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Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.3 
Organization 2.7 
Spectators 2.8
Number of comments: 736 [displaying comments 531 to 541]
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Geoff Martin from Winnipeg,Manitoba,Canada
(12/15/2006)
"Thank you; thank you very much" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Enjoyed the half marathon. The start was awesome with the fireworks. I loved running down the Strip. However the return leg was very boring. The expo was great and it was very nice to hole up in the Mandalay Bay until the start. This helped alleviate the usual chaos at the porta-potties. Two things I think need to be adressed. Please get some coffee at the finish line. Me and a lot of other runners were trying to find some. Having the Blue Man Group was great, but please, I hate having the US national anthem screwed up. This may sound odd coming from a Canadian, but you guys are really patriotic, so get someone to sing. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I appreciated all that went in to putting it on. One nice thing was the free admission to the Tao night club. I got a real laugh out of all the running Elvises. Good job guys. | |
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Eddie Hahn from Rancho Cucamonga, CA
(12/15/2006)
"Finish Line Amenities Nonexistent (1 banana?)" (about: 2006)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 The expo in the convention center was well organized with a lot of vendors. (It requires a lot of walking to get to if you park in the parking garage at the Mandalay Bay.) The packet pick up was relativly smooth - wait in line to verify your number from the series of "master number books" and head to your assigned number pick-up corral. Here you are issued a number and a chip. I bypassed the very long line to verify the information encoded in the chip. (Afterward I talked to a race official and they explained that the chip verification was "optional.") Here the LV Marathon may consider what Grandma's Marathon did. If they want to reverify the chips, they should set up encoders near the check-out that everyone has to pass... and if you have enough, it can still be a fluid process.... The t-shirt is of a short-sleeve, cotton, powder blue variety with a sillouette of the buildings in the Las Vegas skyline. It will supplement my collection fine, but it seemed cheap considering the $95 entry fee (more on this to follow). After looking through all of the flyers in the packet twice, I came to the conclusion that there was absolutely no pre-race information in it! I had to go back into the expo to reverify information. Speaking to other runners, I wasn't the only one. Running down the strip was one of my main motivations to participate in the event and I wasnt disappointed. Robin Leech from the "Rich and Famous" show served as one of the MC's and the professional music group the Blue Man Group buoyed us across the start, along with a barrage of fireworks. The strip itself is actually pretty quiet that time of morning and taking in all the famous casinos on the strip was awesome. There were nice size pockets of fans that had taken a break between casinos, and could be observed on footbridges overhead. The early miles didn't seem to be marked clearly or prominently - the first one I remember seeing was mile 5. (The later in the race, the better it was marked.) I thought there were too few porta-johns based on the number of participants. Because the field is nearly twice as big due to the concurrent half marathon up to 6 miles, porta-johns should be increased proportionately. I counted at least 15 Elvises running including one with a guitar, and there is nothing like hearing Viva Las Vegas when you are doing a marathon down the Vegas strip! Also of note was the "wedding chapel pull-out" rest area.... I believe 18 couples married on course. Some before. I saw an interesting couple - groom in tux, wife in gown, shackled together, and his shirt said, "Incarcarated: Dec. 9th 2006"! The views of the snowcapped mountains in the distance made me question an earlier comment I heard that after the strip the race was "boring." It is more rural, but there are pockets of fans, and a lot of fellow runners. There was also evenly spaced entertainment through the rural sections, including bands, MC's and cheerleader squads. The finisher's medal, in true Las Vegas, land-of-excess style, is a little gaudy in my view - gold in color, with the trademark "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, and with the event date on the back (draped by a powder blue Devine Sports suspension ribbon). There were extremly long lines for pictures, which I passed. Finish line amenities were a huge disappointment, and when I started thinking about the race t-shirt, I began to wonder where my entry money went. There were only bananas and water. By the time I walked to the massage tent, the bananas were even gone!! Terrible. I saw a few runners walking around with some orange-colored sports drink but never determined where it came from. Massages were available, but the lines were long. There were a few other vendors on the other side of the massage tent. | |
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J. M. from California
(12/14/2006)
"Course good as could be, organization pretty bad" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 LV is a "blah" town scenery wise, so the course was as good as it could be, really. It runs through the only major attractions: the strip and downtown. The organization needs some work; it's a big race now, and the start needs waves, or better yet, separate start times for the half and full (perhaps by a half hour) - get the marathoners out early. It was WAY too crowded at the start, and many people were standing in the side parking lots and waited until ten minutes after the gun before getting on the course. After finishing the marathon in four hours, there was zero food. Nada. Water and Gatorade aplenty, though. The course was manned extremely well, and the volunteers were awesome and plentiful. Great location for travelers, and tons of hotel rooms - Vegas hardly notices 16,000 people staying the night. Expo was cool, and held at the Mandalay expo hall, which is huge. Organizers spent a lot of time on the bullhorn talking about how big their race is now; maybe next year they can talk about it being great. | |
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J. S. from Asheville, NC
(12/14/2006)
