Delaware Marathon Running Festival

Delaware Marathon Running Festival

Road Race Name:
Delaware Marathon Running Festival

Location:

Wilmington Delaware

Distance:

Full Marathon (26.2 miles)

Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

4 person Relay (6.55 miles each)

8 person Relay (3.275 miles each)

Price:

Full Marathon - $95-$115 (depending on when you register)

Half Marathon - $70-$80 (depending on when you register)

4 person relay - $160- $200 (depending on when you register)

8 person relay - $320 - $400 (depending on when you register)

Race Rating:

9/10

Course Review (Full and Half Marathon Course):

This is a 2-loop full marathon course; the half marathon is one loop.  We started out at the Wilmington Waterfrontalong the Christina River and ran along the River walk and then made our way to and through the Brandywine Parkalong the Brandywine River.  From the park we made our way over to and up Lovering Avenue to the KentmereParkway and this is a decent hill, about a mile in length.   It comes along on the course from miles 6 to 7 in the half marathon and then again from miles 19 to 20 in the full marathon.   (The plus side to this is that we then got to run back down the hill from miles 10 to 11 and again from miles 23 to 24).  Once up this long hill we ran along the Bancroft Parkway, which took us into a residential neighborhood named Wawaset Park.   Once we were through Wawaset Park we ran back to the Bancroft Parkway and then the Kentmere Parkway and made our way into Little Italy.  From Little Italy we ran up King Street (another decent little hill), and then back to the Tubman Garrett River Park where we started.  I did not mind that the full marathon course was two loops; it was great for strategizing how I was going to run the second half of the marathon.  

Overall Course Rating: 9/10

Race Atmosphere Review

This race is on the smaller side: for the full marathon the cut-off is at 800 runners and the half marathon cut-off is 1200 hundred runners.  The relay teams are very popular as well, not sure of the cut-off numbers but they had about 740 people run the 4-person relay and 480 run the 8-personrelay in 2014.  That being said, the crowd support for this race was awesome.  There was rarely a spot on the course were there were not any spectators cheering.  The residential neighborhood of Wawaset Park was one of the best for crowd support with families out on their front lawns cheering, offering snacks and hydration, water from hoses, etc. to cool you off, anything you may need to get you through the race.  It is also placed at the perfect spot on the full marathon course (around miles 20.5 – 21.5) where a lot of runners could use that extra boost.  The Waterfront and Little Italy areas also had a lot of crowd support, which was very encouraging to all of the runners.  In  

the Brandywine Park area where it can be difficult for spectators to get to, the scenery more than made up for the lack of crowd support.

Overall Race Atmosphere Rating:

9/10

Post Race Food, Drink and Swag Review:

After the race, there was a huge food tent with a variety of food options.  There were BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, pizza, soft pretzels, chips, ice cream sandwiches, bananas, chocolate milk, and water.

There was also a beer and wine tent for those interested.

This race gives a lot of great swag for their events!  Each runner receives a drawstring bag, technical shirt, runner’s hat, pint glass, memo pad and magnet.  

Overall Post Race Food, Drink, and Swag Rating:

9/10

Written by: Danielle Frank – www.dkrunnermom.com

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