Utah's best marathons

Updated August 20, 2017

Quick disclosure, I have not ran all of the marathons in Utah....yet, however, this will be a blog I will amend with each marathon I complete in the future. That being said I have ran some of the more popular marathons in the State of Utah.

The other disclosure I have to put on this blog, this is merely my own beliefs and opinions, however, I would be curious to know what everyone (anyone may be a more appropriate word) else believes is the best marathon in the State of Utah and why.

To determine "the best" marathon in the State of Utah, I brainstormed and came up with a list of ten different categories i,e, most scenic, best expo etc. and ranked the races against each other, with one being the best score possible, and seven being the worst. After I was able to determine the different categories I felt were appropriate to determine the best marathon in the State, it was time to pit these eight races against each other to see how each of them fared. The nine marathons are:

Ogden Marathon
Layton Marathon (The Layton Marathon has a new course for 2017)
Utah Valley Marathon
Top of Utah Marathon
St. George Marathon
Salt Lake Marathon 
Mt. Nebo Marathon
Hunstville Marathon 
Deseret News Marathon

CATEGORY 1 - THE EXPO

There are many good expo's throughout the State of Utah, at the various different venues, and it is hard to determine which one is the best. However, there were a few marathon expo's that stood out more than the others, they were the Top of Utah Marathon, the Utah Valley Marathon, the Ogden Marathon and the St. George Marathon.

As far as expo's go in Utah, the St. George Marathon has set the bar at another level, topping it off with having one of the best American runners ever as the keynote speaker the year I ran it (2013), Dick Beardsley. It was truly awesome! In 2015, the Utah Valley Marathon had my favorite male marathon runner of all-time come speak Ryan Hall.

Bringing up the rear in this category was the Mt. Nebo Marathon and the Deseret News Marathon. The Mt. Nebo Marathon does a lot of things well, unfortunately, the expo was probably their weakest area of their event as the only thing they had, other than the packets to pick up was some unknown guy (well to me at least) selling a book. That was it. The Deseret News was almost the exact same story having just one vendor at the expo.

The other race in the smaller marathon group, the Layton does have an expo and has improved over the years, however it is smaller in size, and it cannot match the big races in the state others. If the Layton Marathon can keep growing, it can start to compete. Unfortunately, it just does not have the size to be able to contend with the others.

The Huntsville Marathon had a surprisingly decent size expo, with several great vender's to keep you busy if that is something you are interested in. I can see this race growing rapidly in the next couple of years. 

Next up on the list is the Salt Lake Marathon. This expo had great potential, having it done at the Vivint Smart Home Arena where the Utah Jazz play. I thought for sure this was going to be a biggie based on its location. I was quite surprised upon entering how small it was, with it just bigger than the much smaller marathons.

The Ogden, Utah Valley and Top of Utah, all have good expo's, however, the St. George just doesn't quite get matched. The Ogden Marathon expo moved to a new venue a couple of years ago, and the new change was a fantastic idea as it was much more open and user friendly for parking and inside the building traffic flow, making it just as good as the Utah Valley Marathon.

Third place was awarded to the Top of Utah Marathon, being just edged out by the Ogden and Utah Valley Marathons, whom I feel both have an equally good expo.


CATEGORY 2 - RACE MORNING INSTRUCTIONS

Determining the best race morning instructions was fairly simple, tell me where I need to be, when I need to be there and where in the heck do I park? Bringing up the rear in this category was the Mt. Nebo Marathon.

The Mt. Nebo Marathon is the caboose in this particular category as they had a fairly big problem the year I ran this race (2015). Why? The race morning instructions, namely, a change of the bus schedules less than 48 hours before the race. I understand why they did it, but some people were unaware of it until the night before the race. Everything else about the race morning instructions was quite smooth and problem free. Unfortunately, there one issue was a MAJOR one.

Next up is the Top of Utah Marathon. Why? The year I ran it, there was no race morning parking instructions at all. I am glad I was able to quickly find a parking place and not miss the bus to the starting line. Hopefully this is something they think about in the future as it did cause some heartburn during the week of the race.

In regards to the Layton Marathon, they do a pretty good job of following agenda's as planned for race day morning's and generally it goes off without a hitch.

