I have written a bit about the St. George Marathon for a couple of reasons – it is easily one of the most beautiful marathons I have run, it is an awesome net-loss, point-to-point course, and that makes it a great course to qualify for the Boston Marathon on.
The beautiful St. George scenery / Courtesy Shutterstock
Every year, the popularity of this race has caused the race committee to use a lottery system. However, this year, they did not have a lottery! That’s right – they did not get enough entrants to hit the 7,800 runner cap during the registration period, in fact they opened it the other day for more registrants as well. That means – if you had entered the St. George Marathon this year, then you are automatically in and will be running it!
Here is the notice from the St. George Marathon website:
Marathon Lottery Update and Search
This year the St. George Marathon did not hold a lottery. If you registered by the deadline of May 4th you were accepted to run in the 2015 Marathon. To verify that we received your registration and that you are entered into the event follow this link to search your name. If your name appears on the list YOU ARE IN! Congratulations. See you in October!
Here is the link to the search page.
Book Travel NOW!
Now that you know you are in (lottery results would have otherwise been revealed Monday), it is time to move on travel arrangements. There are two airlines that fly into St. George – United and Delta. If you have the Delta miles, this is a perfect redemption opportunity as these tickets could run $600 or more! Combine that ticket cost with great award availability out of Salt Lake City (the hub that the St. George flights depart from) and you have a great way to get extreme value from your Delta miles.
Award travel on Delta to St. George is really good!
United Airlines is an option as well but their miles can be much more valuable for travel elsewhere. So, if you can, use Delta miles. Another option is to fly into Las Vegas and just drive the couple of hours to St. George. It is a beautiful trip and both ticket prices and rental cars can be cheaper in Las Vegas than St. George.
With airline purchases, you will have 24 hours (or more, depending on the airline) to cancel your ticket after booking it. That means that you can lock in a ticket now and then wait to see how things look tomorrow. Even better, book tomorrow and check the prices on Monday in case the new week brings lower prices.
With hotels, the best hotel to book is the Hilton Garden Inn St. George. It is right near the expo and only costs 30,000 Hilton points per night. There is still availability but it is going fast so hurry and book! You can book with points and always cancel later (check the cancellation policy) or you can book any non-prepaid rate and cancel later as well. With entrants finding out now that they are definitely in (but not expecting to hear until Monday), today and tomorrow are certainly the best times to lock in your hotels.
Book this Hilton fast!
Once you get your travel booked, then you can just worry about the training! The St. George Marathon is a perfect, domestic example of how miles and points can save you a lot of money on travel. It saved me a ton being able to use miles and points and allowed me to run a race I would never have otherwise been able to do. Congrats on getting in – now get that travel booked!
