REVEL Big Cottonwood Presented by Albion

Jonathan Morris

2015 REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon
Published: Sept. 14, 2015, 8:50 a.m.

Overall Rating

2/5 Stars
Describe your race day.

The scenery was nice. I paced my good friend and training partner to his first sub-3hr marathon finish.
Did you PR?

No PR. Yes, I qualified for the Boston Marathon but I was already qualified.
How would you describe the course?

With 1400 people crammed into a tight area at the very top of the mountains, there isn't a good place to warm up which became painfully obvious when setting off down the mountain on the first very steep downhill mile. Much of the downhills are too steep, particularly the first 3 miles and approximately miles 14-17. There isn't much you can do about the latter, but I would suggest starting at Brighton Ski Resort, simultaneously giving the runners a place to warm up and eliminating the overly steep first 3 miles at extremely high altitude, and take the course into some of the residential streets of Cottonwood Heights to pick up the lost distance (and maybe even the out & back on the industrial road that wasn't much fun).
Tell us about your training.

Tough to train for such a steep downhill course at high altitude when you live no where near altitude or mountains, so not much could change. It was an experience.
What advice would you give future runners?

Not much besides what is above.
What fun things did you do in the area before or after the race?

Hung out with my friends/training partners.