Marathon Details - Maryland Trail Running Festival

North America Marathons > USA > MD > Germantown > Maryland Trail Running Festival

Maryland Trail Running Festival

Maryland Trail Running Festival & Half Marathon, 5 Miler

Germantown, MD USA

August 30, 2015

http://www.wdas.org

Marathon Results

By Year:

2015 2014 Top 3 Finishers

Race Details

All trail, rolling hills - start at the Damascus Recreational Park, follow the Seneca Greenway Trail to Seneca Ridge Trail to Schaeffer Farm White Trail to the finish at the Germantown Recreational Park (includes one wet creek crossing)

Contact Information

Name:	WeDAS (We Do Awesome Stuff)
Address:	Germantown, MD
Phone Number:	202-870-4288
Email:	Email the organizers

Runner Reviews (3)

Course 4.3

Organization 1.3

Spectators 1.3

Write a review

Number of comments: 3

A. F. from Maryland (3/11/2016) "Fun run, but poor organization" (about: 2015) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Maryland Trail Running Festival COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 It was a fun course. I had never run a trail race before, at least not since cross country in HS about 12 years ago! I had been training for a road race marathon, and this was about half-way through training so thought it would be a great run. The course was nice, A LOT of hills that killed my legs. But the course was not clearly marked. Me and the other 4-5 race leaders actually ended up getting off course because of the poor signage. We had to backtrack to get back on course. In all, we probably lost about 10-15 minutes on our times because of the off-course, backtracking, and then being so far back in the pack behind much slower runners and not being able to pass on a single-file path. When I arrived at the race, the signage was poor. No one was there to provide direction. And it was literally like one guy going 'Ok, time to start'. It wasn't a huge turnout of runners either, maybe 150? And since the course is a trail throughout the park and across major roads, the only place spectators can be is at the start and finish lines. I definitely agree with other commenters that organization needs to be improved for this race. I'd like to run it again because of the timing and the enjoyment of the course, but if there's no improvement with organization (water stops, course signage, etc.) then I likely wouldn't do it a 3rd time.
F. A. from Gaithersburg, MD (11/23/2015) "too amateurish" (about: 2014) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Maryland Trail Running Festival COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 Wow, what a disaster. - no officials at start when we arrived - missing water stops - water stops unmanned with no cups - transfers require $15 on top of current price - inadequate markings, heard several got lost - award ceremony promised, none (awards will be mailed?) Why bother with such an amateurish race when there are so many top-quality races already in the area? PS: Race claims to be a benefit for a vaguely-specified out-of-state charity. No statement is given for how much is tax deductible. The whole thing reeks of someone trying to make as much money as possible off of unsuspecting runners.
B. F. from Germantown Maryland (8/18/2014) "Needs a LOT of work!" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 Wow! Where to start? I was out for a run on my local trail when I came upon this race. It looked like the trail was not marked at all, and there are LOTS of places where it would be very easy to go off course, and many runners did! This race is in August.. Its always hot here in August.. And there was not enough water! I saw runners trying to drink out of the 5 gallon water jugs at the aid stations (which were unmanned) because they weren't carrying water bottles, and there were no cups at the aid station! Then there was the 6+ mile stretch between Riffle Ford & Black Rock Mill with no aid at all. It was a hot day, and there were lots of runners who went that stretch with no water because they were not told to carry a water bottle.. This is a beautiful trail, and is part of the course for the Seneca Greenway 50k in the Spring and the Stone Mill 50miler in the Fall, with proper course markings, organization & support this could be a wonderful event. This year, they were lucky not to lose anyone. Race director needs to do a lot better next year.