humidity were a blessing, although it did finally heat up towards the end (I finished in 3:16ish). I'm confident the race organizers will make adjustments with the aidstations. Make those easily fixable changes and I would give this race 5 stars without hesitation. I would definitely do this race again. |
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