Thanks for holding and organizing and succeeding in making a great new race for us! No complaints about anything!
Great views, great trails, great volunteers.
A few random thoughts:
Pink and blue ribbons are great for color blind people like me (and the other 15% of men like me). Don’t even consider using orange/red ones.
Arrows at any "unmanned" start of a loop would have been nice, but were not essential.
I think the parking was fine, although I heard some people say it seemed like a long walk. It was fine, really.
Rock awards are way cool. Hats are way better than t-shirts.
Little tents at the food stations served as wonderful beacons in the distance that we needed to get to.
Bravo on the segregated well-labeled garbage facilities at the finish. I like low impact.
Anyway, once again thanks, and I hope to come back next year.
Johannes Rudolph
I just wanted to thank all of you for running a terrific race today! I ran the Marathon and was very impressed with the execution of the race. The volunteers were awesome, trail well marked and the aid stations were well stocked!!
Great job!! Thanks for all the hard work. It is very much appreciated by all of us that ran the marathon!
Sarah McIntosh
Thanks for putting on a great event today. I ran the marathon and thoroughly enjoyed it. The volunteers were fantastic! They were very supportive and it was great to hear them call you by your name when reaching an aid station. The whole race organization was done very well. Great job!
Thanks for all your (and the committee’s) efforts.
Rob Erskine
Hi Blue Sky Folks,
First off, thanks sooo much for your work to setup today’s marathon. Went off without a hitch as far as I can tell. Awesome course, awesome volunteers. Really good fun.
Thanks again for a great race!!!!!
Marc Johnson
Thanks for putting together a fantastic race. The organizers did an amazing job – the support was wonderful, the food at the end was great, and I was kind of blown away by the unexpectedly plush goody bag. Plus it feels truly great to support a local race with a modest entry fee and to know the money is going to a good cause (the main reason I signed up in the first place!)
Having crushed my anticipated finish time by just over 29 minutes (I finished in 2:00:53), I’m motivated to look for another 1/2 marathon this fall. I’m really looking forward to the 2nd annual Blue Sky event, and maybe next year I’ll do the full marathon 🙂
Steph Owens
Just wanted to say a big thank you for organising a fantastic race on Sunday. Blue Sky Marathon truly lived up to it’s name. That was my first ever trail marathon and was way harder that any road event I have ever run. Provided an incredible variety of terrain and beautiful views from the summits of those climbs. The course was clearly marked, aid stations were ideally placed and staff helpful and enthusiastic – great event. We are all talking about next year already!
Terry Chiplin
Active at Altitude
Residential Center for Physical Activity and Training at Altitude
www.activeataltitude.com
Wow, what an awesome run- the race was super fun- great course, great aid, great solitude on the trail, great volunteers- I do hope that the blue sky marathon continues! it was my first marathon- and it was perfect!
by the way….the hat idea is awesome! much better than another t-shirt- and smartwool is sort of ‘local’, making that brand a great choice 🙂
thanks to you and all of the race committee for an awesome day,
Molly Gutilla
What a well organized fun race! Limiting the race entries also allowed runners to enjoy the course and the spectacular views. Well done!
Thank & B Regards,
Jeanette Heimbach
I just wanted to say thanks to you and the rest of the committee for putting on a great race on Sunday. I’m sore today, but the course was beautiful, the event was VERY well-organized, the volunteers were friendly and helpful, and it was all right outside my back door. thanks so much! Please share with the rest of the race committee. I look forward to running the event again next year!
Chris Linder
Just wanted to drop a note to commend you on an awesome run. I did the marathon and you guys really did put on a great event. I have never had pitchers of fluid at aid, and I thought a great system. Two laps of that and we have a 50 miler next year!!!
Great day,
Thanks
Caroline Walden
CONGRATULATIONS!!! The marathon was awesome, inspiring, wonderful and fun! THANK YOU so much for all your hard work! I think you should all congratulate yourselves on a stunning success!
Can’t wait ’til next year ……I’m running it for sure!!! (Sorry…you’ll have to look elsewhere for volunteers….all of us that volunteered today were jealous of the runners!)
GREAT JOB!
Cat Speights
Just a quick note to say thanks guys, for a wonderful and beautiful race!
