Sussex Beacon Half MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (483 votes). 2010 race reviewed by: Steve Barnes 7
 | | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Apart form the weather..................
In full: I'm going to try to be objective about this!
I know that pretty much every poster has already said this, but I feel that £22 (and £16 for parking!!!!) gives me a right to an opinion.
First time I've run this, and would like to add my voice to those expressing unhappiness with start/finish, MP3s, marshalling, course, loos, traffic, parking, etc, etc, etc.
After what we went through, and the price, I feel that some sort of goody bag would have been good.
Still, nice pink ribbon on the medal, and hopefully Hastings will restore my faith in large events!
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
|
2010 race reviewed by: Corky2
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 20% |
In short: Appalling race
In full: I ran this in 2006 and it was brilliant - what has gone so wrong? First the one positive; good comms up to the race but that's it. Fortunately I left North London at 6am so I managed to get parking along the sea front and my friend took my bag so I didn't have the problems that some had below.
What went wrong:
- at the start there was no finishing time guidelines so slow and fast runners were mixed in
- if the organisers state that no Ipods should be used ENFORCE this. Every second person had an Ipod and it was dangerous as Ipod users swerved across my path to grab drinks and they could not hear marshalls' warnings.
- where were the mile markers?
- passive marshalling allowed runners to weave between on coming cars and allowed people with dogs to walk across the race
- Too many runners made the first 2 miles dangerous as all the runners had to get through the narrow lanes. I saw outdoor signs/restaurant chairs go flying, ostacles suddenly appeared and I was elbowed by those Ipod users. It was a bit like a running riot on Oxford Street. I seriously thought about packing it in at this point but I had travelled so far.
- and the finish - OMG what was that about? Not even a proper chip timing after such a miserable race. I couldn't get to the mat because of the queues. I was lucky to have my watch so I had some sort of accurate time but that was unbelievable.
Rain, sleet, wind: stamina building. Change of route: unavoidable. Poor organisation: unacceptable.
I will never come back to Brighton again.
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: stylist
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In full: OMG what can I add to all the rest? Except ditto. Can only hope that the full Brighton Marathon in April learns from this re loos, bags, bottlenecks, MILE MARKERS (where the hell?), waterstations and finish line congestion. Having said all this noone to blame for the foul weather. And YET, in spite of all the abovie I did a PB, 7 minutes faster than 2 years ago. Shows how personal victory can triumph over adversity!
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: Malcolm Muir
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 20% |
In short: Worst ever Beacon Half!
In full: Being a local resident I've run this race a number of times, and I can honestly say this was the worst ever. For me the biggest problem was the number of runners (first timers?) who started well ahead of their ability causing so much trouble for runners who were more realistic with their estimated finishing time.
I also agree withe reviewers who think the field is too big for parts of the course, first time in Marine Parade being a particular problem area!
The baggage area should be the other side of the finish thus avoiding a lot of congestion.
I'm not really bothered about the medal/goody bag - the race is for a good cause, but the organisers need to take a good hard look at otganisation before next year's race or runners will vote with their feet. This would a pity.
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: Sam I Am
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Wet Windy and Congested
In full: I imagine there will be quite a few moans about this one - particularly the congestion, but given that the organisers had been forced to change the route at the last minute, I thought the organisation was pretty good.
There seemed to be about twice as many runners as usual, and I think the altered route just wasn't able to cope. If the race is going to be this big in the future then the organisers are going to have to have proper start pens, and get rid of other pinch points, because even though I started pretty well to the front, it was at least a couple of miles before I was even close to running steadily, and there were points all the way through the race where I was finding it hard to pass.
Anyway - despite the congestion, and appalling weather, I enjoyed it.
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: LJM
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% |
In short: Terrible weather, quick course, good support and marshalling, bag retrieval could have been better.
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: Jane Nodder
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 40% |
In short: Thank you to all the marshalls and supporters for turning out in the rain and cold. But I do agree with most of what has been posted by others about organisation, route and value for money. Sorry!
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: Anne Solley (Clumsy)
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Poor Organisation and shame about the atrocious weather
In full: Firstly, can I say that the weather was truly atrocious - definitely a day for staying indoors. I was impressed by the number of people who were out supporting us runners on such a foul day.
Also, thanks for all the marshalls and helpers who gave up their time on such a terrible day.
The 2009 race was my first half marathon and I thought it was well organised. Unfortunately the organisation was shoddy this year.
Queues for the loos were massive and I only just found the baggage area (no signposts)in time for the start of the race.
There were a few bottlenecks on the course and it was made more awkward by pedestrians being in the way. I wonder what had happened to the mile markers as I didn't see many en route.
The worst point was definitely the finishing area. It was almost impossible move forward due to the congestion caused by the chip removers and the narrow width of the area.
I couldn't find a silver cape for love nor money. Turned out they were at the far end of the finishing area. By the ime I finally got a cape I was frozen to the core.
I then had to fight my way back to the baggage area which was a nightmare as there were so many finishers and spectators in the way. The route to the baggage area should have been exclusively for runners. It was a free for all to get your bag back as there were no marshalls supervising the area.
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: Dorset Roger
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Repetitive, congested finish, totally unsupervised baggage area, very pricey for a cheap medal and a green banana, won't be back.
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
2010 race reviewed by: Kencing Terus
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Either atrocious organisation or sub 1:50ish elitist?
In full: I write this with regret as this is my local half. I've done this run before in similar conditions so I do not put my annoyance down to the weather. It's Brighton - cold, wet and windy in winter but glorious in summer.
I was not aiming for a good time today so I started towards and the back and didn't have any issues through the Lanes or town. The marshalls could have been more vocal but I was appreciative of their presence in any case. The course was changed due to the bad weather we had and the degradation of the cliffs so there was some doubling over ground but hey the race went on and not cancelled so all good. I thought an OK run until I sprinted from the 13mile mark towards the finish line, where to me, is where the problems started.
What I found annoying and disappointing was the apparent elitism of the race director/organiser who did not abandon chip collection when it was 20 deep of pushing and shoving people all aiming to get the feet on to the mats. It took about 2-3 minutes for people to get their chip time registered.
If this was the race leaders or “club runners†would this have been acceptable?
I would say a definite NO. I think the race organisers needs to assess why they are encouraging more participants to run and advertise on the radio if they then treat any “slower runners†with no respect and place the value of their precious chips rather than the enjoyment and safety of the runners. (By slower runners I am referring to the elitism of not caring about people who finished over 1:50. I personally think that is a good time. Actually I think any one that starts a half marathon has done fantastic for just being there)
I am not upset by my chip time today as I used my watch and will disregard the official time. I know several people who were set on getting a certain time and have trained hard and have now feel they have not achieved their goal as their official time is out by the few minutes it took to cross their line. I just hope it has not deterred too many runners from running again.
As for the bag drop, I am still speechless. Luckily nothing got taken from my bag and I hope everyone else was just as lucky.
Well done everyone for taking part.
Date of review: February 21, 2010
|
| |
denotes Subscriber-only content | 
