May 27, 2022
Thank you so much for participating in the 2022 Delaware Running Festival. We have reviewed the surveys and received some valuable feedback to help us improve some things in the future. Here is our plan:
STAGGERED START: With the addition of the 10K for the first time in 2022, we learned that we need to stagger the start of the Full/Half and the 10K. We understand that the narrowness of some of the route in the first mile or so created some challenges for runners trying to get up to pace. We plan to start the 10K a few minutes later and explore utilizing waves to further spread the crowd.
MORE COURSE MARSHALS: Overall, the updates to the 2022 course were well received. That said, we learned that some areas of the course were confusing to participants. We plan to position additional course marshal volunteers at turns to help runners navigate the route. We will also explore adjustments the course to reduce the number of turns and tricky locations. Most of these are mandated by city police in an attempt to lessen the burden on traffic and to help with police staffing challenges that day.
IMPROVED TRAIL LOGISTICS: Those who ran the full marathon reported that non-participant traffic on the back 13.1 miles of the course caused some challenges during that portion of their run. The Jack Markell Trail is a public path with many access points. That said, we will endeavor to post signs along the route and work with city officials to find way to lessen this traffic on race day.
BETTER PLAN AT START/FINISH: Using the same start and finish line has some great advantages but creates some logistical challenges for set up and traffic flow. We learned that in the morning, we need to open the bike rack to allow additional access points to the start line. Post-race, we need to do a better job of securing the finish shoots to make sure runners can locate the post-race snacks intended for their finish. For reference, the granola bars, fruit, chips and other snacks are separated from the water and Gatorade in part due to the morning line up in the same area. While many runners were able to find the snacks, some runners eager to reunite with family and friends, entered the park earlier than anticipated and missed this location (SEE MAP HERE.)
We certainly appreciate the honest feedback and hope you know that we take your comments to heart. We are always looking to improve our events and getting back to live racing has only invigorated us to continue to create the best and most runner friendly events we can. THANK YOU!
