The Very Scenic St. George Marathon Lottery Is Open!
The beautiful St. George scenery / Courtesy Shutterstock
The St. George Marathon in St. George, Utah is easily one of the most scenic courses I have run. Of course, not everyone will agree with me and have their own preferences, but because I love mountains and deserts, this marathon course did not disappoint.
Lottery System
Neither does the marathon disappoint many other runners as St. George has a lottery system for potential runners to enter in order to run. The cap this year is set at 7,800 runners and many more than that will be entering for a chance to run.
There are some ways that you can skip the lottery altogether and they include having applied the last two years without getting in and living in Washington County. For those people and others that may fit in the small windows of non-lottery entrants, check out this page here.
The lottery is open for entrants from April 1 – May 11 at 11:59PM MST. The registration fee is $90 with an additional $5 processing fee. If you are not selected for the race, you will receive a refund of the $90. The $5 processing fee is non-refundable. The lottery winners will be drawn and announced online on May 18th.
Last year, the race did not even fill in lottery participants so all lottery entrants were in! Maybe that will be the case this year as well!
The Race Course
The race is well-known as being a very fast course. If you train correctly, and I mean really work on your quads, you can get a very fast time on this course. The starting line is at over 5,200 feet of elevation and drops to a finish line elevation of 2,600 feet. That is a serious decline! There are some small hill areas, one that I remember well was around mile 8, but everything is pretty much down.
With the race beginning in the early morning – 6:45 – you will be up at elevation in the darkness for a while. The race is a point-to-point course so you are taken by buses to the starting line. It is a very chilly morning but they are well prepared for that by having hot beverages on hand as well as campfires.
Race Details
- To be held on October 1, 2016
- Start time is 6:45AM for the runners
- The marathon is the only distance offered
- Start altitude is 5,243′
- Finish altitude is 2,678′
- Fee is $95
- Cap is 7,800 runners
- 2016 is the 40th running of the St. George Marathon
- registration link
A Must-Run Marathon!
This race had been on my radar for a longtime but because of scheduling and cost, I never bit the bullet to apply. However, with miles and points, cost never needs to be a reason to avoid such a race! When I was finally involved enough in miles and points, my schedule did not work and then I was finally able to get in for the 2012 race. I absolutely loved it!
I had a hamstring problem going into the race and it seized up on my around miles 18 so what should have been a big PR was a 3 minute PR instead. I fully intend to go back, but I don’t mind waiting a while. My son (he keeps my poster of the race above his bed) has said that he wants that to be his first marathon. He is only 6 so we will have sometime before that, but he thoroughly enjoyed his first 5k and is already chomping at the bit to run another!
Yes, the flights and hotels can cost a chunk of money, but over the coming weeks, I will show you which points and miles will be best and we will get you out there for almost nothing! I did it and had a wonderful time! Not only that, but you can stay right in the thick of things on points – and do it before anyone else even knows anything!