The Deseret News is right in the mix of good, race morning instructions as I had no problems finding where I needed to be race morning and providing lots of good, available parking.

Next up is the Hunstville Marathon. They did a lot of things well, just like the Layton Marathon. 

Coming in at a tie for second place was the Ogden Marathon, St. George Marathon, and the Utah Valley Marathon. Information provided now to the runner's of the Ogden Marathon include a map of where to park. This is a great piece of information to have and while they do provide all necessary information needed for an anxiety-free morning, they did not deliver quite as well as the Utah Valley Marathon as they Utah Valley Marathon also included the number of parking spots at each location the year I ran it. The St. George provides essentially the same type of information provided to the runners as the Ogden Marathon.

The King of the race morning instructions was the Salt Lake Marathon. They too, provided maps of where to park, and how many parking spots are available at each parking location. GENIUS idea! Therefore they get the nod for the best race morning instructions.


CATEGORY 3 - PARKING

This was another easy category to rank, tell me where to park, and make it as easy as possible to get back after the race, especially when the legs are shot after a marathon.

Bringing up the rear in this category was the Salt Lake Marathon. While they have TONS of parking with a nice list of how many parking spots are at each parking lot, every single parking venue cost money. To me, this is the reason why it ranked last. No other marathon charges you to park.

Ahead of the Salt Lake Marathon is the Top of Utah Marathon. This is due mainly for the reasons I listed in the above category, if I had not shown up early to the buses, I would have had NO idea where to park my car, and how far I would have had to walk once I found a place to park. If they can improve this in the future, I suspect they won't be the bottom dwellers for this category.

The Ogden Marathon doesn't have a major parking problem on their hands . Unfortunately, due to the size of this marathon, the parking is somewhat scattered and the amount of spots in unknown.

The St. George Marathon is nearly identical to the Ogden with one exception. All the parking is right around the finish line, and doesn't feel quite as scattered. 

Coming in fourth place for this category is the Layton Marathon. The Layton has plenty of parking right by the finish line for both the runners and spectators, however In 2011, for example, the weather was not ideal (rain/snow mix), and back then, they had you park in a farmer's field, well when the soil is saturated they quickly had to scramble to find parking for spectators. Many spectators ended up having to park in illegal parking zones to be able to get somewhat easy access to the finish line. Luckily for the runner's this was not really an issue. It appears the Layton Marathon has remedied this problem and has now provided several different parking areas at the finish line. The parking in the field is gone, which in turn, placed them higher than they have been in the past in this category.

Utah Valley Marathon is the bronze medalist in the category. There is plenty of parking all around the finish line, no matter the conditions all of which are within a few blocks of the finish line.

The Hunstville Marathon had an amazing idea for the race morning parking. Volunteers directing you as you enter the small city all the way to the very stall you are supposed to park in. LOVED IT!

The Deseret News Marathon had probably the best idea in regards to parking compared to every other marathon I have ran. "Let's use the largest stadium in the whole state." The one reason why it is the runner up in this category is after the marathon, you had to catch a bus back to the parking. Additionally, I had to walk a fair distance to get onto the bus.

Mt. Nebo Marathon had the best parking out of all of them as of the time I wrote this. The parking was right where you finished, no hassle of having to wander around getting to your car.


CATEGORY 4 - STARTING LINE AMENITIES

Another component which I felt was important to determine the best marathon in the state is the starting line amenities. Bringing up the rear in this category is the Layton Marathon. In 2011, as stated before, the weather was quite cold, when exiting the bus you could feel the wall of cold moist air hitting your body, and I quickly looked for some means of warmth. Also, they only had ONE heater for all us runners. Lastly, they had no drinks or food, Gu, or whatever your fancy is prior to your race.

Next in line was the Deseret News Marathon. They had the bare essentials at the starting, i.e, water. That was it. No soggy fields or fires either, which I actually consider to be a bonus.

The Huntsville and Salt Lake Marathon comes in just ahead of the Deseret News Marathon. Not that either marathon does anything wrong here. They had plenty of port-a-potties, we didn't have to worry about soggy fields, or smelly fires. They just didn't really have anything other than some drinks.

The Mt. Nebo Marathon is next up and had a unique idea I haven't seen (I don't think) to any other starting line. Hot Chocolate. They too had Powerade, water and the oh so desirable Honey Buckets. 

