Chevron Houston Marathon 2011 – Review
I completed the Chevron Houston Marathon on 30 January 2011. Here is my review of the good and bad aspects of the 2011 event.
Exposition
- Good: Lots of booths, including vendors selling items often forgotten by traveling racers
- Good: Very organized for packet pickups
Toilets
- Good: Several portable toilets inside George R. Brown Convention Center (near start/finish line)
- Good: Portable toilets at many water stations
Start line
- Good: Efficient start (~15-20 minutes total across two waves — at 7:00 a.m. and 7:10 a.m.)
- Good: Loud, booming cannon, not quiet starting gun
Police
- Good: Present at all intersections
Water-station people
- Good: Cheered racers onward
Water stations
- Good: Heavily manned
- Good: Always had water
- Good: Spaced appropriately
Bibs
- Good: Racer name in large font, so readable by spectators
Spectator turnout
- Good: Encouraging words from local residents who lived along the course
- Good: Densely located along several portions of the course
Timing mats
- Good: Reliably picked up timing chips on bibs
- Good: At several points along the course as well as at start line and finish line
- Good: Connected to free service for text-messaging the locations of runners
- Good: Connected to website that presents post-event mapping of runners relative to friends and race winners
Course
- Good: Fairly flat, except for some bridges and underpasses
- Good: Nice one-loop tour through many parts of the City of Houston
Weather
- Good: Breezy but not windy
- Bad: Relative warm temperature throughout race
- Bad: Drizzle or rain throughout race
Race photographers
- Good: Widely distributed along course
- Good: Nicely visible to approaching racers
Finish area
- Good: PA announcement of finishers’ names and cities
- Good: Medals put over heads of finishers
- Good: Official photos taken of finishers
Medals
- Good: Attractive medal that continued the style of — but did not duplicate — other Chevron Houston Marathon medals from recent years
- Good: Supplemented by finisher mug and finisher shirt
Post-race area
- Good: Recovery area for finishers inside the convention center
- Good: Reasonable amount of bananas and other free food for finishers inside the convention center
Conclusion
I give Chevron Houston Marathon an “A+” grade for the 2011 event. Overall, the good far outweighed the bad, which only related to the weather. I especially recommend this event because it is recognized as the USA’s premier volunteer-supported marathon.
Have you had a similar set of experiences? Where? Please leave a comment. Thanks!
