Ogden Marathon, or Utah Valley Marathon?

[Hyrum]

I am curious which race people are planning on running and why.  We want to know what would make a person chose the Ogden Marathon over the Utah Valley Marathon.  We want to become the marathon of choice in Utah.  To do this we need your feedback.  We have already made many changes mentioned on our website for 2010 from runner feedback (like 5 deep prize money, masters money, new faster course, addition of the half marathon, entertainment along the course, etc.) Please be honest in your comments so that we can see if you prefer our race why that is, and if not we can see how to improve.  Thanks for the help.

[Dustin Ence]

I'm hoping to run both marathons this year as part of the grand slam.  Hyrum, the new course looks like it should be a really good course.  I know I've always enjoyed running down Provo Canyon.  I think with time your race will continue to grow in popularity.  To me June seems like the perfect time for your marathon.  Salt Lake in April, Ogden in May, Utah Valley Jun, Des New July, Park City Aug, Top of Utah Sept, St. George Oct just lots of options for runners to chose from.

[Paul Petersen]

Great job on the prize purse. I think having 5 deep for both the full and the half will make this a pretty big event. Simplicity of the course is nice too. Time bonuses are great; it's the only Utah event to have this. I wasn't really considering this race until I saw the time bonuses. Your efforts to reach out to elites and semi-elites is appreciated.

I would say there is about a 0% chance I would run the marathon, but some chance that I would run the half. The biggest thing for me going against this race is that it is an aided course, and not Olympic Trials eligible.  Plus times and PR's set on aided courses get almost no respect anywhere besides Utah, so aside from the prize it doesn't do me much good to run this race (or any other downhill race in Utah). I know that's ticky-tack, but others are in the same boat. I'd love to see the courses flattened out a bit. Right now, I'm planning on going back to RnR Seattle to try to lower my half marathon PR (and perhaps get the Trials standard), but if that falls through I'd probably come to Provo for the half. With that 1:07 bonus, I would expect it to be a hot race.

I love the Ogden event, but 0% chance I'll do it this year.

[jtshad]

Hyrum, I like the addition of the prize money depth and Master's money and it looks like you have made some good changes to the course and rerouted the second half to get rid of the less than desirable sections (under the roads, behind the minimall, etc.).   I didn't like the amount of concrete that you had to run on in the first half in the canyon however.   I agree with Paul's point on aided courses detracting from some, but to others this could be a positive as well. 

Your support on the course was good, but I do think that Ogden sets a great example with their aid stations.   The amount of gels and points at which they give them out is outstanding. 

I liked the finish line being at the mall (helped with family waiting...warmth, parking, bathrooms, etc.) and your finish line events are nearly on par (just a bit different).   The access to quality places to stay near the bus loading/finish line in both cities is a detractor however. 

Just some quick feedback.

[Scott Ensign]

This looks like a very nice marathon. I like the master's money too. I am not fast enough to ever earn it, but I think it is a a nice gesture and a morale boost to acknowledge the elite older runners, and may attract some very good older runners. I like the timing too, as I find it very hard to train for an April or May marathon with the cold Utah weather and winter inversions. June is good timing, and I can still train for and run the Bolder Boulder 10K. I may very well sign up and run this race, unless it interferes with my son's annual scouting super activity (these usually occur early in June). Anyway, it looks like a great race!
Oh, and the price is great, and I like the fact that the price stays low until May 10. It is tough to have to sign up for a marathon way early to get in and get the lower price, then get hurt training and lose the investment(that happened to me last year training for Ogden, which I had to skip).

[Superfly]

I echo the positive comments above. The aided course thing really wont be a big deal for you. Lets face it. Your target audience of runners isn't a massive group of Olympic Trials hopefuls. Rather it's the general runners of the region who want to hit a BQ or a personal PR and an aided course helps with those. That's all STG brings to the table and there is a lottery for that race. No money for the elite runners, just a aided PR for their bio. I think with your more central location and proximity to the masses that this marathon could end up being bigger than STG. Stay committed for a few years and market it well. The June date makes the weather more predictable and gives cold wether runners time to train outside before jumping into something. Actually UV and STG make great bookend marathons to a racing season if your a Utahn.
Keep it up man your making a lot of us happy with what your doing for the elite guys. I hope that come June I'll be fully healthy, fit and ready to have a great race in Provo.

