Gebrselassie on Detroit Marathon

I ran Detroit in 2005 and thought the race was awesome. The course was fun (over bridge, back through tunnel, downtown, belle isle, finish on ford field) and the support was adequate for its small size. I like Detroit's marathon better than Chicago or Portland.

Have they changed the course? I don't see why Detroit doesn't have the potential to get bigger. They just need some better competition (bigger prize purse) and a few more years of experience. Its not going to be like Boston over night. People should get over Detroit's past and stop writing it off as a waste land.

I came from Toronto to run the half. I really like the city (don't ask) and the course. There was probably more crowd support in Detroit than in Toronto, and Toronto's downtown is a hundred times more vibrant than Detroit's.

The course was changed slightly, it now finishes on Woodward just south of Grand Circus Park by Campus Martius or whatever it's called. I don't know how good of an idea that is for a late October marathon.

It's a pretty interesting course. You can definitely divide the half marathon into thirds: Detroit, Windsor, Detroit again.

The organization was great, the people were great and the city is not as bad as it's made out to be. Detroit has some amazing architecture and a lot of history. The downtown area, at least, is as safe as any major city in the world, albeit rather dead on a weekend.

They had a couple of 2:15 guys up front. It does attract some elites. A top-notch marathon would be a great way for Detroit to build a name. There's a lot of money in metro Detroit directed towards urban renewal. Look at the Renaissance Center or even the move of the Lions from Pontiac to downtown. A great marathon does the same thing for the city.

I ran the half marathon this year and will continue to support the Detroit races. I didn't really like the finish area, but the course, crowds, expo, parking, t-shirts, medals, were great. There was even a party for me when I got back to my car! barbecues, cold beer, and flying footballs!!

it didn't end in ford field this year b/c the lions had a game that day

No, the race didn't finish in Ford Field because the organizers wanted to publish their race date well before the NFL released their schedule which is around Apr 1 each year. Since they wanted to publish their race date early, they couldn't depend on luck that the Lions wouldn't have a home game so an outdoor finish was the result.

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WestMichiganRunner wrote:There was even a party for me when I got back to my car! barbecues, cold beer, and flying footballs!!

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Today I met many black people who were taller than me and not on EPO or HGH but we still had fun together and I learned to jive and dis bitches with them!

Detroit has a pretty rich history over the past 30-45 years, with wins by Greg Meyer, Jerome Drayton (who set a North American record at the time, I believe), and others. Considering the course, it has a lot of great features which Geb was referring to, and he only ran the first 10 miles or so.

Consider the beautiful climb up the Ambassador Bridge over the Detroit River into Windsor, the multi-national effect of running in both the US and Canada, the "Underwater Mile" through the tunnel back to Detroit, the nice park-like setting of Belle Isle, and what I thought was a great start and finish setting downtown. Add in 16,000 (granted, a lot of those numbers are in the half-marathon and relay), good hometown celebrity drawing power (anyone else see Trent Briney of the Hanson's conducting the little-kid races at the expo?) and a little attention from the biggest running star on the planet, and you definitely have a ton of potential to add to an already great event.

Maybe all this attention will help attract a mega sponsor to the race which can help elevate the race's status. Granted, there is much to work on, but I hope Geb is correct and people start seeing Detroit in a more positive light.

I've run Detroit for the past 4 years.

Every year I am amazed that they can't get the mile markers in the right spots. Who is the idiot in charge of this and why can't he/she get it right?

The Ford field finish was great because once you finished killing your self in the marathon you could lie down on the field and recover / stretch. The new finish funnels you into a friggin' parking lot where you can sit on a curb and dig through your crappy bag of food for some nourishment.

The finish line food at Ford field was better as well. This year they gave you a bag with an apple, an orange, melted granola bar, chips, sawdust bagel & crappy yogurt drink. What do I really want? I'm glad you asked. Bananas, good bagels, gatorade and water (in bottles, not cups).

The course is okay. Nothing spectacular but the trip into Canada (over the bridge and back through the tunnel) is pretty nice. The foray onto Belle Isle, not so nice. Nothing like high winds and vast tracts of open land to get you through miles 17-20.

