Edinburgh MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race (1467 votes). 2011 race reviewed by: dave charlton 3
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: The whole experience for my first marathon was good. The start was well organised, baggage lorries were well run, and the run was great. Friendly crowd variety of scenery. The finish was poor, a big let down for my first marathon. You ended up in
In full: A street of houses. No crowd to meet and greet and to top it off a long walk which i could have done without to the bus back to the city. Will have to thnk if i will do this one again next year. Will deff do another marathon but not sure where. Highlight: the start , low's the finish. Thought my first ever marathon finish would feel special, not the case
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
|
2011 race reviewed by: Nick@D
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: few more miles around the city would have been nice! i had great day!
In full: enjoyed the day overall, could have done a few more miles around the city, (yes i know it is hilly) a lot of the local's i spoke to before & after the race didn't even know it was on. Edinburgh is a fantastic city, even if there was no marathon, it was worth the trip!
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: Mannfred
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Great potential - however dreadful organisation at the finish
In full: My first marathon and really enjoyed the course and the atmosphere - however at the end it took me 40 mins to walk to the area to meet family. Spectators couldn't get near the finish either, and this needs addressing big time.
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: Peter Joslin
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Run good post race organisation poor
In full: A good route with plenty of support, let down by a poor reception at the finish. After crossing the finish line I was left to find my way to a chaotic table where I had to beg for my medal. The large finishers t shirts had all gone ( despite having ordered one in advance) and no refreshment or finishers pack was offered. The medal is generic for the whole Edinburgh marathon festival event and without any date. A poor show and contrasts massively with the excellent effort at other events such as the bath half.
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: John Peach
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Sort out the post run experience and this would be top notch
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: Norfolk Miler
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Edinburgh is a beautiful place but GSI can’t organise a race!
In full: 26.2 reasons not to enter a GSI race:
1. They take your money and then don’t come up with the goods.
2. No marathon T-shirt (just a generic EMF one and you were lucky if you got the right size).
3. No year on medal.
4. Not enough water stations on route – I carried my own water but when I ran out at approx 17 miles did not think there were enough stations at the end of the race.
5. Marshals who were unprepared – when asked where the next water station was, one just replied ‘down the bottom’ – not that helpful when you are trying to work out how long you have to go before you can get a drink!
6. Marshals were few and far between – and some of them were rather lacklustre – one spotted sitting on the grass at Gosford House looking decidedly bored.
7. No thought given to spectator experience – TV screen in the reunion area to show runners crossing the line was broken.
8. Spectators not allowed near finish.
9. Very little shelter provided to spectators / runners in reunion area – big open field and not much else.
10. Poorly-designed reunion area – letters too close together and not positioned high enough to be visible.
11. Herding people like cattle through a narrow gap in a metal fence to try and get to the reunion area.
12. Lack of first aiders particularly at the end of the race.
13. Lack of guidance at the end of the race – no-one advising where the exit was, where to go to get goody bag, medal, water etc.
14. Baggage trucks positioned to cause congestion as runners who did not use them had to fight their way through queues of people waiting to pick up bags.
15. Not enough bananas at the end – those of us finishing with later times just had to look at the peel.
16. One person giving out T-shirts that were still in boxes and being undone as the crowds stood waiting to collect one.
17. Lack of toilets at the end of the race.
18. Lack of toilets along the route – I queued for over 5 minutes around the 5 mile mark.
19. No toilet paper in the portaloos either at the start or end of the race.
20. Lack of mile markers – first one seen at mile 6.
21. Mile markers too small.
22. Making runners walk for very long distances to catch buses back to city centre.
23. Not liaising with local public transport to ensure runners could get back to the city centre – why were there not more frequent trains / buses?
24. No text message to indicate provisional time even though they had my number and sent me a message on the morning of the event. However, some runners did receive texts.
25. Using a route where the road surface quality was poor and a potential risk to runners – how many potholes did you have to dodge?
26. Trying to do too many things at once – runners from the 10k on the previous day also reported problems with the organisation.
26.2 GSI do not respond to complaints – have they actually taken any notice of runners’ views from last year?
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: anniegetyourrun
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: This was my 3rd Edinburgh and each time the route has varied just a little bit.The finish on Musselborough racecourse previously was much better than this years choice of finish.
In full: I hope the organisers look at all these comments with regard to the awful set up after the finish.It's always the same chaos.Such a pity because other areas of the run are very slick.The crowd were lovely and very enthusiastic and encouraging-it ll helps when you're being overtaken by Bill and Ben!See you 2012 but please sort out the finish.
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: tim bates 5
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: just not a city marathon. It would be fantastic otherwise. Terrible organisation at the finish including the long walk to the return bus. Also the finish time on the clock did not match my official time - bizarre.
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: LOUISE Gilmartin Smith
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Really enjoyable first marathon!
In full: I had read the previous years' reviews and looked at the route before entering this marathon and so was well aware that we would be running straight out of Edinburgh. This really didn't bother me as Edinburgh is pretty hilly and some of the coastal route was stunning!
I had also been advised by someone who ran last year about the long walk to the buses at the end, so it came as no surprise. I actually think that this helped my legs recover a little.
However, the bottleneck caused by the number of people being herded down a very narrow street after the finish was shocking. Also the fact that the reunion area was in the opposite direction of the buses back to Edinburgh was pretty rubbish. I didn't bother going to the reunion area.
That said, for my first marathon I loved every minute of it! There were quite a lot of people supporting and I found it very uplifting. I also didn't mind the loop back and was encouraged by the site of the quicker runners on the opposite side of the road.
I also didn't mind family not being right at the finish line-I preferred to have them encouraging me over the last mile or two.
As others have said, the medal's a bit rubbish as it doesn't have the year on it and my small t-shirt doesn't mention "finisher" and is enormous but this has also been the case in other races I have ran.
All in all, the finish needs to be improved but I had a great day and would probably do it again!
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
2011 race reviewed by: GemsieGremlin
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: My first marathon - didn't live up to my expectations
In full: I spent 4 days in Edinburgh over the EMF weekend and it is a lovely city with some amazing sights. With the exception of running past Holyrood Palace and Arthur's Seat at the very start of the race, I could have been anywhere whilst taking part in the marathon, which is a shame. The crowds were enthusiastic and handed out jelly babies and the like towards the end which were gratefully received. The finish was randomly in the middle of a housing estate and there was chaos to get through the collection of medals, drinks, t-shirts etc and out to the "village". I felt slightly disappointed by the whole experience. On the positive side the route was fairly flat and I got the time I trained for.
Date of review: May 26, 2011
|
| |
denotes Subscriber-only content | 
