-
Fort Myers,
Florida,
United States - November
- 3 miles/5K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon, 26.2 miles/Marathon
- Road Race
- Event Website
Tyler
Fort Myers, Florida, United StatesOverall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
The good: Very nice expo, good venue for the start/finish (the race coincided with Pincher's Stone Crab Festival), plenty of nearby parking on race day.
The bad: Crappy course -- 6 bridge segments (hills? In Florida?), boring scenery (light commercial/industrial and old residential for easily 75%) with lots of loops. Poorly-marked and directed course; I know personally 2 runners who logged a 27.2 because they did an extra mini-loop (one part of the course, you did the first time you went past, but not the second. There was no marshal directing traffic, not even a sandwich board noting which way to go). Mile markers were misplaced -- I know that I didn't run an extra .25 miles in the first 2, but the 2 mile marker was at 2.25 by my GPS.
And the cherry on top? No difference in medals. The 13.1 medal is the same as the 26.2. Now, it's a really nice looking medal... but not differentiating them seems just wrong somehow. I've been to races where the medal was the same, but the ribbon was different; that seems fair. It's a different accomplishment, noting the difference only with the t-shirt seems wrong.
All in all, I'm not impressed. This race management company has done 2 local marathons here -- this one, and the Fort Myers Beach Marathon last year. Both times there've been course-map problems. Until they have one go right down here, I'd give this one a pass.