Bayshore Marathon and BQ--Advice??? (Read 529 times)

I'll try and make a long story short. My brother in law is interested in qualifying for Boston 2010. He was thinking about possibly running The Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City, MI this May with me helping to pace him. (He trains for the 5/3 Riverbank Run every year so he's searching for a marathon around then to not have to try and keep training up until the fall) I guess what I'm wondering is: Have any of you run this course and would you say it is a BQ friendly course?

I've run it twice; acted as unofficial "alright, who wants to go to Boston?" 3:40 pacer to help a few gals BQ in 2007 (picture below). VERY BQ friendly. You will hear people say that it is flat. It is flattish, but not a pancake. There are a few roly-polies along the way. It is a pretty out-and-back, mostly along the water. The residents... older folks mostly... will be out cheering you on. Cool! That said, don't expect a ton of spectators. Awesome weather both years I did it. Crisp at the start, still cool at the finish - at the end of May. Kind of humid, but not bad. Not much wind. Well organized. Plenty of parking at the college where it starts/finishes and at the nearby high school, but arrive early to get the closest parking. Nice short sleeve technical shirt. Don't expect much in the way of an expo. I really like this race a lot.

It is not a pancake like Chicago is a pancake, but it is pretty stinking flat. There are not a lot of them much flatter. The only significant hill is right at the turnaround at about 13.3 miles. Very BQ friendly, the wind is not usually an issue as it is sheltered and runs north/south with prevailing westerlies. The only wildcard is the weather. Typically temps are good that time of year there but that late in May it can always get warm. The only problem I had was the road is crowned so it wore on my feet differently than a flat city course would. It's one of the few marathons that I will be running more than once (this spring) so that should say something for it.

Thanks! NJ is PANCAKE FLAT with alot of turns. Sounds like a good possibility for my spring marathon (if I don't see any news on Run for the Red up in the Pocono's)

I am thinking of doing NJ to BQ as well. You and I should team up our kids as supporters. We would have a fan section of 10 right there.