[Cal Stauffer]

I really like the Ogden course and the scenery in May.  I'm running it again next spring for the 5th time to try and improve my time, since i have some history there to compare my performance to.  Great course, great time of year, great volunteers.  My biggest complaints:  1) their registration costs keep going up 2) they've been less than accomodating in answering emails and/or resolving problems

The UVM course looks good and I am definitely considering running it.  (Heard about it too late the 1st year, and was injured last year...)  The fact that you are taking the time to get feedback and suggestions and implementing improvements to the race is a nice selling point in my book. 

It looks like you have a nice prize structure for attracting a larger elite field.  Maybe you could consider giving comps for the following year to the age-group winners.  That would set your race apart even more.

[AndyBrowning]

Just keep doing what you are doing and it should continue to grow.  I ran it the first year and there were a few things that I really did not like about the course but I believe that you have addressed them.  With that said, I think that you need to be careful about having a different course every year.  The fact that you are willing to ask for and take the advice of the runners shows that you really care about making it a good race.  Runners recognize and appreciate this and will support your race because of it.  As the word gets out, your race will become a goal race for people instead of something that they run as a training run or because they didn't get into Boston or Ogden.

[Hyrum]

I like the idea about age division winners getting a comp to the next year. I also agree that consistency is important in a marathon course. The course we have now is the course we wanted from the beginning, but only now are we big enough for Provo and UDOT to close down the right lane of a US highway.  We want to keep this new course forever if the runners enjoy it.

[Maurine Lee]

Hyrum,

The course change looks good. We were not too happy with the concrete at the beginning, but it was liveable. 

Ogden has amazing scenery and it will be hard to match that down in Utah Valley. 

The only other change I would suggest on top of what has been mentioned would be the packet pickup.  It was pretty bad last year and most marathoners do not want to stand in line for an hour or more the night before a marathon.  There has to be a way to speed that up to reduce the frustration level there.

[jtshad]

I would echo Maurine on the packet pickup, that was a bit long. 

[Josse]

I like both marathons for different reasons.  I would likely do UV over Ogden because it is so close to home.  I think the course change is going to be good and offer better scenery as well.  I am excited to see it grow.  I do agree with Maurine that there need to be something done with the packet pick up.

[Hyrum]

The packet pick up thing was weird.  We had like 15 people there helping, but I believe the issue was limiting the pickup from 5-9pm.  This had the early birds coming at the same time as the people who just got off work.  The last 1.5 hours had little to no line.  To remedie the situation we are going to start at least 5 hours earlier so that the people that come early are not coming the same time as the people that just got off from work.  We will also try to have a larger area in the mall and have more helpers.  I am open to other ideas, but that is the planned solution for now.

[Matthew Rowley]

Personally I have been debating the same question.  I want to run one of the marathons.  Ogden I closer and they do put on a good race.  I have not run the Utah Valley Marathon.  The main issue I have with running the Utah Valley Marathon is the Wasatch Back Relay.  The Wasatch Back Relay is a week after the Utah Valley Marathon.  My wife and I like to run the relay because it is one of the few running events my wife and I can truely do together.  My wife and I run at such different paces I ran the St. George in 3:01 and my wife ran it in 6:05.   The wasatch Back relay has over 7000 people in it, so you are competting with a very large event pretty close to your race.  So the biggest reason choosing the Ogden over Utah valley has nothing to do with Prize money or the way the race is orginized.  The prize not an issue for me, and for most of the runners that are in the marathon.  Only a small portion of the runners even think they have a chance of winning an award.  I have heard good things about the Utah Valley course and the way it is run.  What makes a race great for me is the course and the way the aid stations are run and the finishing area is run.   

My wife and I are still looking for a team that we could both be on.  So if we don't find a team, or the team we find doesn't care if I only do 8 min miles I will do the Utah Valley Marathon.

[Steve P]

I really like the idea of running by Deer Creek reservoir and down through Provo Canyon. I haven't seen the Ogden route, but this area is about as beautiful as anywhere I've ever seen. I must have missed this, but do you run on the highway all the way down the canyon? Or do you run on the river trail? I'd prefer the latter, though that might be hard with a large race. I also like the June timing. So maybe I'll give it a go.

Another thing I like is the price. Very reasonable, which is important to me. Even better would be a no t-shirt option.

One other suggestion you might consider in the future is to rename it to the Bridal Veil Marathon or the Deer Creek Marathon or something else, since only a small portion of the race is actually in Utah Valley (though the most important part). Just an idea.