The Hull MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (19 votes). | 11 to 19 of 19 ratings | Page: 1 2 |
2012 race reviewed by: mike p
 | | 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: Good idea..poor implementation
In full: From the outset this event gave the impression of being high on ambition and short of resource.
It was an age before the course details were announced then there was confusion over the start time and a late announcement that there would be no mailing out of race packs.
On the day there seemed to be quite a gap between what had been promised and what was delivered.
Apart from the city centre it was not clear that any roads had been closed. If they had then a lot of drivers hadn’t been told or had ignored closure signs. The water stops were not as frequent as had been stated. There was a long stretch ending at the turn point on the bridge where the only water available was from discarded bottles (and I was in a bunch in places 150-200). At other times the gaps between water seemed over long and at other times very close.
The course through the industrial area was on very uneven surfaces which caused a few runners around me, and including me, problems, this got worse when we hit the cobbles near the Marina. Who thought running on cobbles after 18/19 miles was a good idea?
The lack of marshals at points from about 15 miles was a concern. This caused a number of runners to run short races and lead to confusion as to the winner of the woman’s race.
The out and back path by the river was plain daft. It was too narrow, had too many sharp turns and a strange spiral step up which was really difficult at the stage in the race when all you wanted was to hold a steady pace.
I am sure that we were promised mile markers. The only one that anyone claims to have seen was at 13 miles.
The spectators that were there were loud and supportive but for a big City event there just were not many people about.
The organisation at the end was poor in comparison with most local club runs. Usually the drinks table is set away from the finish area and spectators and you are directed to it. Here we were given our (good) medal and t-shirt and had to find our way to the plastic cups, I spotted the Mars bar box but no one was handing them out…I hear there were other drinks but didn’t see them.
The start was also a bit odd. There was no atmosphere created by a PA welcome/music just a loud bang and we were off.
And 2 portable toilets! 2! Yes I know there were some in City Hall and some under the statue but there weren’t anywhere near enough at the start.
On the good side:
They did set up a number collection point on the day before (announced very late…mailing out is a better option)
The baggage drop and changing facility at City Hall was useful and well organised
Decent medal/t shirt
Good course up until the entrance into Pearson Park (although the run into West Park could have been made very special if we had run around the inside of the KC)
The Humber Bridge section
The event provided a positive, healthy, image for a City that usually, and unfairly, attracts negative stories.
Date of review: April 9, 2012
|
|
2012 race reviewed by: chris bozier
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Good race, scenic in parts and not to undulating. Just need to put up mile markers if the event is run again.
Date of review: April 9, 2012
|
2012 race reviewed by: jonnysue
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Good first marathon but had a few minor teathing problems
In full: I did this marathon with my Dad and he proudly ran the race wearing his tee-shirt from the last hull marathon in 1992, 20 years ago. We set off at 04:30 to get to the event in time, although this was really early especially on a bank holiday weekend, on the whole it was well worth it! We both really enjoyed the race and the problems were only minor. I hope this race happens again and look forward running it in the future again.
The race route was very scenic, especially going over the Humber Bridge. It was a little bit too windy for me and in places confusion rained as no one including the marshals seemed to know which way to go. The races Marshalls were really helpful and friendly and there were lots of water stations giving bottles and cup of water as well as free energy gels.
Unfortunately there was some cheating from runners on the stretch were you had to double back on your self, this should have been better staffed by marshals but in the end they are only cheating themselves.
There was only 1 mile marker on the whole route at 13 miles, this wasn’t a problem if you ran with a GPS but if you didn’t you had no idea of were you were in the race
Date of review: April 9, 2012
|
2012 race reviewed by: Jane Thompson 13
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 40% |
In short: potentially a great city event let down by an inexperienced events company
Date of review: April 9, 2012
|
2012 race reviewed by: Carol Bull
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Not a bad first go but room for improvement
In full: There were good bits and bad bits to this race. First of all the marshalls were lovely and friendly. They had a really tough job trying to marshall and control traffic, so well done to them. There was also plenty of water and gels available at regular intervals along the route. Many enthusiastic supporters offered pieces of orange and sweeties on route. Good cameraderie amongst runners. On the bad side there were no mile markers! Thank goodness for Garmin or I would have been stuffed (my hubby who had no Garmin was stuffed!). Also a few more direction markers would have been helpful. It was very confusing through Hessle and the industrial estate. There were pacers but since they weren't announced and hadn't been given any flags or anyway to distinguish them very few people knew they were even there. The start was a bit of a surprise - no music or announcements of any kind just the gun going off. Only 2 portaloos and my hubby reported that of the 5 cubicles in the city hall one was under construction, 2 had no lights, most ran out of toilet paper and none of them flushed properly. At the finish we got a great medal and technical top but nothing else except a cup of water. Potential to be a good race if improvements are made.
Date of review: April 9, 2012
|
2012 race reviewed by: fasterthanatortoise
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: some good, some bad, please use mile markers in future!!
In full: great route. great marshalls however some improvements needed. was advertised as 9am start but was changed to 8am. no posting of numbers and chips and no mile markers - a major crime in a marathon; runners need to know their distance in a marathon. also had it 1/2 mile short on my garmin. If these could be sorted this would be a good race.
Date of review: April 8, 2012
|
2012 race reviewed by: queitman
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: very good race for anew marathon,humber bridge brillant to run on,
Date of review: April 8, 2012
|
2012 race reviewed by: Gary Tebbutt
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Nice touches
In full: Excellent organisation for a first running of this race. Support on route from Hull people brilliant.Some industrial areas not too clever but other areas great.
Date of review: April 8, 2012
|
2012 race reviewed by: Richard Harrison 17
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: The general lack of atmosphere was the biggest let down!
Date of review: April 8, 2012
|
| |
denotes Subscriber-only content | 
