Where: Newman Catholic Schools, 2445 19th Street SW, Mason City, IA
Description: On the Road for Education is a series of road races in Mason City , Iowa to benefit the Newman Catholic School system.
Races included in the series:
- Full-marathon (certified course), start time 8:00 am
- Half-marathon, start time 9:00 am
- 10K, start time 9:30 am
- 5K, start time 9:30 am
The full and half marathons have a reputation for its beautiful course that traverse though a nature center along the Winnebago river and beside the cornfields of north Iowa.
Website: http://www.ontheroad4edu.org
I ran the full in 2010 and found most of the course to be very scenic. The footing along the few miles on the gravel road was a little tough, but most of the course is decent. I like low-key marathons, so I also appreciated the reasonable cost of this one. The part along the dirt trails was great. The train issue that’s already been mentioned was definitely an issue for some runners. For me personally it was a highlight. I was literally racing the train…racing to get over the tracks before the train came through. A race volunteer by the tracks was cheering me on to run faster, and I won! The last five miles of the course are mentally tough and monotenous. This section goes through the city but not many of the public seemed to realize that a marathon was going on. But overall, this is a decent small race that I would definitely do again.
This is a very, very nice small marathon. From the dinner the night before to post race, all the runners are taken care of very well! It’s very tough to organize a race and make everyone happy. There were many details making me feel as if every effort was made to help each runner do well. To blow the leaves off the trails and spray paint the tree roots and rocks took a lot of effort, but was something that really needed to be done. Thank You! Most small marathons allow runners to start an hour earlier to help them finish in time before the coarse closes which allows them to take full advantage of all the water stops. These are generally “noncompetitive” runners and run for the love of of the sport. On a warm day, it also benafits those runners to start when it is a little cooler.
About previous comments about trains:
Trains were also a concern of mine. Everytime I heard a train whistle, I was hoping I was not getting close to a place where it would be “me vs train”…..but lets face it, in a city like Mason City its pretty tough to find 26.2 miles that do not cross railroad tracks…..Even the leaders in the 2009 Des Moines Marathon had to be stopped by a train just a short distance from the finish line….Being stopped by a train should be something you can joke around with your friends after the race, and nothing to get mad about.
This race is a fund raiser for Newman Catholic School System. I am very proud to be apart of this and thank everyone involed.
I reccomend this race & hope you will consider running in 2011!
This is a great small city event. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the event since all my prior marathons were in much larger cities with many more participants. The spectators during the first half were amazing and there were many more than I expected to see. The race support and volunteers were top notch. The marathon was super affordable (only $47) — I’ve paid much more for half marathons. I agree with with the comment earlier about the train delay, and that is certainly unfortunate and I was affected. My watch time and the official clock time were within one second of each other. I am so pleased to have run this race in Mason City. Without any hesitation or reservation, I will run it again, and I will recommend to my running friends.
The half and full marathon are very scenic. A small race. The problem is that some individuals are allowed to start ahead of the sceduled race time, therefore, you do not know if you have competition if you are aiming for an award. All overall winners are also age group winners and get both tropies so you cannot win your age group if the winner happens to be your age. Awards ceremony was very slow and lots of mistakes were made. The full claims to be a Boston Qualifier but some runners had to wait several minutes for a train. Also on the full, it is not chipped and the clock was a couple minutes slower at the end than runners’ watches. This is not a race for a serious runner.