Copied from my blog. Be forewarned: I am a nit-picker!

Overall - 3/5
If it weren't for the amazing views, this race wouldn't have much going for it. I'm guessing the location itself is really the only reason people keep running this race. Yeah, sure, everything was organized and in place. Things were started on time (sans a huge production or announcement that we started). The course was marked and coned appropriately and safely. There was plenty of water stations. But, to me, those are all things that SHOULD go with ANY race. I have very little money and when I choose to spend my money on a race, I'd like it to be on the best event it could be. Yeah, I'm picky and have high expectations, but for $90 - $100, I expected a lot.

There was no bells or whistles with this race EXCEPT the constant view to distract you from running up so much elevation gain.  The swag was alright (not being advertised ahead of time, I had no idea what I would get), there was no expo (none at packet pick nor at the finish line), there was bare minimum communication and the medal was, frankly,  just a medal.

Also, on top of all that, photos were NOT free. I'm a little spoiled in Colorado I guess because almost every race I run has FREE photos for download. I've already paid this company $100 to run, $130 to stay in a hotel and now there's more money for photos of me. Geez!

The one other thing that made this event worth my money is the finisher food. They had OPTIONS! All the options. Bagels, candy, pastries, chips, chocolate milk, hot drinks and PANCAKES. You betcha, I got a pancake.

T-Shirt/Swag - 2/5
For being such a great location, the swag sure was 'eh. Seriously. The t-shirt was just the race name, same with the medal and there was virtually nothing in the goodie bag (except a flyer from their on-course nutrition, Hammer - which I tried and promptly spit out! That stuff is gross!)

Aid Stations/Support - 5/5
Like I said before, course marking and water stations are critical to ANY race. This one was no exception and they had plenty of water stations along the way, about every two miles or less. There was water and HEED (from Hammer) at all the stations and snacks as some (probably for the marathon distance runners). Due to the nature of a national park, there were restrooms throughout the whole course.

Course Itself/Scenery/Difficulty - 5/5
I've already touched on this. The course scenery was GORGEOUS! I think this is the most scenic and pretty race I have ever run. The course followed the scenic drive of the National Conservation area which just so happens to be about 13 miles. How convenient for them! We had already driven this road a few times before race day, so I knew what to expect, but those hills just kept going and going and going!

Expo Quality - 1/5 (if that)
There was no expo. Not at the packet pick up and not at the race start or finish. It surprises me that this is the second race in less than a year that has virtually no sponsors. Don't they know they can MAKE MONEY from sponsors!?!?! As a race director/marketing coordinator for a running company, I know that, for fact, you can get people to PAY YOU to come to your race because you are bringing in a specific market of people, i.e. runners, and if someone has a product that appeals to that target market - it's a no-brainer! As a racer, I like expos because I like to see the lastest running gear, trends and local businesses.

Parking/Access - 4/5
There was no parking allowed at the start or finish of the race. Obviously, not everyone follows the "rules" and people still parked at both locations (and paid the National Park entrance fee) but because of this, the race provided buses to the start and from the finish and buses for the spectators to/from the finish for FREE from the host hotel. I think that is AMAZING and actually makes things easy. If we hadn't stayed at the host hotel, thinking like a local racer, It would have been just as easy to park at the hotel and get on the bus as well. There was another option if you were staying in a hotel near the Strip of Vegas for an affordable fee.

Race Management - 4/5
Even though I've knocked the company for not having all the bells and whistles, they still get a 4/5 for race management because things were in place and on time. It does take a lot of coordination to get the bus to and from the hotel to the race location and they did have all the info on the race website. The thing that knocks off one of the points is timing and post-race communication. It took three days to get our results and it wasn't until day three that anything was even acknowledged. There were no live results, even though it was chipped timed. When I looked later that evening after the race and didn't see results, I was a little irritated, but when I got back to town on Monday after climbing and there was STILL no results, I was bothered. I finally checked my emails and saw one email at noon saying the timer was working on results but there was a bug in the software. Then email #2 came at 2pm saying preliminary results were up, but they weren't 100% correct. And finally, email #3 at 8pm, a FULL TWO DAYS (not including race day) AFTER the race stated that the results were final and online. Being a race director and timer, I was irritated at the format of results as well, being a stationary PDF that you can't easily search. I know the systems they were using for timing and the software; plus the registration platform was on Run Sign Up which is so user-friendly that results could have easily been integrated and searchable by name. Oh well. There goes my nit-picking.

Would I recommend this race to a friend? Yes, because of the views. HOWEVER, if there's a competing offer (i.e. another race), run the other race and just visit the park separately.