In a tie for third is the Ogden Marathon and the Utah Valley Marathon. Both marathons are quite similar Why? They both drop you in fields , but they both also provide PLENTY of goodies.

The winners in this category are the Top of Utah and St. George. For the Top of Utah they provide a fire free, field free starting area, with ginormous tents, big enough to hold just about every single runner at the race, topped off with many large heaters pumping heat into the tents to keep it VERY warm on a chilly, 28 degree morning the year I ran it. Topped off with all you can drink Gatorade, and fuel. For the St. George, while they provide fires instead of the coveted tent, they have enough fires to keep 7,500 people comfortable enough until race time. They also provided gloves and those emergency thermal heat blankets to each runner. Those two items were LIFE SAVERS that morning.


CATEGORY 5 - RACE COURSE SCENERY

Perhaps one the biggest reasons people choose to run a particular race is because of the scenery it can provide, therefore, I felt this was an important category to determine the best marathon in Utah.

Coming in the rear in this category was the Salt Lake Marathon. The first five miles or so were actually quite fun as you wandered through the Federal Heights area of Salt Lake City, then down through Memory Grove before being dumped onto South Temple in downtown Salt Lake City. After this portion of the course, it was essentially uneventful buildings and busy streets the rest of the way.

The Deseret News Marathon too trails in the back of the pack. There are some portions of this course which are pretty, namely through Immigration Canyon. But the run down Foothill Drive in Salt Lake, packed with lots of cars and mass transit systems drops the race down in beauty.

Next up in the category is the St. George Marathon. The St. George Marathon has its moments of amazing beauty, including running through Snow Canyon and the beautiful city of St. George. However, most of the run is rolling hills and sagebrush.

Coming in fifth place was the Utah Valley Marathon. While the scenery is quite good at times, much of the race was cluttered with cars in just about every portion of the race, especially the last few miles running down University Park BLVD in Provo. There are some pretty sights though including Deer Creek Reservoir and Bridal Veil Falls.

For the Layton Marathon the scenery is actually quite beautiful as you start out on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, followed by working your way across the causeway back to the mainland can be quite scenic. Upon entering the mainland is also not bad as you work your way through the fields of West Layton. Plus, the great Salt Lake and Antelope Island are just plain rad in my opinion. 

Next up in this Category was the Top of Utah. Blacksmith Fork Canyon provided a beautiful background to a great race, and there was little traffic for most of the race, save the few miles running down the much traveled Highway 91. All in all, a beautiful course and even saw four wild turkeys during my run! BONUS!

The Mt. Nebo Marathon and Hunstville Marathon are the runner ups, and both have mind blowing scenery. The Mt. Nebo Marathon starts you high up in the Wasatch Mountains, where you can see for miles and miles and just take in all of the amazing little ponds, mountain tops, and beautiful canyon scenery for almost the whole duration of the race. Only the last mile of the course is not in the canyon.

The Huntsville is almost identical to the Mt. Nebo Marathon. The time of year the Huntsville is provides stunning scenery during the fall season. Eye popping fall scenery located high in the mountains make it an amazing course for scenery.  

The winner in this category though, is the Ogden Marathon The Ogden Marathon has many reasons why it ranks so high.

First exiting the Monte Cristo area of Weber County is quite beautiful. Followed by a VERY picturesque run around the beautiful Pineview Reservior, topped off by coming down Ogden Canyon and it's beautiful (man made) waterfall. To top it off, there is no car traffic for just about the entire portion of the race. Well done Ogden, well done!


CATEGORY 6 - FINISH LINE AMENITIES

Another very important factor in my opinion for a good marathon is what goodies do you have waiting for me after my 26.2 mile run.

Bringing up the rear in this category is the Mt. Nebo Marathon. Upon crossing the finish lines, items of sustenance were minimal. Some runners had to help cut what watermelon they had, and they provided water, Powerade and chocolate milk, that was about it. They also had some sort of replenish drink, but, it didn't look particularly tasty to my tummy, therefore, I did not partake.

The Deseret News Marathon too struggled in providing proper sustenance after traveling the 26.2 mile distance. The had some water, Gatorade and I think some bagels or something, that was about it. Oh they also had lots of green banana's.

