Edinburgh MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race (1467 votes). 2011 race reviewed by: Bangers
 | | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% |
In short: Never again
In full: I Will not be recommending this race to anyone.
Not one person in the ladies changing rooms, or in the bus queue had a good word to say about this race.
7 mile headwinds is always going to be tough on a slight incline finish, but then it's down to the race organisers to make that vanish from the minute you see the finish line, and beyond.
Hotel prices tripled.
No-one checked you had a race number before you entered the start pen - a free race option for some people.
I witnessed a chap turning round and crossing over, somewhere around the 14 or 15 mile point due to lack of marshalls etc. Ok, he cheated, but it just does something to your brain when you witness something like that.
Benches and people blocking the run path. Way too narrow run path for that many people. So many bottlenecks in the first 2 miles so we came to a complete stop.
Poor run surface in the woods loop.
Finish tunnel bottleneck took half an hour before squeezing through tiny exit area, rammed with 'spectators'.
Miserable T-shirt hander-outers.
Overpriced refreshments at finish. £6.50 for a burger...really???
One medal ribbon for all race distances.
No date on medal or t-shirt.
Medal nice shape - different to other marathons.
As always, t-shirts way too big for women anyway - tho nice sport fabric.
Would be nice to see a juicy apple in the goody bag. Or something savoury. Who can face another sugary drink at this point? It felt like a long wait til I reached the water table. And even longer til I got my bag, and could then add my recovery drink powder to the water!
If this was your 1st marathon (or intended to be your only marathon) please do another one. This really is not a good example.
Date of review: May 29, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: PloddingBob
| | 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: Disappointing
In full: Start was OK & support I thought was good in the populated areas. My main gripe was the organisation around getting to & from the start & finish. You'd expect better for the cost of entry.
If I do another marathon it'll be a smaller one, closer to home and organised by runners.
Date of review: May 28, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Esther Moore 2
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Ist time marathon runner felt let down by the organisation and support at the end of the race
In full: It would have been lovely to run around the streets of Edinburgh for longer, but the sea views were lovely- the sea 'breezes' were not! :)
Having run the full marathon, it would have been so good to have my one and only supporter there at the end of ther race. I needed a hug! By the time I fought my way through the queues of people who didnt really know where they were supposed to be and met up with my husband I was thoroughly cold and miserable. I thought I would be elated having accomplished what I had been training for for months, but I just felt daunted by having to treck for what seemed like miles to find the reunion area and the shuttle buses, bit of an anti climax.
Supporters area let down by the failure of the big screen. I had planned on returning next year with some more friends to take part in the team event, but am put off by the organisation. I dont think I could bear to end another race like that again.
Date of review: May 28, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Brian Hedges 2
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: ok till the finish line
In full: Agree with others comments. Mix ups with the shirts (different colours for half full & other events might have helped). Baggage thrown from lorries into the mud, exits from finish dangerous, spectators not allowed at the home straight. Too few coaches home & too long a hike to get them. Little atmosphere. Give this one a miss until the organisers get their act together.
Date of review: May 28, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: alex_h
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: A decent run...but really spoiled by the difficulties at the finish. Nightmare to find my family and a long walk from the finish. My charity wasn't treated especially well either I hear (Guide Dogs)
In full: This was my first marathon and I enjoyed the experience of the distance.
But, it is not spectator friendly and the organisation at the finish was ridiculous. I got my medal and correct t-shirt (wrong size though) with no problem, unlike some people. Long walk to the reunion area, and then to the buses (busses according to the sign!!). I will say that although the queue for the shuttle buses was enormous, it went down really quickly. Nobody checked tickets though.
I heard that my charity had a bit of a problem in the reunion area and were made to move location because they had dogs (Guide Dogs) and they weren't supposed to be in the park!! Sounds a bit over zealous to me. Also, a steward wasn't very helpful to my supporters when they tried to access the finish area. Just told them they couldn't go in, with no offer of help for where to go. Quite bad when you consider 2 of my 3 supporters are visibly pregnant!! I find it difficult to complain about people who volunteer and give up their time to enable these events, but that seems out of order to me.
Overall, the race was decent, organisation wasn't what I expected and was disappointing. I don't know if I would travel that far again for this particular race (from South Wales).