"Not as fun as it sounds" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 The organization at the start was nonexistent. Thousands of people with no idea where to go. Blue Man Group... well, I'm sure they were great for the elite runners at the start line, but no one else could see them. Good part: There were a lot of bathrooms and water stops. The flat course was easy. The worst part: They ran out of food at the finish!! I finished at 4:40... and there was no food! I had to go to a hotel to find food after the race. I was told by others that came in after me that I was lucky to get Gatorade because they didn't even get that. :( | |
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S. B. from United States
(12/14/2006)
"An utter and complete mess" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 I would be surprised if ONE single mile marker was correct on this course. It really messes with your head when you're checking your pace band, and nothing is making any sense. Out of all the organizational tasks, putting the mile markers on the right place seems to be the easiest. But somehow, Devine Racing screwed it up. I will NEVER AGAIN run this. What a disaster. | |
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C. W. from Washington State
(12/14/2006)
"A lot could be improved in this marathon." (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 Consider, please: signage to the expo. Advance notice where the potties will be, and more of them along the route. Water/Gaterade tables on both sides of the route - there were four lanes of road to cross and criss-cross, as the sides of the tables kept changing. The electronic timing was great, but often the mile signage was missing. Not too many spectators, which is ok, but I'd hoped for much more entertainment - this is Las Vegas after all. And the course is great for 8 miles, and then Frontage Road, with traffic roaring parallel and nothing to look at but dust and walls. What's with a cotton short-sleeved t-shirt? At least the design was fun. Las Vegas, you can do better than this. | |
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V. V. from Nevada
(12/14/2006)
"Disappointing! Poor organization in many areas." (General Comments)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 I only ran the 1/2 marathon this year (2006). I ran the full marathon in 2005. The start was chaotic, but thanks to chip timing, it really didn't matter, so I started way in the back. Mile markers were incorrect, water stops weren't where they said, and there were NOT ENOUGH PORTA-POTTIES! Couldn't find food or amenities at the finish. | |
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K. A. from USA
(12/14/2006)
"Mismarked, unorganized, but pretty flat course" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Ran the full and was very disappointed considering the entry fee. Course was mismarked and sometimes not even marked for miles. Water was every mile but could only find Gatorade about 2 times after mile 13. Temps were great, but running in the desert left me covered in dust. Mountains were pretty in the background but the headwind was so strong that I could hardly look up. Lots of straights on the full course, which made it hard to get away from the wind. Start line was very disorganized. I have run 17 marathons and it was the worst yet. Couldn't even see the Blue Man Group or any entertainment and I couldnt get in the right corral and started way back. NO food at the finish line and never received my "in training" shirt as I was promised when I registered. This was my 1st trip to Vegas and I had fun other than the marathon. Will go back but definitely not to run this one! | |
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S. L. from Los Angeles, CA
(12/14/2006)
"Everyone's gotta run it once but..." (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 This was my second LV Marathon. Compared to last year, the medal and shirts were less nice (they gave tech shirts last year). There was no food or refreshments at the finish (at least they had bottled water last year), which I found odd since they allegedly had more runners this year than last year (thus more money). How hard/costly would it be to have some food and refreshments at the end? We are paying $95 after all, which is the most expensive marathon registration of all the marathons I have run. They could even have had food/drink sponsors. On the plus side, the weather was nice (I love running in cold weather) and overcast (this was the first marathon where I did not get a sunburn), course was relatively flat, there were port-a-potties virtually every mile (which was virtually non-existent last year), and the various Elvis impersonator runners and showgirl runners (only in Vegas) made me smile. And the Blue Man Group was a nice touch (if you heard the announcer mentioning a runner stopping to take a picture of the Blue Man Group at the start, he was referring to me), although due to lack of a big screen, most runners only heard - not saw them - while they waited for the race to start. While this course was still fun, I wouldn't run it again, unless I hear things have improved: (1) mile markers were way off, (2) poor logistics - I observed that to use one row of port-a-potties around mile 8 or 9, runners had to cross vehicular traffic, and (3) above-mentioned decline/lack of quality of medals, shirts, and refreshments - there are many less expensive marathons out there that offer decent food and drinks at the finish. One thing about 2005's lack of port-a-potties - after the 2005 race, I mentioned to the organizers about the lack of port-a-potties (I only saw them at less than 5 locations in the entire course), and they insisted that they were everywhere. I don't care if they actually were everywhere or not (many runners and I certainly did not see them). If runners can't see/find them, they don't exist. To their credit, they did a much better job in 2006. I guess everyone's got to run Vegas at least once, but after having run it twice, I will be running elsewhere. | |
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L. W. from Kansas City
(12/14/2006)
"Expected better, with all the hype" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I agree with a previous comment that the best part of the race was the first 8 miles. The second third of the race was also nice - not too hilly and on the outskirts of town without much traffic. The latter portion, however, left a lot to be desired. The race path went along the highway and through construction areas and we were bombarded with soot, car exhaust and other pollution that made it hard to breath. Additionally, water stations were not always ready and Gu was available only at one point (mile 13, I believe). The post-race food was limited (I've seen much better fare at smaller events) and the shirts we got were cotton rather than wicking. All in all, for the hype and cost, it was a bit disappointing. |
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