The Layton Marathon I do have to give credit to the Layton Marathon for one thing, the introduction (to me at least) to the Fat Boy Ice Cream Sandwich after the race is simply marvelous. This was the first race I was able to experience such a delightful post race snack. While the Layton has all the "necessary" requirements, oranges, bananas, water, powerade, etc, there was some elements which were lacking. For example, in 2011, bread and peanut butter at one table, great idea, but it was do-it-yourself.

Next up, the Salt Lake Marathon. They had some good ideas as well, such as the Dannon Yogurt truck being there and Dole providing refreshments as well. Unfortunately, all of the Dole banana's were green and uneatable. They did provide fruit cups though and Creamies were also present. Yum Yum. All in all, they did okay, but was not blown away by the snacks at this race.

The Hunstville Marathon had serviceable refreshments, though not in large quantities like some of the other, bigger marathons.

Coming in fourth place was the Top of Utah Marathon. While this marathon didn't really do anything wrong, they just didn't have the sheer volume of "stuff" compared to the Utah Valley Marathon, Ogden, or St. George Marathon.

Third place in this category was the Utah Valley Marathon, once again, didn't really do anything wrong, in fact it was quite good with one exception, the black asphalt road as the cooling off area during the middle of June gets REALLY hot! They had PLENTY of tasty treats though.

The Ogden Marathon too provides VERY good finish line amenities. It had everything you could ask for in a finish line, plenty of drinks, food, massage tables, grass, shade, etc.

However, no race I have ran to date even compares to what the St. George Marathon provides at the finish line. Mountains upon mountains of goodies of every variety, ice cream, popsicles, fruit etc. They even have people with concession type boxes bringing these tasty morsels around to you. It is untouched in all the races I have ran to date.  


CATEGORY 7 - SWAG

While each expo provides you with a bag of swag, some do it better than others. Bringing up the rear was the Salt Lake Marathon. In my bag of swag was my shirt and a couple of bags of gummy vitamins. That's it! I was quite surprised actually.

The Layton Marathon. The main issue for the Layton Marathon is probably the lack of size of the expo. They do provide NICE shirts, though the finisher medals have got significantly better over the years. Though as promised by the director of the Layton Marathon on this very blog, the medals were much improved from previous years.

For the Deseret News, they did have some of the more cool swag in my swag bag. They also had a really nice shirt given to me, but, the medal is not my favorite medal of all-time. The medal itself isn't bad, but, the plain gold everything of the medal wasn't my favorite.

The Huntsville Marathon is next up on the list. The Huntsville again, does a lot of things well. Previous medals had looked super awesome. 2015's medal? Meh, not my favorite. Their shirts are nice and they had some decent stuff in the swag bag you get at the expo.

Next up is the Mt. Nebo Marathon. This one was actually the toughest one to place as the medal is probably the best looking medal I have ever received. My shirt? Awesome! But that was essentially all they had. A few coupons were in my bag, but I could only use them in areas which I didn't live.

Coming in fourth place is the Top of Utah Marathon. While they too offer all of the basic swag gear, i.e. a shirt and a finisher's medal, just as most marathons, they don't offer much else. The medal's are fairly nice despite the somewhat corny moose.

Bringing in the bronze medal is the Utah Valley Marathon. They too provide you with all of the basics, including one of the best finisher's medal I have collected and seen to date, they just don't quite have the "stuff" the Ogden Marathon provides. They do have some fairly good coupons etc in the swag bag.

The silver medal in this category belongs to the Ogden Marathon. They provide, nice shirts, VERY nice medals, Cliff Bar products, coupons for free bread and many great other coupons in their swag bag, including a discount to buy shoes at Striders. SCORE!!!

The champion in this category is the St. George Marathon. Their medals are the most unique in the state, their shirts are top notch (especially if you like long sleeve) and have many other great pieces of swag/coupons provided to you.


CATEGORY 8 - COURSE DIFFICULTY

In my quest to determine what the best marathon in Utah is, I felt it was also important to determine which race I thought was the most "runner friendly." While most of the races I have ran so far are fairly similar, there were some differences which swayed my vote.

Bringing up the rear in this category was the Salt Lake Marathon. The course for 2014, consisted of 1,345 feet of elevation gain in the 26.2 miles and had more hills than my body could handle. This truly was had the hardest marathon course I have done to date.

