Thanks again for a beautiful race course this morning, and for your exceptional race organization and management...(Not to mention the terrific medals, tee shirts, gear bags and now......Flowers too!! .....The Park to Park will be on my race schedule every year...Guaranteed!

Put your feet up now, Kids............You pulled off a beauty again this year!

Best,

P from Denver

Kudos to you and thank you for putting on such a wonderful event.  The course was spectacular, volunteers friendly, plenty of water, and an overall great experience.  Thank you for a great start to my Labor Day!
 
K from Colorado Springs

That was a great race you put on.  The organization was great and it went so smoothly.  Some common things to gripe about in a race is when there aren't enough port-a-pots at the start and the food runs out at the finish for slower runners.  Well you did awesome on both counts!  The port-a-pot lines were pretty quick at the start and there was still plenty of food at the finish.  Give yourselves a big pat on the back!!

There is one other thing you do at this race that I like... calling out the split times at the mile markers.  Maybe I don't pay that much attention anymore, but it seems like years and years ago, a lot of the races would have people calling out split times at the mile markers - but you hardly see it anymore (at least I can't think of that many that still do that).  I think that is a nice touch.

Again, great job on the race!

J from Denver

Thank you for putting on a GREAT race!!  The day was just perfect and I really loved the course for this run.  I wanted to especially thank you for having the mile splits monitored with volunteers calling out the times.  Just before the race started, my Garmin died and as you can imagine, I started to get anxious and stressed about that!!   This was only my second 10 mile race and I thought I had a plan for myself until I was faced without knowing times or distances.  The water stations every 2.5 miles (as promised!) were also a big help while I ran my race "blind" to my pacing efforts.  Your volunteers made a world of difference for me! 

I know you had nothing to do with the weather, but what a perfect morning for a race!  Thanks for putting together such a fantastic race.  I hope I will be able to run the Park to Park again in 2009.

C from Denver

That was one of the most beautiful runs I have ever done!  You and your team did a great job of organizing, and making the day great for all who participated!!

L from Denver

The Aetna Park to Park 10-miler had everything; this is a race on its way to the major league. We got 40 Portaloos at the start, a mobile espresso bar, hundreds of marshals backed up by more police officers than I've seen all year; we got a superb USATF certified course that included long stiff climbs, screaming descents and plenty of corners as it took us from City Park, to Cheesman Park (mind the geese!), on to Alamo Placita Park to finish in Washington Park. We got medals and flowers. We got goodie bags that doubled as kit bags that were transported to the finish for us. We got the unmatched efficiency of Benji Durden and his timing crew, who had the results up almost as soon as we'd finished. Two hours after getting home I got an email telling me the results were already up on the Net. Like it! We got food - lots of it, including chocolate chip cookies AND popcorn. Plus an Expo to wander round. All we didn't get was an awards ceremony.

And the word is getting out about this race. Entries just about doubled from around 600 last year to 1100 this Labor Day. Yes, its promotion to the Colorado Runner Racing Series helped, but so did the buzz from runners delighted with the inaugural event last year - plus this 10-mile epic is a nicely positioned test for anyone targeting a fall marathon.

S from Boulder's blog

The Aetna Park to Park 10 Miler was in its second year.  The race connected four Denver parks on a USATF certified course.  The race started at City Park, traveled to Cheesman Park then to Alamo Placita Park and finished at Washington Park.  Proceeds from the race benefited the Lorenzen Cancer Foundation.

The race entry fee was $50 for early registration and $60 for late registration and since this is a point to point run, if you needed a ride back to City Park a bus ride was available for an additional $8. Entry fee included a cotton t-shirt and a nylon shoe bag.  Runners were able to pick up their race packet at Runner's Roost, which had an expo for the race. The race had 1,100 runners, which was an increase of 365 runners from the previous year.  That is impressive to say the least, the word is out and this is a great race! 

There was a total of $2,500 awarded to the top three male and female finishers in the open and masters (40+) age categories.  

Thus, the cash attracted a lot of good runners.

