This was my first every big race, but I've had a few more since which helps me evaluate this one. I showed up at the expo later Saturday afternoon which made my bib pickup a lot easier. The lines and crowds were low, but there seemed to be ample room and volunteers to hand a lot of people. However, after I left registration and entered the actual expo, it was packed. It was pretty hard to move around, let alone shop for anything. I didn't stay long.

One great thing about this race is they give you a pass for the metro (subway) for the day making it easy to get to and from the race. However, there's only one line that gets to the start and it's only two or three stops away from where you need to get off. Two or three other lines meet at this one station which makes for quite the congestion for a Sunday morning, so make sure you leave enough time to get there.

The race itself is a lot of fun. There are plenty of crowds with lots of cheering and signs. Makes for a pretty festive run. Not to mention the bands all along the course. The race begins on top of a bridge which is a pretty cool feel. The nice part is you don't have to run up the bridge, just down. Once you leave the bridge, you head through a six flags park which was probably the worst part of the race for me. This is a big race with lots of runners. The run through the amusement park has pretty narrow paths for the amount of runners. To be fair, it didn't help that it had rained a lot the night before creating big puddles that made things worse. You're in the park for about 5km and then it opens up.

The rest of the race leaves lots of space and you get to run through the formula one track, across the St. Lawerence and through historic Old Port. It really is a beautiful course and mornings in late September in Montreal are nice and cool.

For those doing the half, this course is pretty flat aside from the descent from the bridge. HOWEVER, be away of kilometre 17. This whole km is pretty much up hill and if you've only trained for a half, you're getting towards the end of your tank which makes it even more challenging. There is a hill before this that is a decent size, but this one was rough for me. Really only two hills you have to worry about, unfortunately for runners, it's towards the end of the race when you're probably already pretty tired. If you're doing the marathon, it's just before midway point and I don't believe there's really any hills after it.

Overall, I loved the experience, loved the race and loved my time. If you're looking for a destination race, I highly recommend this one for just the energy that the people have. The city and the event is bilingual, so if you don't speak french, it's not a concern. I'll be running this one again this year, but this time I'll do the marathon.