Best spring marathons to OTQ

OTQ Hopeful wrote:

I'd like to do a spring marathon and take a shot at the OTQ qualifier. There are a ton of options in the fall but not as many in the spring - what are the best options for this?

What I have found is:

- Grandma's Marathon in late June. This seems like the best option

- Houston is great, but too soon for what I am looking for

- Boston. Has the competition, course is tough though and conditions are pretty variable

- Wineglass. Flat course, though competition is lacking

- London. It's net downhill and point to point - was it grandfathered in like Boston and CIM?

- Toronto and Ottawa - don't know much about these

Correction to original list: I realized I meant Glass City, not Wineglass. I've heard the course is fairly flat (looks like 2-3 main hills) and ok competition.

GBohannon wrote:

The Illinois Marathon in Champagne is small, but the course looks pretty fast. From what I've heard and read, it is a very well run event. It is also sanctioned and certified. Last year, three guys ran 2:21 and it looks like there are typically guys in the low 2:20s although no one has ever run sub 2:20 there. It is run on the last weekend of April.

BONUS - they pay $3000, $1300, $700 to the top 3 plus a bonus of $500 if anyone breaks the course record (2:20:34). So, it sounds like you could have a shot at $3500. I plan on racing there, so maybe I should not be encouraging any other fast guys to sign up... I will be looking more for 2:22 than 2:19, I think.

Champaign! It's a city not a drink! :) The race actually starts and ends in Urbana but half of it is in Champaign. If people have questions about the race I can try to answer them. I have run it twice but grew up there. The course goes by my High School - the High School where my girlfriend at the time went to school. A couple of places where I used to work... So I know the course well.

The course is basically flat. There are a couple of rolling spots just as you cross into Champain, the it is a gradual uphill along Church street - but you will hardly notice it, and a kind of tiny hill at about mile 24, you crest it right at the corner of the country club, but then it is a gradual down hill almost to the finish in the football stadium so you can really push the pace at the end.

There is one funky feature to the course. At mile 8 you run through Meadowbrook Park. Elites won't have any trouble as there won't be a ton of people with you. But for middle of the pack folk it gets congested as the path is only about 6 - 8 feet wide. You can run on the grass to pass folks but it tends to be a place where it gets a bit congested.

The other thing worth noting is that around miles 5 - 6 you are out at the edge of the city - if the winds are blowing (and that isn't uncommon in Champaign/Urbana) then you might have to deal with a little wind.

But really all of that is pretty trivial it is a flat fast course and it is a really well run race.

What kind of course does Austin have? It looks great athlete support.

Super hilly. First four miles you gain over 200 feet, then drop back down and climb back up even higher from mile 7 to mile 19. It is not a fast course at all.