What a nice small race.
The conditions were good. The humidity from earlier in the week final broke and the temperature at the start of the marathon was around 20C and sunny. The race is organized and run by the St. Catharines Road Runners and starts at the Kinsmen Scout Hall in Niagara-on-the-Lake. For those that haven’t been to this part of the world, Niagara-on-the-Lake is a quaint town on the mighty Niagara River with beautiful bed and breakfasts and wonderful hotels with first class spas surrounded by the wine region of Southern Ontario.
The race is an out and back coarse that follows the very scenic Niagara River Parkway past manicured mansions, sprawling wineries and of coarse the Niagara River. The coarse is run on a shared paved path, which is lightly traveled and has some reasonably shaded stretches. The coarse does cross open roads several times so care must be taken to watch for traffic but this didn’t pose any real problem. The aid stations are 5km apart which is a little long so plan accordingly if this doesn’t fit with you’re personal routine.
It’s said this is a relatively flat coarse but that’s because it’s out and back–The elevation you gain in the front half you loose in the back. But at just over 11 km into the race a challenge is waiting. Rising 58 meters over 1.95 km is the hill. Unlike most hills found on road courses that are so uninspired, this one cuts twice across the face of the escarpment and is well protected by large treed parkland and is one of the main reasons to run this race. It’s beautiful and the good news is you get to run down it on the way back.
Coarse 5/5 Stars
Organization 4/5 Stars
Port-o-potties 2/5 Stars—Needed double the amount at the start
Overall this was a terrific small race. The atmosphere was excellent the coarse was brilliant and I now have a very attractive sweatshirt, which is a nice change.