Male and Female Open 

1st place $500 

2nd place $250 

3rd place  $100 

Male and Female Masters 

1st place $250 

2nd place $100 

3rd place $50

The course was more challenging than I had anticipated. I wouldn't call it a difficult course but it felt like you were either going slightly uphill or downhill most of the time.  The first mile was downhill and fast, so keep that in mind if you run the race in the future.  When the race left City Park, there is a gradual climb for the next couple of miles to Cheesman Park, after Chessman Park the elevation dips to take you into Alamo Placita Park.  The race finished in Washington Park, with all finishers receiving a Finishers Medal and the women also received a pink carnation.  At the finish there was a nice bucket of ice cold Vitamin Water, as well as water, bagels, fruit, etc. 

Aside from the Denver Marathon, this is the best race that I have done in the Denver Metro area, fantastic job.  It's well organized, with every mile marker properly marked with a Runner's Roost awning.  The race also had adequate water stops and Powerade was also served in Powerade cups, minimizing confusion for the runners with regards to which beverage was water or sports drink.  Volunteers were plenty and the course was well marked, while Police Officers blocked off the major intersections. 

The race also had results posted in a timely manner and an email was sent out with a link to the race results shortly after the race.  Also, I loved that the race started at 7am, Labor Day can be a hot time of the year and today's temperature was 64 degrees at the start of the race, but by 8am it was close to 70, thus a smart move by starting the race an hour earlier than normal.

I have a few suggestions, the first being that with a race of 1,100 runners and my assumption is next year's race will be even larger, it would be a good idea to implement chip timing.  The only other suggestion I have is that the race t-shirt was subpar, it was cotton and the design was rather simple.  I think for a race of this magnitude it would be great to offer up a technical shirt.

Overall, fabulous race, I was truly impressed.  If you live in Colorado, hit this race up, you will not be disappointed!

runcolo.com blog

Julie

I just wanted to say that I thought you put on a wonderful event. The police support was fantastic, the mile markers were accurate (and present) and the volunteers and water stations were well staffed and where they were promised to be. The food at the end was great! I loved the cinnamon rolls! I hope the event was successful for you and for the foundation. I am looking forward to running it again next year.

Julie

The 1st annual Aetna Park to Park 10 miler was a great success from our point of view! We were impressed with every aspect of the run. The organization was great, the aid stations were efficient, the start and finish were each in a convenient location (easy to find, lots of parking) the shuttle return to the start went well. The post run party was outstanding. We seldom find a finish in such a perfect venue! Thanks for the terrific event. We were completely satisfied. We will try to make this an annual event for ourselves as well.

Rich and Sally

Great race, loved it! It was a "racer's race." The race organizers did all the little things that make it enjoyable for the runners, including plenty of potties, very well marked Mile indicators, fun volunteers, super course and a great food assortment at the finish. I will certainly be back next year.

Tim

I just had to comment on how exceptionally well this race went; and especially for it being an inaugural event! Props to you! I'm a runner, triathlete, duathlete...all around athlete!...and I compete in all types of events on a monthly basis (sometimes even 3-4 events per month!) so trust me, if I'm telling you guys you did great, then you guys did GREAT!

There is absolutely nothing negative that I have to comment about. I'm just so incredibly pleased that I had to give a shout out to you for an incredible job. You can bet I'll be there next year for this event! Oh, I cannot believe the FABULOUS finisher's medal you gave out?! You guys completely ROCK! What other events are you organizing...cause I want to be there for them!

All the best in organizing your future events!

Eve

I just wanted to give you some feedback on the race. It was GREAT! I loved the course and we had a beautiful day! Although I did not break the tape, I will definitely run this again. I hope this is an annual event, as I will look forward to it.

Mary

I am hoping we are getting this to the right e-mail. This letter is meant for you and equally important for all the sponsors of today's race.

In one word : Awesome. Does that date us?

We loved and appreciated this race.

We loved this race because it honored the park system, which was we think an ancillary benefit. The race was appropriately and primarily run for a wonderful cause, which in itself deserves as much public and financial support as possible.

This said, thank you to you and the major sponsors, and all the wonderful smaller sponsors. No great surprise that the inaugural running was impeccable, considering Alan and Maureen's talent in this area. The Aetna support at the aid stations was simply excellent; those volunteers are to be commended.

You know it was simply a lovely event, and without being too wordy, we want to make sure those that helped make it happen know they are appreciated. We are longtime Denver residents and longtime runners. I know we speak on behalf of the many participants as well as vast network of Colorado runners, that this event needs to be a keeper; please extend this compliment to every sponsor and volunteer that was involved.

Thank You.
Alyn and Jay