Date of review: May 28, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: runningbuddy
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: run itself was ok, finish organisation was terrible
In full: i entered this race after my mate had been banging on how good its been in last years. weve both been disappointed and doubt i'll ever do edinburgh marathon again but will support mate cause she always runs in it obsessed with running for charity.
we'd both taken time off work, paid for airplane flights etc, accomodations, sorted out things at home etc and were looking forward to a great run we'd been training for since we paid for our entries - entry wasnt cheap but the things shes always brought back and the talk about it was all good so we thought itd be worth doing this year. Both looked for pbs this year, she's got them over the last years.
i dont like big cities but edinburgh is great. lots of things to see and do, friendly locals and loads of tourists from everywhere.
for a big marathon i was a bit shocked by what was sent in the post, nothing except the race number, was that it. least the right tshirt size was on there etc. no idea what pen i was supposed to look out for but mate explained but even sdhe didnt know where the pen was going to be except regent road and wasnt sure if the colour were in the same order as last year.
only way we found the expo was to follow others walking in the opposite way with sports carriers bags. we'd gone to the wrong place in edinburgh expecting it to be in the actual city. but the expo was on the outskirt near the palace. not very inspiring or welcoming.there were a few stalls and only saw two selling stuff but didn't see sellers and some stands. help desk wasnt helpful and information stuck to the boards didt help with my questions. not many runners in the expo when we went in the afternoon on saturday was it ever busy
the weather for the race was crap but the set up at the start was o.k. got a bit lost from london road to regent road.
plenty to look at in places, the power station was not that inspiring but a landmark o know how far we had to go. plenty of people to cheer but very thin in some areas. mile markers were minute missed a few or could be missing. bit weird with relay runners join the pack in places and had to slow down when some of them sprinted to join directly in front. gos house area was not good to run. water stations ok
disappointing finish are running on same road and only runners and marsalls allowed at finish. no signs to say where bags were. people giving out the tshirts and stuff looked like they didnt want to be there even thoguh i found out later they are all getting £15 for doing it. tshirts in wrong sizes or givem the wrong tshirt and im a bit p*ssed off i was give a half marathon tshirt i did the marathon. told to contact the organiser still waiting for them to reply, exchange tshirt whatever. medal had no date was it the same for all the events cause the ribbon looked like it was. i had to describe my bag didnt the people know that the bags had corresponding numbers on them. my bag was black like the other 30000 of them. great organisation that was.
no fun getting past security to find mate in reunion area. took ages to get there. scree wasnt working. no shelter. meet and greet markers were too small and bunched up together. didnt see any signs in the reuinion area for stuff. didnt see signs for showers. only found toilets from long queue and then saw them for myself.
talked to some of the marsahls to find out what theyd been doing and they said that theyd never do it again. theyd nort been given proper instructions to what they were supposed to be doing. theyd been given a box of goodies but then told that theuy werent for them. found that some of the bus drivers didnt know where they were supposed to be going.
bottle neck around reunion area up to the long walk back to buses for edinburgh. could be doing without miles of walking after running in a marathon. marshalls didnt know if they were supposed to stop cars and were having a discussion when we were trying to cross so even the car drivers were getting annoyed.
the queue for the buses was long and nobody was checking the bus tickets so it was pointkless spending money to pay for them. our bus driver didnt know where he was to stop and we had a walk to regent road.
the organisers should read everyones reviews and act upon them if they want to have good reports next year from the runners that actually turn up.
edinburgh is a nice city and would be good if more of the marathon is run in it. the locals didnt know it was going on.
the mementoes are good in theory, every one appreciates a medal and tshirt for finishing a marathon but needs to be looked at in relation to quantities, dates to be added, different medal for 5k to marathon, right tshirts given out for the right race
the course is a really good one but shame the spread of suuport is limited in areas
this years race looks like a money making scheme and nothing to do with organising a great marathon for runners by runners. ssort the problems out and the entry fee will be worthwhile. dont sort it out and you will lose the number of entries and will look like cheapskates who know nothing about hosting a good event
Date of review: May 28, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Mark Carwardine
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Nice course along the sea front, but watch out for that killer wind in the last few miles.
Date of review: May 28, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Shaun Robinson
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: It seems to be running before walking and this year may have got the fall that it needs to learn from
In full: Where do you start?
I do think it’s fair that I put the positives down first and then hopefully the negatives get worked on. It would also be good if Runners World as a magazine did an article about this years event and asked the organizes questions about the event as it appears that there is a lot of unhappy people who have put a lot of there time in to running a life changing event and there overall achievement has been quickly discarded by inept organisation.
What also is concerning is that with running events expanding as they are and costs/profits increasing are we really getting value for money for running 10km to 26.2 miles??
Positives:
• Nice central location in a fantastic city.
• Short walk to the start line from public transport hubs as my girlfriend and I travelled staying in Sterling caught the train from Falkirk.
• Luggage Lorries near the start line, large pens, plenty of toilet facilities (When I eventually worked out which was the building been mention by the PA) for men unless you are a women or need pass your breakfast!
• Drink stations plenty – but why do competitors waste so much after as a couple of slurps won’t last you 4-5 miles to the next station?