You must have put a lot of time and effort in organizing the event, it was perfect.
Congratulations on a GREAT organization, wonderful volunteers, it was a really fun day and the weather!
We are truely lucky to live in this area.
I really like the fact that you were environmentally concerned, the idea of bringing your own bottle and recycling was awesome!
Now, celebrate and rest! You deserve it!
Marie-Helene Faurie
I volunteered for the Blue Sky Marathon and I wanted you to know these individuals worked their butts off to give you a great race. As a race director I know there is alot of blood, sweat and tears that go into putting a race together. There is no greater feeling than receiving positive feedback for the runners. Great job everyone!!
Paul "Crazy Legs" Stofko
crazylegs10k.info
Blue Sky Marathon – New Colorado Race Gets Rave Reviews
Click here to view the Racing Colorado RaceBlog review.
This was a very well-run event! I’d especially like to thank all the volunteers out on the course–I’ve run some races with lonely stretches before but I’ve never encountered such enthusiastic and helpful aid stations!! And the finish area was great as well, as I’m definitely one of those that struggled over the last few (several) miles!
The Smartwool hats were a great idea as well. Looking forward to next year! I assume I’ll be able to retain my #1 bib even though I didn’t quite win…
Kyle Fanning
Just a note of thanks to the organizers of the inaugural Bluesky marathon and half marathon! From a racers perspective, the race was an undisputed success. The vibe after the race was overwhelmingly positive, and I do believe a good time was had by all, despite the tougher-than-expected course. Everyone I spoke to after the race was positive about the experience, despite the pain that most appeared to have endured over the last few miles. Here’s to many more years of success and growth for Fort Collins’ only trail marathon.
Nick Clark
Hey, for those who weren’t there yesterday, the inaugural Blue Sky Marathon was a fantastic success!! This race was birthed from an idea of several FCTR’ers, grew into a dream, and then a lot of people worked really hard to make it happen. The race committee consisted of the Fantastic Seven: Shana Gilette, Eric Lee, Dan Turk, Fran Levine, Alex May, Dennis Vanderheiden, and Pete Stevenson – all of these guys have done so much work over the past year, and yesterday it showed. There were a ton of FCTR’er volunteers as well. In fact, none of the race organizers ran (kind of sad – I hope next year it can be arranged so that some of them can actually run and enjoy this event). Dan Turk and Bryan Trammell provided amazing communications support with their ham radios. Fran, Don, Laurie, and the entire race committee were all helping with aid stations, and countless others. Steve Cathcart and Runner’s Roost was out providing the timing.
The race itself was awesome – great weather (cloudy and cool at first, but dry, hardly any wind), a beautiful course, enthusiastic and supportive aid statiions, and course marshalls to ensure that runners didn’t get lost. I didn’t hear ANY complaints – at all! In fact, if I had to pick something to complain about, I’d say that the Succeed was too watered down as to be almost tasteless. And that’s my fault since I was the one that mixed it – whoops! I should have tasted it first . . . So that’s something I hope to remedy next year (although I’m told that Succeed doesn’t have much taste anyway). After the race there was a great assortment of refreshments including delicious chili and chocolate soy milk (you don’t get that at every race!). The finishers ‘medals’ were really cool rock coasters, and the awards were rock monuments that had been quarried locally. I know many runners very much appreciated the free massages.
The race was everything you would hope for from a trail marathon. It’s hard to imagine how it can be improved, but I’m betting the organizers will make it even better next year. Everyone should plan to run next year. If you don’t want to run, consider being a volunteer. This is a great event – I can’t say enough good things about it!
Jonathan Vigh
Congratulations again to ttr regular Johannes Rudolph for winning the innagural Blue Sky Marathon in Fort Collins on Sunday. This was a fantastic race – well organized, all on trails with great views (when you could look up). Rolling hillswith some good climbing. Put it on the list for next year.
Susan Nuzum
I loved the race and will share it with all my Illinois friends, I have just recently moved to CO and like to recommend good races to friends back home. Hopefully next year we can get a group out here! Thanks again,
Barb Franzen
I loved the race, not having run those trails prior. I will definitely run it again and pass on my enthusiasm to fellow runners and triathletes. Thank you sooooo much for putting on the race, it was fantastic!!!
Jael Morgan
