Fast Running Blog

The Utah Valley Marathon and 5 K will be held on June 13th. Registration at

https://www.raceit.com/register/?event=201

For more info, go to

http://www.utahvalleymarathon.com/

The race is highly recommended by the Fast Running Blog.

I ran the marathon last year, my second marathon.   It was great fun.   A nice unusual course.   My report is at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=109

The marathon is now part of the Utah Grand Slam, and has moved the finish area to the Provo Town Center.  The new course will no longer go around the airport, and we will  be starting on US 189 (Canyon Road) instead of South Fork canyon.  One of the very few complaints I had from last year was about the portion of the course that went around the airport, but we have taken that out and moved our finish line to a more prominent location.  The prize money goes 3 deep now for men and women.  The champions get very nice watches from Sierra West Jewelers in addition to the prize money. 

All of our proceeds go to the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation.  The first 10 miles will be on the main highway with the right lane closed for the race.  We have a goal of getting 1000 runners between the marathon and 5K, so please come try out our new improved course.  You can call me anytime with any questions you may have: 801-472-7866

The Provo Riverwoods 10 miler is the same day.  How is that going to work?

With the change in the course I guess we have to be prepared to run on concrete on the highway instead of asphalt on the trails, right?

Hyrum, is Utah Valley a Boston qualifier?  I have a buddy who was thinking of running it but wasn't sure if it is USATF certified and Boston eligible.

It is USATF certified, or at least it will be before the race starts.

Thanks, Sasha.  It wasn't on the list on the USATF website so it that is good news about getting certified.

USATF website is extremely out of date, much more than our Race Calendar.

Cash prizes have gone up to $1000 again for first, Hyrum just told me yesterday.  They must be getting such great numbers signed up that they can afford more.

Heck - having it as part of the Grand Slam will definitely boost its numbers.

I just got an email from the Provo 10 miler director saying that he is having a marathon that day, "The Provo Marathon."  Is he nuts or will this work?  It seems very strange to me.

The courses do not overlap, as I understand. UVM goes on the highway while Provo River 10 miler will follow the trail. I do not expect to see a whole lot of activity in the marathon part of it.

It seems like the race directors would want to change dates so they don't overlap.  With only a couple Utah County marathons all year, is seems like a waste for them to be on the same day.  Kind of like if 4th of July and Christmas were on the same day.

A little marathon competition...the Provo Trail 10 mile is the same day as well, with their marathon attached. So, there are 3 races going on (2 marathons and the Provo Riverwoods 10mile).

Really the UVM is growing quickly and will soon be on par as a distinguished marathon in Utah. The trail run one has less participants and seems like it is on its way out....kind of been struggling the last few years. Hyrum is doing a good job advertising...I've seen signs all over Utah county (Maceys is a sponsor and has banners out in Orem, Provo, Spanish Fork, etc) and so I would expect it to draw a few more faster runners and more participants.

Sadly, though, it did not make it into BYU's acclaimed newspaper as even being a marathon in Utah, let alone Utah County (I noticed an article in their paper a few weeks ago while at their indoor track). Student reporters...

 

So it is confirmed that the UV Marathon is on the road, meaning undulating ups and downs?

I am a little concerned about the first 10 miles.  Besides undulating ups and down, HWY 189 is solid concrete with annoying divets.  Those who ran the Provo River 1/2 last year would remember that mile plus stretch getting off Vivian's Park up through Bridal Veils.  It was not fun.  Hope they close off at least one lane of traffic, or it'd be down right dangerous.

The hills in the canyon are not bad, and they are closing off one lane of traffic so you won't have to run in the divets.  I think it will still be a very fast coarse.  Should be lots of fun:)  are you running it Paul?

Josse, I am running it. And you look great in the UVM video. :)

Thanks to Tom Lee the course is now in the Course Tool at

http://www.fastrunningblog.com/course.php?course_id=577

The Course Tool has also been updated to include Save Copy, Reverse Route, and Add Return Path. I also fixed KML import to deal with more oddities, and added bump smoothing to Fix Crazy Grades. The UVM course has been bump smoothed. At first glance, mile splits the Course Tool produces look good.

Sasha, where is the link to the course tool now?  I don't see the button/link to get to it to input courses.

Jeff- you have to login like you are doing a workout entry.  Then you get extra options on the left toolbar (shoe manager, course tool, etc) from the calendar page.  That is the only way I know to get to it.  And it doesn't show up in IE, just FireFox.

Found it, thanks!