• Nice first couple of miles past some great views, before hitting coast line……
• Despite the walk to the park and ride, which helped to loosen the legs, the ques waiting for the bus, went quickly! Compared to London in 2010, when the tube had several lines not working due to “engineering issues” on a major event day in central London which caused tremendous congestion and problems trying to leave the area around Whithall and Trafalgar. Vast improvement, buses clean and warm and time in to central Edinburgh 20 mins!! But questions need to be asked about the price of the tickets which they plugged on the website as a necessity before the event and where not checked, and apparently at £6 return a lot more expensive then the normal going rate???
Negatives:
• Mile markers – a runner’s biggest moan! (LOL) No matter how big or small they need to be obvious and be seen. I didn’t see any until at least half way and beyond and that when they were displayed they were in the wrong place according to my watch which I know is pretty accurate and is not half a mile out when they were placed!
• The course, it needs to be worked on. It’s advertised as Edinburgh’s marathon, but you didn’t see much of the city before heading along the coast line and then coming back on yourself. I also really felt sorry for the 3 charity supports getting soaked as you entered the park as they were the only support for about 10 miles! How asked them to be there shame on you! Open to the elements and facing the headwind and showers. I saw more of Nottingham when I completed that course last year, then I did of Edinburgh and it had no back tracking. The organisers and the council really need to work together as advertising a PB course for a city marathon has only so much appeal. The hoteliers know it’s a major event as the double there prices for the weekend hence why I stayed in Sterling, but do the council and organisers?? If you want a PB do Nottingham!
• Also chip timings compared to other marathons seemed to be haphazard??
• Going past the finish line I remember looking at it and thinking is that it? Not the most inspiring place to finish out side Num 73? Why was the grandstand past the finish line?
• Volunteers who handed out the medals didn’t seem to be want to be there, a well done, a smile or a handshake would have been good peck on the cheek would have been appreciated as you go through all types of emotions and they are the first people you actually meet after the run. I had to force it out of the girl who gave me the medal.
• The medal, no year on it, no date, Bevoir half marathon which I completed had all these on at almost 2/3 the price of Edinburgh. Even London just has the year. Even the ribbon wasn’t specific to the marathon but to all events. Little details but it all adds up.
• Whilst waiting in the queue!!!!. I was told by a marshal that I couldn’t sit next to a wall as an ambulance was about to appear!! From where??? Runners were bottle necked – the exit from collecting baggage was fenced off and he was telling me and the lady who was sat on the floor and was almost hyperventilating and looking very green to move! You couldn’t have got a car down there never mind an ambulance! I managed to get the lady a discarded space blanket, gave her some breathing exercises, made sure she was warming up before and well before attempting to collect my belongings. I can see the idea of using the street but it didn’t work, but why not use the road back to Edinburgh and funnel the runners down that street once they had got they had got the belongings??
• Could the Racecourse been used more appropriately? Or Meadowbank?? Or has Edinburgh not got the facilities or space for a major event like a marathon to cater for such numbers?
• Why was the baggage last? Runners were getting cold and tired and the prospect of downing another sugar drink is not what you want. When you got to the Lorries it took ages for the attendants to find the bags as they were not put out in any order and the common question from the handlers was “ What colour is your bag” Answer “Grey” or “ Black” and they turned round and faced with grey or black bags!!
• Sorry to read that competitors got the incorrect T-shirt that handed out. What was the point of printing out on the race number?? Then asking you the competitor to pay for something that they have already paid for in post and packaging what a cheek !!
• My Girlfriend was disappointed that she could not be near the finish line or get near to an agreed point to see me run past due to marshalling. The big screen didn’t work due to a technical reason but they always work at race meetings and if it’s true about a fox eating the cable I hope its ok! Having seen the coverage on the photos that you may wish to buy, you would have been lucky to have spotted any family member as the camera appears miles away from the finish and more like a poor CCTV camera that captures criminals and no one can recognize the thief on expect the person committing the crime. Overpriced coffee and refreshments, ques to be served and few people severing combined with poor customer service as normal.
Sorry to go on but when you put your own time in to doing an event such as a marathon your expectation levels are high and it is a one of life great experiences finishing such an event and with prices ranging from as they do today as mentioned above profits appear to be ahead of runners need. I am glad that I ran the marathon, but I wont recommend it to others as there are better out there – Nottingham for one.
On a lighter note I know there is much jibber jabber about watches not calculating the correct distance. I for one was glad that that my watch registered 25.88 at the finish line!!! No way is it half a mile out!! But on this occasion I was glad it was! However it pays back the longer routes I seem to have taken at London and Nottingham. I hope despite the negativity this year there course is the correct distance as that would be the last thing the organisers need!!
Date of review: May 28, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Michael Beck 4
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: My first marathon. The route was okay, the organisation at the end was shambolic
Date of review: May 27, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Smartly
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: A lot cooler than last year so managed to smash my PB by 17 mins
In full: It seemed a bit better organised than last year but still a few shortfalls, that aside everything seemed to fall into place & I managed to knock 17 minutes off my PB so very pleased.
Date of review: May 27, 2011
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