Top USA Road Races

mick lovin wrote:

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Bix?

Are we talking about how elites are treated?

Dorm rooms with no heat?

No place to change around the race start?

No baggage holding area?

Other than that, sure.

Dorm rooms with no heat at Bix? Have you EVER been to Davenport at the end of July? Seriously? Yeah, I'm sure everyone if FREEZING in those 80-90 degree temps with 70-80% humidity.

Bix is an AWESOME race that definitely should be on this list.

Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago has over 50,000 runners I believe

I'm an olde tymee and will conjur up some good ones from days past (some are still going):

Asbury Park 10K

Bix 7 mile

Bolder Boulder

Cascade Run Off

Lilac 10K

Subaru Buffalo 4 Mile Chase

Trevera Twosome

Utica Boilermaker

Of these Cascade Run Off was the best. It was just a well run event, fast/challenging course, good weather, with a very deep field. I also liked Utica, which I only did once, and Asbury Park.

Haven't been to a ton of the big ones, but Gate River Run sure knows how to treat the elite athletes. Rich Fannin is the man.

No love for the Fifth Avenue Mile?

What are the criteria to determine the "top" races? Field size? Depth? Fast times?

Gate River Run which a number of people have referred to is a great US field but that to me isn't enough. Fast course? Quick, but there are faster courses out there. Number of participants? Does it crack the top 10 in the US?

Bloomsday - depth, fast times on a very challenging course, treatment of the athletes - elites rave about how they are treated by the race committee. Number of participants? Top 3 in the US.

Crescent City - super fast course (WR a year or so ago), depth of field is right up there with Bloomsday. I've never run it so I can't say much.

Carlsbad - the elite field is wicked. Super stacked and the results have shown with several WRs on the course.

Peachtree - Deep field even without the super fast times - Atlanta in July?

Beach to Beacon - another race elites rave about.

Bix - tough course, great community support, but when you go to American only prize money the depth of the field becomes glaring.

Those are mine. I'll add this about Bay to Breakers (which I have run 20 times) - the course is fast, the elite field is strong, but not too deep. Other than that there is not a lot to get excited about. Cotton t-shirt. Figure your own way back from the finish. The race has a lot of potential as a top tier race in the US, but currently is seems to be backsliding.

LOL, I have done 26 Bixes and one thing I have never felt I needed more of was heat.

I have not done some of the great ones like B2B, Boulder, Peachtree, Cherry Blossom nor Falmouth, so I don't know about in the whole country, but Bix is the best road race in the midwest for sure. One of the things I admire most about Bix is they know enough not to screw up things that are working well. I will say the addition of chip timing was very welcome.

A shout for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon since I have not seen it mentioned yet. It was more fun when it was point to point and finished on the speedway, but it's still a great race.

Someone mentioned the St. Patrick's Day Parade Run in St. Louis. Relatively unknown outside the St. Louis area. Great fun and one of the best times of year to run in St. Louis.

When Steamboat de-emphasized the 15K in favor of the 4 mile, I thought they lost something that was pretty cool.

I've been doing the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago since '82 or so. There have been a few hiccups over the years. It is now being organized by the same people who do the Chicago Marathon. Their organization is flawless. It's too crowded for me but other than that I have no complaints.

The Chicago area has a lot of races that are good but are only important locally. The Park Forest Scenic 10 was a big loss.

Al's Run in Milwaukee used to be thought of as a destination event at one time. Don't hear much about it any more.

What's Gasparilla like???

mick lovin wrote:

luv2run wrote:

I would also toss in whatever races at the road distance national championships. Gates River has a pretty good rep as does Bix. I always wanted to run Crim, maybe in 2013...

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Bix?

Are we talking about how elites are treated?

Dorm rooms with no heat?

No place to change around the race start?

No baggage holding area?

Other than that, sure.

Isn't Bix in the middle of summer? why would they need heat in the dorm rooms?

i will admit an obvious socal bias here, but can any 5/10k compete with carlsbad in terms the combined criteria of:

prize money (even for masters!);

fast times;

competitive fields;

racing conditions;

geographical location;

race diversity (separate elite/community/masters races);

beer tent?

this is not meant to be a rhetorical question--if there's a race that can compare with carlsbad in these areas, i'd love to know...