Carolina Beach Marathon Reviews

  Never again

By Lb about 2017

Review

Worst marathon experience of my life. No race director communication, very little on course support, no water, no food, no medical, no port o potties....you literally are on your own. Then I got kicked off the course due to heat and lack of water, but they had Gatorade in the van which should have been on the course instead.

  Do not do this marathon/ poorly organized

By KR about 2017

Review

This marathon is poorly organized and should not continue. There was little information available on their website about the course, course support or parking information . There was no communication at all from the race organizers during the days leading up to the race. The race director did not respond to email queries and their FB page also did not respond to many queries. Race day 10/8/2017 was very hot with humidity above 90%. But the first water stop they had a person filling water cups with a garden hose!! I knew we were in trouble. After that there was tepid water at all stations, and weak, watered down and tepid Gatorade at 2 stations only. No ice, no gels or food on the marathon course. Then after all this they shut down the course after a while because of high heat and humidity and many of us were not allowed to finish. Most of us were past mile 20/21 at the point and were forced to quit. If they had given good course support, there was no reason any of us would not have been able to finish. This race is horribly organized, do not sign up for this race.

  Lacking Professionalism

By NSP about 2017

Review

I ran the CB half marathon yesterday in order to work in a training run as part of my marathon training. I chose to run a race in order to have course support which unfortunately was pretty slim.

I have a few issues with this race, the first of which being a severe lack of communication from the organizers. I received on email besides my registration confirmation. Once I got to the race, everything was fine, but it has more of a hometown 5k feel. The mileage signs were written on vinyl posterboard and affixed to handmade PVC pipes that served as signage. Ironically, half of them were on the ground.

They had water at every two miles, but ran out of Gatorade and only had it at one of the two stops. It was hot and humid, so I wound up getting water from the fountain at the park off Dow Road.

Course itself was fine, pretty run through the campground at Carolina Beach State Park (and shaded), but not nearly enough course support, volunteers, race presence.

After race was a bit of a joke- tepid water bottles, plenty of bagels and bananas, apples, no beer, no celebration.

Race Tips

Bring your own water. This was a hot race and humid. Don't expect course support or bystanders.

  Beware, shady event cancellation no refund

By LM about 2017

Review

Cancelled the full marathon due to excessive heat and humidity because they don't have "adequate" medical staff??! This is NC in the beginning of October! Expected race temp isn't even that much higher than the seasonal average. Clearly they failed to plan adequately and decided to just screw us out of the event we payed for. No refunds, and not even a heads up email. Just a tiny disclaimer on the race website. Very shady. Never sign up for a race put on by these people

  Fluid station problems

By CJWC about 2016

Review

Gatorade was horrible...too watered down. And water stations has warm, salty water.