The Mt. Nebo Marathon comes next on the list and was truly a tough marathon on my body. The first ten miles of the course features lots of hills, both up and down. Normally the uphill's are really not that big of a deal, but, the Mt. Nebo Marathon starts you at 9,200 feet. For those unfamiliar with running at such high elevation, the oxygen is greatly diminished. The last 16 miles of the run? Very steep downhill which results in destroyed quads.

Next up was the Utah Valley Marathon. While it is labeled as a "down hill" course, there are also many hills, including a few which were fairly significant in size and distance.

The Deseret News Marathon proved to be an about average "downhill course" for the lovely State of Utah. It wasn't particularly tough on the body in general, but, it also wasn't the easiest marathon course I have ran to date either.

Fourth in this category is the Ogden Marathon. The steep terrain you cover coming down each canyon portion of the race at times can be QUITE brutal on the legs, especially if you haven't trained for hills.

Third place in this category was the St. George Marathon. This is an extremely steep down hill course, save miles 7-12 which is mostly climbing and rolling hills. However, if you have prepared sufficiently for this kind of steep, down hill terrain, I suspect this is the fastest course in the State.

Next up is the Huntsville Marathon. This was a hard one for me to rank simply because I had to walk most of the last six miles because of fatigue. However, in judging the course, I would say this is one of the friendliest courses in the State.

The Top of Utah and the Layton Marathon take the crown for the most user friendly courses in my opinion.  First, the Top of Utah Marathon, starts you in Blacksmith Fork Canyon, however, the descent is far more gradual than the Ogden, Utah Valley or St. George. The last half of the marathon is actually almost flat and makes it quite easy to remain at a good pace, and be able to finish strong. My opinion the most friendly "downhill course" I have ran to date.

The Layton Marathon, which is probably the hardest to rank out of them all. Why? It is the only course that is almost entirely flat. So for some, this may actually be the easiest course, and might be the most "leg friendly" of them all. The previous Layton Marathon course had a couple of really cool distinctions no other marathon can say here in the State of Utah, as it is the only marathon in the State you can qualify for the Olympics, and for world records. Pretty cool distinction and I am surprised it has not drawn more runners yet because of this. I'm not sure if this distinction will continue with the new course or not, but, I thought it was a neat little feather in the cap for this race.


CATEGORY 9 - IN RACE AMENITIES

Few things are more important in a marathon than the fuel you are provided with during the 26.2 mile adventure. Having good in race amenities is HUGE in determining a good race in my personal opinion.

Bringing up the rear is the Layton Marathon. While they too provide all necessary requirements needed, the two years I ran it they occasionally had some significantly watered down the Powerade. They do have all of what you need there and you still have no issues getting what you need.

The Mt. Nebo Marathon was very similar to the Layton Marathon. They had all the necessities, but, not much else. There was nothing wrong with the in-race amenities really, just nothing which stood out really.Therefore, scoring the same as Layton. The Deseret News too falls into this exact same category as these other marathons

Top of Utah Marathon comes up next on the list. While they did have all of the necessities needed, including the only race I have ran that has Gatorade, they also had port-a-potties at every mile, which is also VERY smart. The deal breaker for me was they limited the amount of Gu, one person could consume at the aide stations. While I am someone who does not use Gu while I run, I thought it was silly they would limit people to one Gu per aide station.

Number five in this category is the Utah Valley Marathon. Once again they provide all necessary items to be successful in the race, they just don't seem to have the quantity of "stuff" and volunteers of the Ogden Marathon or St. George.

Number four is the Huntsville Marathon. While they did most things right, the late start time made it hard to get the sustenance needed to make it through without any dehydration issues.

The Ogden Marathon does a brilliant job of keeping all supplies well stocked, and make each aide station fun at the same time as most aide stations are "sponsored by different people, i.e, the Boy Scouts, the Army etc.

The runner up in this particular category was the Salt Lake Marathon. This was the first marathon I had ran where the aid stations were every mile and a half instead of two miles. While this was quite nice to get extra fluids in the body, my feeble mind also had a hard time remembering when I had sustenance last and when to expect more. Generally, I think this is probably a good problem to have. 