The Expo and start are okay. Parking isn't bad only because it's a small marathon. Volunteers were good and there are plenty of aid stations - though a few are on the wrong side of the road every year.

Just curious- What mile markers were off this year? I've only heard about the marker on the Ambassador Bridge at 4 miles being misplaced. Were you looking at the signs, or the markers spray painted directly on the road? I have heard that these have been off in past years, but I think they were right on this year.

Regarding the finish- I think it is personal preference here. I heard so many complaints about Ford Field- having to first descend a pretty steep, not well lit tunnel down to field level in the final stretch of the marathon, and then having to climb up the stairs to reach the concourse after you are finished and dead tired. I thought the lot that they had blocked off for runners after the race this year was pretty nice- a nice wide open space to recover and eat before trying to go out and meet your friends and family. But, you can't please everyone all the time.

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4 x Detroit wrote:

Every year I am amazed that they can't get the mile markers in the right spots. Who is the idiot in charge of this and why can't he/she get it right?

The Ford field finish was great because once you finished killing your self in the marathon you could lie down on the field and recover / stretch. The new finish funnels you into a friggin' parking lot where you can sit on a curb and dig through your crappy bag of food for some nourishment.

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I think it was the 3rd, 4th, and 5th mile that were so off. My splits on those ones varied by over a minute. crazy. Also the underwater mile was nowhere near a mile.

the course had some interesting aspects to it, but there is no excuse for messing up water stops or splits.

The race did not finish on Ford Field b/c the Lions wanted $250k to open the stadium for this one event.

I agree on the course markings, I didn't run this year but have run 6 of the last 8 years and the mile markers, especially in the first half, have been off at least back to 2002.

I hated the Ford Field finish, nothing like a steep downhill into the stadium after running 26 miles. Then afterward, how do you get out? Climb the stairs. It was such a mad house at the finish too. You had to fight through crowds of people to get to the food, and then good luck finding any friends or family.

I have run this race a few times in the past and did again this past weekend. It amazes me that the course (while it does have some nice aspects) also has those spots that just make you scratch your head... Like maybe the giant 12 inch deep pothole just before mile 16... Or perhaps the choice of streets that lead by abandoned. bombed-out looking buildings, etc... (for those that only ran the 1/2 marathon, these came after you split off for the finish). I think they could do a better job of trying to showcase the best part of the city, as opposed to living up to the image that many outsiders have of Detroit.

Honestly, the best part of the course was the four or so mile stretch in Windsor...

Misplaced mile markers. It was the signs themselves that were off for 3,4,5. I'm didn't notice the spray-painted markers with the signs, I'm not sure if there were any.

My underwater split in the results is about 20s faster than my pace was.

The most desolate part of the course is from 14-15. That part is a major WTF, the road is busted up and tours through old buildings/warehouses. I think the course would be better off staying on Jefferson for that point.

I've hard people complain before about the descent into Ford field and the ascent afterwards. Neither bothered me, and it was nice to hang out in the seats afterwards while waiting for friends to finish.

It's local for me so I'll probably still end up running it next year.

I ran the Detroit Marathon this year and thought overall is was a good race. The course is not ugly, actually I found it pretty scenic when you are running along the water in Canada and Detroit,Belle Island (wasn't as windy as people said) and also when you go over the Ambassador bridge. Plus it was pretty cool running through a tunnel for almost a mile. As for the splits, it seemed that 4-6mi were off, but other than that everything seemed spot on. My only complaints would be that they had no port-a-pots near the start and after the race they need some better organization. It is annoying when you finish a marathon and desperately need a massage and the line is filled up with people that just ran 2hr halfs. Anyway, I could see Detroit getting relatively big in the future, but not rivaling something like Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc.

Rich H.

Ran it last year, total nightmare!

The fourth mile was short and the fifth was long. I thought the 6th was about right. I ran the fourth mile at my 5k pace (5:40) and fifth sixth mile two minutes slower than that.

I think the others were right, and that's an improvement over last year. Still, that's an amateur mistake to make.