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The Jersey City Marathon is a large spring race, held in view of lower Manhattan. It's the largest race in New Jersey, with a fast and flat course. It's a great spring race choice for runners in the New York City metro area who don't qualify for Boston.
Until recently, the two major marathons in New Jersey were held in Atlantic City and Long Branch (the New Jersey Marathon) in the fall. There were no big races in the northern half of the state. There was, however, a history of racing in Jersey City. In 1988, the U.S. held the Olympic qualifier race in the city. 35 years later, in 2023, the race came back.
The course is fast and flat. It consists of two loops, and it runs through downtown, Liberty State Park, and some of the adjacent neighborhoods. When you're entering downtown and Liberty State Park, you can enjoy beautiful views of the New York City skyline and the Statue of Liberty. There is very little elevation gain, although there are a couple minor hills in the southern part of the loop that runs along Liberty State Park.
There are pacers for most major times above 3 hours, and the field is deep enough that you should be able to find someone to run with. There are a decent number of runners as fast as the 2:30's and 2:40's.
The half marathon and marathon start together, so it is crowded in the beginning. However, the streets are large enough to carry the crowds. Towards the front of the race, at least, things thin out quickly. The nice thing about having the half marathoners in the crowd is that there are plenty of people to run with in the first half. However, it does get a little more lonely when you go past the starting area and start the second loop to finish the marathon.
The expo the weekend before the race was small, but it was nice. There was a swiftly moving line to pick up your packet, and some vendors were spaced out along the line. So you could peruse as you waited. The finisher shirt was average. Nothing special about it. The location of the expo, east of Newport Mall, is a little inconvenient if you're trying to drive in. But it's convenient if you're using mass transit to get in and out of the area.
The starting area was well organized, with multiple corrals and plenty of porta potties. The line of toilets was long, and the lines to get into them were short. The race started on time, after a brief opening ceremony. Throughout the race, the aid stations were well stocked and manned with friendly volunteers. There were clean porta potties at the aid stations if you need a pit stop.
Crowd support throughout the race is hit or miss. Downtown, there's great energy and lots of spectators. In the neighborhoods, there are smaller crowds but it's not completely dead. The stretch through Liberty State Park, though, is pretty quiet. The way the roads were shut down, there wasn't a good way for spectators to get into or out of the park.
One major disappointment with the race was the post-race party and ceremony. There was supposed to be a live band and food available after the finish. However, the chute after the finish line directed runners away from where this ceremony was. As a result, very few people were actually able to enjoy it. Many runners complained, and the organizers pointed the finger at the city for changing the layout of the finishing chute. Regardless of why this happened, the organizers need to improve on this point when the race returns in 2024.
Another major logistical issue is parking. There is a large parking garage at the Newport Mall, and runners were advised to purchase parking ahead of time. However, traffic crawled to a halt as everyone had to scan their parking pass to enter the garage. Some runners were late to the start because they couldn't get parked in time, and this was a huge source of frustration for many participants. Again, the organizers need to work on these logistics if the race is going to be successful long term.
Overall, the race has the potential to be great. It's in a good location, with a nice course. If the organizers can learn from their mistakes and tweak the logistics of the race, this will be a great option for a spring marathon in the New York City metro area.
I ran the Jersey City Marathon in April 2023, and you can read a full race report of my experience here. It didn't go quite as I had planned, and I was disappointed with my performance. But I have high hopes for the future of this race.
The weather on race morning was not good. It's in April, and April weather in New Jersey can be hit or miss. It rained heavily early in the morning, so much of the course was wet. A light rain continued throughout the beginning of the race. The temperatures were in the 60's and it was humid, which made for less than ideal running conditions. But that's a gamble that you take with spring races. The next day the weather was perfect, and it would have been a beautiful morning for a race.
What really threw off my routine was the parking situation. I live less than 15 miles from the starting line, and even in afternoon traffic I can get there in a half hour. I figured at 5:45 in the morning, I should have no trouble getting there in time for a 7:00 start. Sure enough, by 6:00 I was getting off the highway and in line to get to the parking garage. But traffic had completely stopped, and people were crawling into the garage at an excruciatingly slow rate. By 6:45, I still wasn't parked. I hopped out of the car and ran to the start, leaving my wife to park the car and meet me along the course.
If I run the race again, I will definitely stay at a hotel downtown. There are a few options, but you should book them early as they will book out and get expensive. If you don't stay downtown, I'd suggest you take mass transit into Jersey City and avoid parking at all costs.
The rest of the race went pretty smoothly. I was able to get into a porta potty quickly before the start, and the race started on time. The crowds throughout downtown were amazing, despite the poor weather. It wasn't as full as a race like Philly, but there was a lot of excitement. I expect that on a nice day it will be more crowded. It was very quiet throughout the park, though, and due to the puddles my shoes ended up getting wet. I was soaked through by the end of the race.
I had studied the map beforehand, and I knew when to expect the aid stations. They were all well stocked, and I was able to grab water and stick with my plan for gels. I needed a pit stop around mile 16, and there was a clean porta potty there right when I needed it.
When I crossed the finish line, I was a little confused. I had read about the post-race ceremony and food, so I expected something to be going on. But the chute took us quite a ways and dumped us out onto a street where nothing was going on. I was wet at this point, and I started to get cold from the wind as I cooled off. Rather than wander around in search of the festivities, my family and I walked back towards the car and found some food in the food court of the Newport Mall.
I've talked to a few people who ran the race, and some were so put off by the logistics that they don't plan to run the race again. I'm hopeful about its future, and I'm willing to give it a second chance. As long as you don't try to drive in on race morning and as long as the organizers fix the finish area logistics, I think you're in for a real treat if you run this race in the future.
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