EDF Energy Birmingham Half MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (191 votes). 2010 race reviewed by: Lambeau
 | | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Start: shambles Finish:fiasco
In full: Everything has been said about the problems at the start / finish which desperately need addressing. Please get it sorted as the race does have potential.
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: ness3
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: A terribly organised race.
In full: As so many people have reported on here. The start & finish of this race were appalling!
My problems with the race were compounded by the fact that I booked into a hotel the night before the race (to avoid travelling in on the morning. I parked in a car park overnight that I thought wouldn't be affected by the race only to find, when I returned the next morning that signs had been put up saying not to park overnight & that the car park would not be opened again til 4 in the afternoon! There were at least half a dozen people who'd been caught out like this. One said they'd parked their car at 6 on the Saturday night and there was still no info about the closures. So when did they put the sign up?
I really think they should restrict the numbers, NOT make it a bigger race next year.
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: oxonmackem
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Poor start and finish
In full: Enjoyed the route, challenging hills near end agree about poor organisation, but didn't realise so many world class athletes use this forum to moan about people getting in the way, If it's such a big problem run on your own. With 14,000 entrants you are going to have crowds. That said something must be done to improve the start and finish!
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: PeterPan
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Shocking, just shocking
In full: Well hearty congratulations to Birmingham City Council for organising (and I use the word in its very loosest term) one of the worst runs that I’ve had the pleasure of taking part in!
Billed as the Race Against Climate Change their agenda is to take traffic off the road, so with a 9am start, moved from 10am last year and most trains arriving after 9am, more people had to drive in! The warm up was outside the ICC and next to the Start/finish line and that finished at 8.50 leaving the c10-15,000 people just ten minutes to get to their starting bays, fighting their way through spectators. Fortunately for me I started not far from the front but the race had started with runners still trying to get into the start. It was a shambles and utter chaos. Within 100 metres of the start they funnelled a dual carriageway into a single lane and created a bottleneck: genius part1! The first 3 miles are through the backside of the fruit markets and an industrial estate, devoid of any life or support. Dire. After that it improved a bit. Great support through Bournville, though running past a Café where the smell of bacon was wafting across the course was torture! Hit the ten-mile mark and there’s a 2.25 mile uphill section with several tight and one very tight turn in it. Which sadist thought of that?
Good last mile down Broad Street to the finish and although it didn’t affect me, later runners/finishers complained about the finish. Within 5-10 metres of the finish they were handing out foil blankets and water bottles, so everyone stopped and created a bottleneck to the extent that other finishers couldn’t actually cross the b****y finish line!! I know of people who reckon that it took nearly ten minutes to cross the line. Genius part2!!
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Keri Whaley
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Poor organisation and published chip times incorrect
In full: All good apart from the bottleneck at the start which took around 1.30mins after crossing the start before started moving. The finish was an absolute shambles and rather than crossing the finish line with arms in air was greeted by s sea of people waiting to cross. Race time totally wrong - 5 mintue wait to cross the finish and no opportunity to stretch out - much needed after a 13 mile run. I will probably do it again as it is my hometown but rather miffed today about published finish time.
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: GARY BONNER 3
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Have to do Better
In full: I have to agree with all the other posts re start pens and congestion at 20 metres from the start.
My further gripes are Garmin reads 13.3 and a minute different to the chip time finish?
I thought the course was much better than last year if they could sort the start out.
Please B'Ham Council listen, read and learn from all the grumbles herein and do better next year please.
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Deero83
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Good race but poor organisation at the start and finish - pretty important!!!!
In full: This was my first ever half marathon. Having struggled to squeeze into the pens at the start (having to climb over the fence by spectators on Broad Street), I was pleased to get going. We were all stopped after 10 metres as some berk from the Council had decided to put a barrier across funnelling everyone into one car's width of road.
I was doing ok for most of the race until about 10 miles when those hills appeared, miles 11 and 12 were particularly tough. If they'd have thought about the route a bit more, they could have put the hills in the middle by going round Selly Oak/Northfield/Bournville a bit more rather than to-ing and fro-ing up and down roads to add distance on at the end. Managed to find some pace again once I got onto Broad Street for the finish, zooming along (for me) at 7:46/mile, expecting to cross the line with my arms in the air and a proper official time. Sadly, I came to a halt 20 metres before the finish line as I hit a queue. There were no medical emergencies, just BCC jobsworths asking you to take your chip off your shoes 5m after the finish, and the blanket distribution was a shambles. Problems at the finish were also caused by the spectators being too far into the road at the end.
Would probably do it again if they can sort these silly things out.
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: cliff richards 2
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: 2nd city needs to shape up before you get laughed at.
In full: where do you start with this one,if you dont come from the area how do you know where the indoor arena is,runners village or should i say complete lack of one,ok ok broad street is the iconic area of brum but the start is a complete and utter nightmare it felt like i was cattle in a field all being penned into a truck awful,can anyone tell me if they started in the correct time zone,claiming that it was flat is a joke,why do you need bouncers in a baggage area
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: El Hurrecan
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: It was possible to rnjoy this race!
In full: have to say I actually found this race to be great, but I avoid all the major problems that have been reported else where on RW. The start is a shambles, there are were many runners in the wrong pens but it was not all there fault, they simpley could not get to to there pens, as there were so many spectators on Broad Street that they could not move down. That said there were the usual people just starting near the front... the other main peoblem was that I had never ran this race before, but from reading up had found that the start was a shambles, so started slighty further forward that I should (ran a 1.38 so was never slowing anyone up) But there are people running 2.00+ that know the same thing and were starting ahead of me! Crazy
That said, Course was intresting, challengeing, and past 2 miles where it thined out a bit for me, quick!
Would do again, but would not be serprised to see attendance down next year due to the issues many had, being made to wait to finish is a shambles, and even though I avoided it, its not acceptable!
With some improvements, this really could be come one of the UK's must do's
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Gavin Newman 2
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Has potiental but as previous years let down by organisation
In full: This could be a great race certainly for more fun or occasionaly runners. There is enough varied scenery to keep you going for the distance and plenty of spectators. The organisers really need to learn from other better run events.
Date of review: October 25, 2010
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