How hard is the Fifth Third Bank River Run 25k course?

It is run entirely on asphalt. Normal asphalt hardness.

hardy har har

It is all downhill. The only pain in the ass is they have you run through the lobbies of every Old Kent Bank in town along the way, and the water stops are in them. Sometimes the tellers don't always have them well covered.

I would do the race. Free money at the finish.

I guess nobody knows

OK.

Here's the truth. I live in west Michigan. It is virtually all flat. From downtown along the river for many miles, across the bridge to the other side of the river, back to downtown.

Actually, I don't agree that it's all flat. The first half has a very slight, almost not noticeable, downhill. Thus, the second half is very slightly uphill. It's not very much and on a normal training run you probably wouldn't notice it, but on a good day you can really fly through those first 8 miles but then you pay for it big time around mile 12. I've known a lot of runners who felt awesome through the first half and crashed badly at 12 (myself included). But overall it is a good course and if the weather is good and you run smart through the first half, you can run a very good time.

Yeah, the first 9-10 miles are a flat tour, darned pretty too. Somewhere between 10.5-11.5 there are a couple of inclines that seems to be a popular place to separate the wheat from the chaff. Last couple hundred meters pretty much scream to the finish.

its really really easy, no joke

Fifth Third is also running a 25k in St. Charles Illinois this year. Last year it was a half marathon. It's on a point to point,pretty hilly course. I ran the half the last two years. Last year they had problems with water, the cups were too small and too few, but they sent out an apology after the race about the problems and promised it wouldn't happen this year.

TRNR wrote:

Fifth Third is also running a 25k in St. Charles Illinois this year. Last year it was a half marathon. It's on a point to point,pretty hilly course. I ran the half the last two years. Last year they had problems with water, the cups were too small and too few, but they sent out an apology after the race about the problems and promised it wouldn't happen this year.

Sorry, I lied, it's not a 25k in St.Charles

I drove the course in my pickup last week - seemed pretty easy to me.

seriously i have run this race many times with a best of 1:29:48 5:47 pace. it is relatively flat with a few small hills around 10 to 11 miles. it is actually a very nice run. the only real problem is often when you make the turn around 8 miles or so you often hit a headwind the rest of the way. if you can run a 1:12 on a moderate course you probably can go 1:27-1:28 for 25k. hope this helps. i have run this race 6 times last time being 2001.

I've run it about 4 times. Great course. I've always run the second half faster than the first. Since the first half is flat as a board and you have trees on both sides to nullify the wind, just find a groove and pound out even mile splits just slighty slower than what you want to average for the whole race. When you hit the 12.5k banner and head back to GR along the other side of the river, you may encounter a headwind and it will be slightly hilly. Use this to your advantage and increase your pace. The mental boost of passing runners who went out too fast and are dying on the hills should give you a faster last half. Well, the hills aren't really that bad, but people still seem to struggle on them. I love this course. I ran a 1:28 here back in my younger days. Also, take a pack of GU along and use it around mile 10.

The course as a whole is pretty easy. Keep in mind though, that the last 6.5 are a good bit tougher than the first 9.

I've run the race 3 times and agree that the second half is much harder than the first. First half is fast with the hardly noticeable downhill (not to mention the inaccurate mile markers) but then all hell breaks loose for the second half. If you can get in a good rhythm though it's a fun day. I always had a good time walking downstairs for the few days after the race too. But maybe that was just me?

I have a question for those of you have run this race multiple times. I have only run it once...in 2000. I was told that due to construction that year the course was completely different than other years (We never went anywhere near downtown for example). How do some of you who ran the 2000 course rate it compared to the regular route? Faster/slower, different at all?

I ran it in 2000 and HATED it!!!

There were problems with the busses and several hundred runners did not make it to the start in time. I think the race director then blamed it on the runners.

Besides the logistical problems of getting thousands of runners to a starting line in the middle of nowhere with no nearby parking lots, the course sucked too. I remember a long uphill stretch into a headwind. I am so glad that the course is back to normal.