Freedom Festival - Freedom Run

This is always a fun race, but not very family friendly. Many other races will offset the start times just a little, and that goes a long way for families wanting to participate in the 1 mile fun run AND a 5k or 10k. Such an easy fix, but the race director had zero interest or care (we emailed back and forth). Apparently this is not meant to be a family event. Also they tend to give poor information for parking, etc. In the past they have directed to specific parking areas (BYU Law School, for example) and those areas have been barred off from race participants. Get it together, this race could be improved a lot with a little bit of care!!

Aaron I. has attended 5+ times

5/8 found this review helpful.

Have run this race every season since I moved to Provo in 1992. It is a great way to start commemorating our great country on the 4th of July. I love it.

Kent J. has attended 5+ times

They have three different starting locations that start all at the same time. A LOT of people missed their proper starting place and got lost, and all the volunteers tell you different things so their times messed up. They have two different websites that contain different information and only one has the actual starting locations. Very uncoordinated organization.

It was an awesome experience! Looking forward to run it again soon!

David T. has attended 1 times

I spent about half of the entire run running down the parade route. It was already lined with a large number of people which made the experience something special. I recommend the experience.

Kevin S. has attended 1 times

I grew up in a family of seven kids and from the time we were little, we have always participated in road races. I was so excited this year to pass on that tradition to my granddaughter who is 8. She was so excited. We do not live in Utah County. For her parents, it was an 1.5 hour drive and for me an hour. The event appears to have been organized on paper with no reflection on reality. You couldn't get down 9th East because of the 10K. BYU was shut down because of the 10k. You couldn't park at the Marriott Center because you couldn't access BYU. The only place to park was the stadium and most of that was blocked off. Her parents ran the 5K over by Brick Oven, which was also a nightmare. I was taking my granddaughter and the baby for the fun run. We had to walk over a mile to get to the park. Needless to say, we missed the race. My granddaughter was extremely disappointed, and instead of making memories around this event and her first road race, we paid for a participation medal. I don't think we will participate again in the Freedom run. It seems to be too big for the organizers to plan.

We love running this race as much as we can. It’s a great way to start out our 4th celebrations. This year there were a few disappointments. The race route was closed early so it made it difficult to get to the parking areas which took up lots of time to find a way around making us late. Our timing chips didn’t work so our times were irrelevant. And they put the medals in the grab bag rather than handing them out at the finish line. I know in past years these aspects were better so we were a bit bummed this year to see a digression of this event. The shirts and medals have usually been on the comical side so it’s to be expected. Though I think it could be fun to involve the community in submitting ideas and voting on designs. It can’t be much worse. Ha ha

I was given the wrong shirt in my packet !!! The medals were UGLY and cartoon like this year..... very disappointed. I HATE the fabric of the Tshirts.... What is wrong about making them out of cotton.

Eric J. has attended 5+ times

First of all the finishers medal should be given to those that actually finish the race. Not a participation medal. Only race that I've participated in that gives you your medal when you pickup your bib and swag. Second and most important this years medal was atrocious. Its the most Ugly medal that I've ever seen! It is a cartoon version of Lady Liberty wearing a pair of red tennis shoes and carrying what appears to be a book of Mormon in one hand and a torch in the other. Totally childish and stupid. Surely your organization could come up with a better design. If the race was just for kids the medal would have been fine. But a Green Leprechaun like image is just stupid and ridiculous.