Once again, however, the St. George Marathon does an absolutely amazing job and earns our top spot of trying to keep runners as comfortable as possible. Massive amounts of fluids, Gu, oranges etc, they even go so far as to provide Vaseline and even have people armed with plastic gloves and massive amounts of Icy Hot to apply on you in the event you get sore muscles during the race.


CATEGORY 10 - THE FINISH LINE

Perhaps the most motivating, and rewarding experience you will ever have in your life is when you cross the finish line after completing a marathon. Few things in life are more painful and yet more rewarding at the same time. So which marathon finish line is the best in the State?

Bringing up the rear is the Mt. Nebo Marathon. Like I said above, the medals you receive at the finish line are amazing, but, the finish line was also unorganized and hardly manned. Not a great amount of crowd support either.

The Layton Marathon first year of it's existence showed a lot of promise. However, it has not changed much over the years. While the location of the old marathon was ideal, it just doesn't have the feel of the other races. Perhaps it is the cheap orange plastic fencing that surrounded the finish line.

The finish line at the Deseret News Marathon was good, until I crossed the finish line. The energy coming into the finish was actually pretty good, but, when I passed the finish line, I was met by a homeless guy sleeping, no creamies, green bananas, water and Gatorade, that was it. Oh, I think I saw a few bagels as well.

Coming in fifth place was the Top of Utah and Huntsville Marathon. While there was not really anything wrong with these finish lines, they lacked the energy of the others above it. Despite the amount of people who ran the race, it still felt like the crowds weren't really there.

The Salt Lake Marathon is next in line. The crowd was pretty energetic and had a decent size gathering. If this race grows a little more in the future. Watch out!

Third place in this category was the Utah Valley Marathon. Don't get me wrong, this is a great finish line, and was the first to have different chutes to run down depending if you did the half marathon or the full marathon. The Ogden has since adopted this concept. For 2014, they have also added a "PR bell" you can ring in the event you PR. Cool idea.

The second best marathon finish line I have been a part of to date is the Ogden Marathon. The atmosphere, energy, and grandeur of this marathon is hard to beat. Even being in the crowd watching makes you want to start training for a marathon. It really is a great finish line.

However, once again the leader of the pack is the St. George Marathon. Massive crowds, and well, massive crowds the second you enter into town will leave you absolutely awe struck at the amount of support one community can put into a race. It truly is a site


THE RESULTS

To determine the "best" marathon in Utah, I determined there is probably two ways I should approach this. First being, who cares what the price is. Second, is obviously for the financially minded folks. I felt this was an important way to determine which race may be best for you as some may care about the price of an event, some might not. Anyways.


WITHOUT THE PRICE

Seventh Place (58 points) - Deseret News Marathon

I'm actually surprised it fell this far down on my list of best marathons in the State of Utah. I think the problem here was with the exception of parking, it didn't have any one area where I was blown away.

Sixth Place (57 points) - Mt. Nebo Marathon  and Layton Marathon


The Mt. Nebo Marathon is only four years old. Being such a young race, they are really on the right track if they can keep improving on the small things, this race will be one of the best marathons in the state. Now though, still has some kinks to work out.

The Layton Marathon may have the best potential of all the marathons in this State. Unfortunately, they still miss some small details despite completing their eighth year. With the slow and steady changes they are making,  It is slowly climbing the ranks. If this trend continues it can become one of the premier marathons in the State of Utah. I am also extremely interested in the new marathon course they have created and may go pay a visit this year to go watch.

Fifth place (56 points) Salt Lake Marathon



In regards to the Salt Lake Marathon, with the exception of the extremely hilly course, this race didn't do anything really wrong. Unfortunately, it did not blow me away in anyway either. This is a solid marathon if you don't mind running lots and lots of hills during your 26.2 mile adventure.

Fourth place (41 points) - Top of Utah and Huntsville Marathon

The Top of Utah has SO many good things going for it including great scenery, and lots of very innovative ideas I really enjoyed. Like the races above it, it does miss on some minor details which made it lag behind to be considered the premier marathon in Utah.

The Huntsville Marathon I predict will be a major player in the coming years. This marathon is still very new and they are still trying to work out some issues. They have already addressed some from the year I ran it including earlier start times, which I think all runners will be grateful for.

