Charles River Marathon Reviews

  

By Anonymous about 2023

  Good set up for a BQ but need to execute their offering better

By DSK about 2021

Review

Ran 10/31/21. Several areas of the course was flooded from a week of heavy rain. They delayed the start by :50 minutes and rerouted part of the course but they had a USTAF official onsite to make sure it was properly certified before the start. Course itself is good, if you like loops. For me, loops work well. They have a table set up and you can leave your fluids, gu etc. with nutrition. You drop in a bucket and they bring it back to the table for next loop. This is an amazing feature few races offer and a huge benefit. Results include splits and standings on every lap as well as positive/negative split for 1st & 2nd half of race. Amazing data. Sufficient porta johns and parking. All these things are good.

Now the problems: the race director ran the race while there were lots of isssues happening from the flooding. He should have prob sat this year out to make sure things went smoothly. They had crews working to push the rain off the course and did a great job on all but 1 section. Kudos to the volunteers for that but shame on RD for not helping. They had 3 fluid stations, every mile, which was great until.they ran out of water after 2 hours!!! Anyways, I'm sure this stuff will be fixed in the future and some of it, they simply could not control, but a great concept race if they can execute better next time.

  Fun Race

By John about 2018

Review

The 10 loop course didn't bother me nor any other runners I spoke with. It is perfectly flat and fast. It also has the advantage of having you come by the crowd at the start 10 times, which is nice because the rest of the course was very empty. The path that you run on is not closed so you will go by other runners and walkers and cyclists. This was OK for me, but it could be a nuisance. We had good pacers and a good pack around these pacers which helped a lot and made the race a lot more fun.

Race Tips

September in Boston can be a bit warm and it was in the 70s and a bit humid for this race. it would be better in October. I liked the loop course but you have to be aware of this and know that you'll be OK with it mentally. There is a short extra loop in the beginning just to round off the distance.

Logistical Tips (Hotels, Restaurants, Parking, Discounts, etc.)

If you have friends or family come to watch they can hand you water, GU, etc as you come by the start, which is helpful.