Isle of Wight Marathon and Half  Here's how RW members rated this race (138 votes). 2005 race reviewed by: frank sergeant
 | | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 20% |
In short: toughest marathon i have ever ran
In full: great day out - i'm training for comrades - this was a test - my hardest marathon ever and i got a pb - i did 2 oceans (56km) in 2004 - this was tougher, but a great run.
Date of review: May 23, 2005
|
|
2005 race reviewed by: Thumper
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 40% |
In short: Tough, well organised and friendly but the traffic is horrendous
In full: Every bit as hard as the rumours say- only a couple of the hills are really steep, but its the sheer number of them that wears you down.Good organisation and lots of water/sponge stations, the only downside is that you are frequently running on the side of the road alongside heavy,fast and usually impatient traffic.
I suffered for the last 10 miles, but the fast final mile at least lets you claw back a bit of time.Definitely a race to be experienced !
Date of review: May 23, 2005
|
2005 race reviewed by: also ran
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 40% |
In short: Memorable! Tough with a capital 'T', low key but worth the challenge.
In full: Maybe I didn't do enough hill training, maybe I'm just a wimp but I never want to see another hill again.
Hill after hill after hill makes this a challenging course, still it's worth doing if you want to test yourself. NOT recommended for a first time marathon, which mine was!!!
A very small number of entries meant that it could get quite lonely as the racers spread out.
I have to comment that there were plenty of drinks and sponge stations, and the organisers were willing to drop off your own drinks at any one, or all, of these. Oh and they were constantly checking your number on the course, just in case you had got ‘lost’ and ‘inadvertently’ taken a short cut!
A nice atmosphere, with lots of runners helping others, and then clapping as others finished.
Traffic was a BIG problem, I watched two guys almost get wiped out by a bus whose driver was just too impatient to wait 30 seconds!!!
I suffered for the last 10 mile, and suffered severely for the last 5. Thanks to Steve from York for all his help over those last few miles, I owe you a beer fella!!
With more training I might be back, maybe!!!!!!
Date of review: May 23, 2005
|
2004 race reviewed by: Brown Bear
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: A road run, and sadly, you don't get to see much of the country due to high hedges. Local support poor to non-existent for the runners at the back
In full: Considering all the footpaths on the island, it was a shame to make it a road only run. We didn't actually see much of the scenery either, which was a great pity as IOW is a lovely place. Out of the race organisers control, I know, but the traffic was not kind to runners, with only a few cars slowing down and quite a few zooming by quite close. Since much of the run was on roads without footpaths, it got a bit hairy at times - ad to run through a traffic jam at one point with no path on the left, so had to run on the outside of the traffic facing on-coming cars, bikes and caravans. Running at the back, I didn't see any support from local people which was a shame - maybe not advertised locally? Possible though that they couldn't wait for us backmarkers, but there was no support even at the start of the run when we were all bunched together. The report didn't appear in the local press for 2 weeks, so maybe a lack of interest locally. Two of the junctions (one of them a crossroads) were without marshalls and one of the people running towards the back took a wrong turn twice. Would not recommend it as a first run, though if you are a good, confident runner and unafraid of cars, give it a go.
Date of review: September 2, 2004
|
2004 race reviewed by: LHWMG
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Well marshalled/organised event, many regulars return year after year to take on this challenging course.
Date of review: September 2, 2004
|
2004 race reviewed by: Bubblecop
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% |
In short: Great race, excellent marshalling and well run
Date of review: August 24, 2004
|
2003 race reviewed by: SuperGirl
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Now known as the TOUGH one, a small event with many of the runners returning for the challenge year after year
Date of review: August 24, 2004
|
2003 race reviewed by: Nice Little Mover
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Very helpfully organised and the competitors were lovely and very friendly though obviously competitive. It was a beautiful course and the cycle route was fantastic.
Date of review: August 24, 2004
|
| |
denotes Subscriber-only content | 
