Colchester Half MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (72 votes). | 11 to 20 of 72 ratings | Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
2013 race reviewed by: robin_hood
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Pre and post race disorganised, but race itself was good
In full: It took me over an hour from the A12 slip road to park up and so I had little time to prepare and there were more behind. No bag drop, so extra panic. No water before the start available and the queues for loos at 8:55 were alarming, especially for the ladies. Portaloos next time or open some more in the stadium.
Race was OK and almost traffic free. Some marshals in wrong place and some just having a chat, but overall they were good.
Goody bags weren't stuffed with all the goodies, except a few leaflets, so I had to make a few extra trips and still didn't get them all. A bottle of water is a must as going back for water on the table was difficult as it was in the wrong place.
Took ages to get out of the car park afterwards.
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: J Fry
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Enjoyable race and loved the finish
In full: Need to make sure there is somewhere to leave your bag, I don't drive and my husband was a marshall so not with me at the start - thank you to the first aid people for looking after mine for me ! Besides that I thought it was a good challenging race, I did a poor time as I wasn't well so will have to retun next year.
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: oirisheyes
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: A decent half marathon on my doorstep, what's not to love?
In full: A really good route this year, a great mix of town center and country lanes. there are a few flaws with it but this ia a young event and still learning and pleasingly the organisers do seem responsive to feedback.
There isn't a bag drop but this didn't bother me too much in all honesty and I stayed on to cheer the runners on it was noticeable that the crowd at the finish was inching ever closer to the runners coming through and apart from the racecommentator making a few requests there was no marshalls in sight.
That said theorganisation seemed pretty good all the way around, I didn't experience any traffic problems so can't comment. The marshalls and crowd were enthusiastic and supportive so I had great fun.
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: Adam Taylor 21
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Nice mix of Urban and Country road running
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: Dirtpile
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Enjoyable, but some improvements needed.
In full: Really liked the course winding in and out of town, expecially the traffic-free High Street, but I think a few improvements are needed if this race is to become a long-standing, successful event.
Mile markers - I like these at every mile, otherwise I find it hard to pace myself. The first one appeared at 3m (unless I missed the first 2?).
Baggage - Nowhere secure to keep stuff, despite the stadium facilities, so left mine in the car.
Parking - the queue to park at the stadium before the race was worryingly slow, so I parked on a road nearby.
Finish - this was poorly marshalled meaning the crowd gradually encroached and narrowed the finishing straight, making it quite tricky to negotiate... by the time I came through.
Marshalls - Many were great, but lots looked utterly fed up. Cheer up folks! Your smiles / claps / words of encouragement are priceless, especially towards the end.
Goodie bag - lovely medal but I'd like to have seen a bottle of water. By the time I realised there wasn't one, it was a struggle to get back to the final water station and grab a cup.
Overall - great effort, and with a few organisational improvements could become a great race and a real fixture. I look forward to it next year...
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: peter chapman 148
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Two hills some may find a challenge, I didn't think they were that bad, last section in the country very nice. Well organised. My first HM and I really enjoyed it. Would recommend it highly to anyone who wants to do a HM
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: The Foon
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: tougher than it looks
In full: The stadium start and finish usually provides a few more smiles, and this helped the 'speedy' finish too. Shame about no baggage, given the size of the venue, but not sure about the comment earlier re "be prepared to lose it". Also the High St section is excellent, and given its one-way, you'll not get cars coming at you! The hills and undulation make it a real challenge and cars are pretty common these days.
The results were out in good time and I was pleased with mine given I had run there to start with! Happy Days - well done organisers; you've pleased most of the people!
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: David Compton
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Great course, why no supervised baggage drop
In full: My home town run (course goes past my house!) so enjoyed the run, good challenge with hills etc. marshalling great on the course. The let down was the organisation at the start, no where to leave your bag, I had to find a corner to put it in and hope for the best! Also could not find anyone to ask, the information desk was unmanned. Distance between water stations seemed quite large.
Date of review: March 18, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: Garry Parsons 2
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% |
In short: No baggage supervision so be prepared to lose your stuff. Still no results at 8.25pm ?!
Date of review: March 17, 2013
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2013 race reviewed by: senidM
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: typical charity run half - good for 1st timers
In full: Nice enough run once I'd got parked, get a feeling some people may have been panicking to get to the start, but as it was chip-to-chip I was quite happy to start at the back.
I'm not sure if running thru Colchester High St is really a good idea, viz a vis traffic, as I saw some idiot drivers on the run, but support was good.
So... hope they raised lots of money, and as it sold out, will continue to do so, just probably not with me running it again.
Date of review: March 17, 2013
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