| Note to 50-Staters:
This is the hard way to earn your Delaware marathon finish!
If this is your first trail marathon, expect
ruined shoes and a possibility of not finishing. If you do finish,
it will almost certainly be your slowest-ever finish time.
Dedicated roadies who prefer flat marathons on pavement should
check out the Delaware Marathon administered by our friend Wayne Kursh at
races2run.com.
The 2010 Delaware Marathon will be Sunday, May 16th.
In response to frequently-asked questions:
Getting to Newark, Delaware: (pronounced "New Ark," not to be
confused with "Newerk," NJ): Take Delaware I-95 to Exit 1 (896
north).
The University of Delaware and downtown Newark are a mile or two up Rt.
896 (aka South College Ave.) from I-95.
The nearest major airports are Philadelphia (50 minutes
north
on I-95) and Baltimore/Washington (about 75 minutes south). You
can
get a limo to Newark from either airport, but you'll be much better off
with a rental car, since Newark has minimal local public
transportation.
Wilmington (New Castle County) Airport does not have commerical airline
service. There is limited Amtrak and SEPTA rail service to
Newark,
but no regular taxi service from the rail station.
Accommodations: Except for the Courtyard Marriott,
Newark's hotels are clustered
near
the Rt. 896/I-95 interchange.
- Courtyard Marriot at the University of Delaware,
located on UD north campus, 200 New London Rd. (Rt. 896).
Nearest hotel to the race (~1 mile); 302-737-0900.
-
Embassy Suites, 654 S. College Ave. (Rt. 896 S of town); 302-368-8000
-
Sleep Inn, 630 South College Ave.; 302-453-1700 (next door to
Embassy
Suites)
-
Howard Johnson's, 1119 S. College Ave. (Rts. 896 & I-95); 302-368-8521
or
800-446-4656
-
Comfort Inn, 1120 S. College Ave.; 302-368-8715 (across the
road from the Howard Johnson's)
Getting to the race start: The marathon will start
promptly
at 7:40 AM (10 minutes after the half-marathon start) from the
pavilion at the W.S. Carpenter Recreation Area
of White
Clay Creek State Park, approximately 2 miles north of downtown Newark
on
Rt. 896.
You
will need to make your own arrangements for getting to the park on time.
If you are staying in a local hotel and have a car, please
consider
giving other runners a lift to the race if you can accommodate
them, and save on the park's parking fees!
Let your hotel's front desk know how many extra people you can
take.
If you don't have a car, contact your hotel's front desk and try to
catch
a ride with someone else.
What to expect: Since this is a small event with a low
registration fee, we are trying to keep things simple. There is
no
packet pickup prior to race day, no gauntlet of vendors, no pre-race
expo.
Claim your packet at the registration table on the morning of the
race.
You can even register for the marathon 6-7AM on race day. There
is no "official" pre-race pasta banquet, but there are lots
of good restaurants on Newark's Main St.
This is a trail marathon, so you should expect more
difficult
terrain and a slower finish time than you would expect in a road
marathon.
By trail-race standards, however, this is easy terrain. The
course
is marked with colored pie plates on trees, spray chalk on the ground,
survey flags
through
meadow areas and arrow signs to clarify critical turns at
trail
junctions.
The course is two circuits around the Triple Crown half-marathon
course.
The 13.1-mile circuit has 8 water/traffic control points, so you will
pass each of these twice, plus the start/finish area at the midpoint of
the race, for a total of 17 aid points. The start/finish area
and one aid station east of the creek will have various snacks, but the
other aid stations are planned to have water
only.
If you require sports drink, energy gels or whatever, carry
your own. You can re-stock at the mid-point.
The half-marathon course fords White Clay Creek at about
miles 3 and 10; marathoners will revisit this crossing at
about miles 16 and
23. The
water crossing is about 80 yards across, ankle-
or calf-deep, and footing is slippery in spots. We recommend that
you keep your shoes on in the creek. Wet or damp shoes should not
be much of a problem (you have run in the rain before, haven't you?).
This marathon is held simultaneously with the traditional Triple
Crown
race series, so you are likely to encounter
runners in other races.
The half-marathon will start
ten minutes before the marathon, so faster marathoners will be
passing
slower half-marathoners. Later in the morning the 10K and 5K will
be run on trails west of the creek, so you may encounter 10K runners
coming the other way or 5K runners going your way within the Carpenter
area.
Please share the trails:
signal to runners when you are going to pass them (e.g., "On
your left!") and allow faster runners to pass you.
There is no official cut-off time for the marathon, although runners
finishing after 1PM may miss the BBQ. If you DNF,
please inform the marathon coordinator
so that we don't send out unnecessary search & rescue parties.
Our aid station volunteers will leave at noon.
From then on, aid stations
are self-serve and road crossings are unpatrolled.
You are solely responsible for getting yourself to the finish.
What other marathon offers a shirt, finisher medal, BBQ lunch, snacks,
17 aid stations, and supportive church ladies for $2/mile?
We even allow race-day registration--same low-low price but maybe without
the shirt.
If you have further questions, please e-mail me
at johnmack@udel.edu.
Hope to see you the last Saturday in April!
--John Mackenzie
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