Great Turtle Half Marathon Official Website

Event Details

Did you come in from out of town?:yes
If you flew, which airport did you use?:Car & Ferry
Where Did You Stay?:Hotel
If hotel, which one?:Clarion in Mackinaw City. Do NOT stay here no matter how good the Mackinaw City website reviews and the off season deep discounts sound. Our room reeked. It seriously smelled like something crawled up into the heater and died there and it was getting worse & worse every minute. We complained. They moved us to another room while we were at the race which happened to be the one right above the one we had been in. Should have been tipped off by the open window when we walked in, but instead we took our kiddos to the pool. Later that night, when we turned on the heater we started to get a whiff of that same funk. By morning, it was so thick you could taste it. We complained again in the morning and the manager basically insinuated that we were either lying or it was our own funky smell, even though the day before he had assured us that they\'d removed whatever (they wouldn\'t say) was making the smell. He then brushed us off and gave us a $20 refund. So you know, we only spent $360 to stay 3 nights in a room that reeked in the middle of which we had to pack our whole family up and head to another room. It was completely ridiculous. Also, be forewarned the pool is not connected to the hotel and Mackinaw is pretty cold that time of year. It\'s not far, but you will have to go outside wet. The breakfast buffet is not all it\'s cracked up to be: sausage (wretched), eggs (ok), biscuits & gravy (um...where are the biscuits?), fruit (cocktail from a can), make your own waffles (those were good), bagels, bread, cereal. And you can\'t connect to the internet from your room. The view, however, is terrific!
Would you recommend the hotel?:no
How did you get to the start?:
How did you transport your bike? (if applicable):
Other Travel Comments:It\'s expensive to stay on the Island, but probably well worth the money so as to not have to worry about the ferry and give yourself a home base if you\'ve got kiddos coming along. FYI: Mackinac Island & most of the city of Mackinaw are on their last weekend the weekend of the race. Pretty much everything closes down afterwards and it shows. The restaurants were majorly understaffed and out of stuff. We waited FOREVER at the big Italian restaurant in town to get our food. Rough with a handful of kids under 6. I\'d recommend just driving a little farther away to Cheboygan to eat for that Pre-Race Dinner instead of trying to battle all the runners in town. Also, if you do stay in Mackinaw City instead of the island, get your ferry tickets ahead of time. There\'s huge lines race morning plus I heard through the grapevine that the ferry prices got jacked up the morning of. Not sure if that\'s true or not. We took Sheppler\'s because they had the most boats leaving to go to the island and the other ferry services were making you leave super early.