Brighton Half MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (219 votes). 2012 race reviewed by: Steve Harding 3
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Good course but (beyond the distance thing) better organisation needed!
In full: I think the whole distance thing has been done to death - don't mind too much, these things happeni!
Good course, the hardest part was at the beginning which was nice.
It's a pity that the start/finish organisation was rubbish and tarnished this event!
Things that need to improve include the setup of the start/finish zone - the main thoroughfare was also the toilet queue area = gridlock! The baggage area was chaos - they really need to have someone managing the baggage rather than what appeared to be a bunch of really confused and overwhelmed volunteers! Plus don't claim to not do goody bags to be kind to the environment then give us a bag of irrelevant paper!
I will do this again as its pretty close to home, but will be prepared for the chaos next time!
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: JakeUK
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: I will remember the Brighton half marathon 2012 forever, a truly wonderful experience.
In full: My first ever run, the conditions were perfect, the scenery was without equal and the organisation was superb (happy to forgive the distance thing!).. Wish they did a recurring entry form and I would signup without fail. The course was perfect for a first ever run, I cannot give enough praise for the event tbh :)
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Anne Ambrose
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: On the whole a really enjoyable race
In full: I thought this was a really enjoyable race, in a nice location. The fine weather really helped. The organisers have agreed to amend the times and I'm looking forward to receiving my new - quicker- time for a half marathon rather than a 13.5 mile race. More toilets are needed for this number of competitors, especially for nervous runners like me! I nearly missed the start of the race because of the 20min queue. Also there did not seem to be any staggering at the start according to predicted finish time, but that may have been because I was late joining the starters and ended up in the wrong place. Otherwise, well organised.
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Hammered
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Controversial
In full: The latest about what happened with reaction from runners and organisers. What's fascinating is the response that there has been from the organisers to all the complaints and the fact that, after initially appearing to avoid the issue, they've corrected the race times.
http://therunningbug.co.uk/rbblogs/she-runs-she-writes/b/weblog/archive/2012/02/21/the-brighton-half-course-length-controversy.aspx
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Richard Guest 4
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: interesting race!!
In full: Well apart from not getting the distance right, the organization was very good. Few quibbles though - getting to the baggage area from pier was along a pretty narrow stretch of pedestrian path, especially as there were various tents placed there on one side, and the fencing to separate the start area. As there were also many non runners milling about, it took ages to drop off my bag. Organizers might want to consider changing the location of the baggage area in future to make it easier to get to.Also, and this isn't the fault of the race organizers, the rail company didn't seem to go out of their way to make the route down to Brighton particularly passenger friendly - too few trains and not enough carriages - don't seem to have this problem when Brighton have the marathon !!
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Mei Perryman
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: |
In full: Doing the Brighton Half had a special meaning to me as I'm from Brighton and I was glad to have done it as part of my London Marathon training.
Despite the mess up with the length of the course, overall I enjoyed the race and we were lucky to have a lovely sunny dry day :)
Organisationwise I thought it was rather poorly arranged. I think they should have put in place a one way system straight through Madeira Drive where finishers cross the finish line, pick up 'goodie' bag, banana, water, lucozade, medal, then have the bag collection, then the sponsor, charity and merchandise stalls then exit the other end of Madeira Drive - surely that makes sense?! Instead of having to push through all the crowds to get back to the pier?
I think there should be a runners only part of Madeira Drive until the end segment - this would also prevent spectators from jamming up the pier/roundabout area.
I wanted to buy a t shirt but of course I had no money on me so had to find my partner and had to battle my way through the spectators, kids, tricycles and dogs - it was very frustrating - only to get back to the stall to find out that the card machine didn't work (typical). This is the only stall which I think would be better placed at the front end of Madeira Drive (fortunately my partner had cash).
On the website they state that they are a 'sustainable' half marathon so do not supply goody bags... that didn't stop SweatShop giving us all a bag of leaflets though - double standards?! At least I had something to put my banana and drinks in. They obviously spent all the entry fee on the medal - which was great but its nice to receive a packet of showergel/deodrant or energy bar at the end of the race.
Other than that, there should have been more water stations perhaps with cups as there was a lot of wasted water bottles.
Also I reached one lucozade station and skipped the first few people giving out bottles and went to the end stack where I saw a full pallet of lucozade bottles but there were no people in front of it handing them out :/ so I missed out.
Otherwise I had a good time, if not a little frustrated by the thought that if the race was the correct length I would have pushed myself a bit more and got a sub 2hour time.
I would not recommend doing this as part of training for Brighton Marathon as its a very similar course and compared to Run to the Beat I found the double backing quite boring not to mention disheartening!
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: HELEN Brayley
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Shambolic organisation!
In full: This was my first time running the Brighton half and I mainly signed up to it as a precursor to the Brighton marathon (my first!) later this year. To start my race pack never arrived. No big deal, I emailed and let the organisers know and I was told it was no problem and I could pick up my number from the main information tent. I turned up bright and early but no one seemed to know where the information tent was. I walked around for about 20 mins, following signs to 'information' that led nowhere. I eventually found the unmarked, tiny white tent and waited in line with half an hour to go. I was still not at the front when the race started. Ten minutes later I was still waiting. It was then that a disgruntled security staff member rudely told us still in line that unless we crossed the start in the next two minutes we would be disqualified. In the same breath we were then told that all the numbers had been given out already and that we needed to wait to find out if there were any more available...do we stay or do we go?? I eventually managed to get a number and had to attempt to pin it on whilst racing to cross the starting line, not a great way to begin a 13 miles race! I then had to negotiate volunteers who were closing off the first section of the race to get ready for the childrens events. I ended up having to wait at a barrier before I could continue the run, whilst being told that if I couldn't be bothered to turn up on time then it was my own fault. The rest of the race was largely uneventful, zig zagging past people in order to find a pace that I could comfortably run at without being held back too much. The camber of the roads meant that by half way I was almost limping, the only saving grace being the beautiful weather and scenery. I finished a little slower than expected but was pleased that I had completed it and learnt some important route lessons for the marathon. Later on I found out that the route had not be measured accurately and we had all run close to 1km more than we should! Would never do this event again, you would have thought after 22 years they could have got the basics right.
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Martin Jones 15
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Shame about the distance cock-up
In full: Enjoyed the race but finding it hard to understand how you can get the distance so wrong.
Good atmosphere and good water/Lucozade stations and I suppose it's a pb as I've never run a 13.5 mile race before!
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Helen Tomkin
| | 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: Lovely atmosphere, lots of support, nice route not too challenging
In full: Great race just the organisation a bit of a downer. Too few toilets, not enough people at the baggage collection, and lets not forget them getting the distance wrong this year!
Overall tho, this is the first time I have done this race and I smashed my PB despite the extra distance. The support is great and it's pretty flat. Try start nearer the front maybe a time you don't expect to do. I started nearer the front so did not have to deal with the congestion issues at the start line that I have heard a lot talk about. Nice medal, and lots of fluid stations along the way
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: SurreyChick
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Could do better
In full: Its all been said about the distance! The kids in the youth race (1 mile) got a better goody bag at the end of their race (included a mars bar and shower gel). My 2:15 pacer was up and down in speed far too much. Great medal. Nice course. Needs lots more toilets for the amount of people taking part.
Date of review: February 21, 2012
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