Third place (36 points) - Utah Valley Marathon

The Utah Valley Marathon is no longer a spring chicken and is truly one of the elite marathons here in the State of Utah. I stated on my review of this race "I really enjoyed this race, and would say it competes with the Ogden marathon in just about every category but one. The amount of car traffic there was throughout the race. One of the beauties of the Ogden Marathon is there is almost no car traffic/noise for the duration of the race. This marathon, especially running down University Parkway in Provo started to get a little bothersome. The canyon was on again, off again with the cars but not really noticeable. As far as the beauty of the course, it somewhat lags behind the Ogden.

The support from the crowds from this race were great and some of the best I have seen out of any race around. Most races the finishers mainly gather around the finish line. This race there were thousands spread all over University Parkway which was nice. 

Second Place (28 points) - Ogden Marathon

"I REALLY enjoy my time running this marathon. It TRULY has to be one of the most beautiful road marathons on this earth. The scenery was AMAZING, and to top if off, the planning of this marathon is top notch. It's no wonder it keeps getting voted into runnersworld 10 best marathons year after year."

These were the words uttered from my mouth just days after completing the Ogden Marathon, which was my first full marathon I ever completed. I still believe those exact words today as I did back then. This is TRULY one of the top notch races not only in this State, but nationwide as well.

First Place (24 points) - St. George Marathon

Just completing its 35th year, it is no wonder why this race is so well put together, they have had A LOT of practice at it. It really is amazing to see how smooth this operation is despite its massive size! They also don't go cheap on anything, and it really shows they are committed to this continue to being one of the best marathons in the country.

WITH THE PRICE

Seventh place (60 points) - Mt. Nebo Marathon

The Mt. Nebo Marathon is the newest of the bunch, just its second year. If it can work out some kinks, this race can and will be very impressive. Price as of August 2017 = $90


Sixth Place (59 points) - Layton and Deseret News Marathon

Like I stated above about the Layton Marathon, they are slowly fixing the little kinks and clawing their way into relevancy.This can be attributed to a hard working crew at On Hill Events who want this to be one of the premier races in the state. It is also the cheapest of the bunch, so if price is something that is paramount to you, it is just $65 if you register early.

The Deseret News too is one of the, if not the cheapest marathon in the State. Even if you register REALLY late, like I did, I only paid $70. It was nice knowing I wasn't going to have to fork over my arm and my leg to get in despite my late entry.

fifth place (55 points) - Salt Lake Marathon 

The Salt Lake Marathon too has some issues to overcome, mainly, the difficult terrain you cover during the course of the run. Also, paying to park. LAME! They do put on a good event and I would still recommend it despite the amount of hills. Price for 2018 as of right now = $70


Fourth place (45 points) - Top of Utah Marathon and Huntsville Marathon

The Top of Utah really is a great race, with perhaps the "friendliest" course I have ran to date. They do many things really well, however, with a fairly hefty price of $95, it is now one of the most expensive in the State.

I suspect within the next five years, this maybe one of the Huntsville marathon has the potential to be one of the top marathons in the whole state. They have to due a couple of things to accomplish this, however. First, keep the prices affordable. Keep listening to runner feedback. Lastly, find ways to be innovative in a very competitive market. Price for 2017 = $95

Third Place (37 points) - Utah Valley Marathon

A great all around marathon. They do a lot of things really well, and struggle in almost nothing. They have been one of the more innovative marathons in this State, but, unfortunately, are getting to be one of the more expensive as well. Price for 2018 = $70

Second place (33 points) - Ogden Marathon

Amazing course! Extremely well put together. Great atmosphere. Put this marathon in my opinion as the second best marathon in Utah. Unfortunately, it is also the most expensive. $99 dollars as of right now. OUCH!!

First place (28 points) - St. George Marathon

Who cares about the price, this is the one event you have to do at least once if you are planning on running a marathon in Utah.

So the choice is yours, I hope the information provided in this post is one of great value, not only for the consumers who are looking for a good race in Utah, but also for the event planners as they look for ways to improve their own races. Competition only brings out the best for everyone! With each race I run, I will be sure to include them in this post and HOPEFULLY continue to be a good source of marathon racing information in the State of Utah. Price as of Aug 2017 = $95