Edinburgh MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race (1467 votes). 2011 race reviewed by: ebgb
 | | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: A total disarray at the end, did i not read the same thing about last year
In full: While the start of the race seemed fairly well organised, thought the mile markers were fairly small and not well positioned. At the end it was an absolute joke, while i appreciate i was not in the best of form due to been unable to run the whole distance due to an ankle injury, the last thing I wanted to do was wait around for teeshirts and goody bags and then to add insult to injury, find out later they had given me a half marathon tee shirt. When i looked on there website about this, they advised that i need to send the teeshirt back with a stamped address envelope to cover the cost of posatge of the correct one, that is on condition they have one in my size left so will probably end up with nothing bar the cost of the envelopes etc.
Additionally to see some of the crew sitting down on mobile phones actually getting in the way of people who were trying to give the equipment out was something else. To add to this when i asked directions to the nearest train station by one of the crew I was sent in the Musselborough station which is 3 miles away, did they not think i had not done enough walking :)
Finally to see some of the crew taking crates of lucozade away at the end really was the final straw. Overall was not impressed and would not run there again
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Moomkin
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Flat but very exposed to the wind, and it blew in 2011. Hopeless for spectators and needs more stewards
In full: What a wasted opportunity to run through one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. I guess to achieve a flat, potentially fast run, they have sacrificed a start and finish on Princes Street and chosen to end in a satellite town, almost impossible to access to travelling spectators. Should be renamed the East Lothian Marathon since you will see more of the hinterland of Edinburgh than the city itself. Compulsory alternative viewing at the 'big screen' fundementally requires the screen to work but in 2011, it didn't! Signage could be improved and a few bottle necks need to be ironed out or a few less runners. You will be shoulder to shoulder with participants but can occupy the time by 'spotting the spectator'. Sufficient feeding stations but better signage and more attendants required. Got my PB but will look around for a better organised, more family/spectator friendly Spring marathon for next year. For a Scottish Marathon, Loch Ness is head and shoulders above Edinburgh.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Solb
| | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Nice race desperately disappointed in the organisation
In full: I'm really sad that I ran this as my first marathon. I'd put so much work into it and my supporter didn't see me at all.
The organisation was a disgrace - not only was my supporter denied all chances to actually support me she didn't even know I was safe until 45 minutes after I crossed the line thanks to the ridiculous queues.
The finish line was such an anti-climax.
I'm glad I ran the marathon but I regret running Edinburgh for my first one
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Duane Daugherty 3
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: A reasonable race let down by the finish area organisation.
In full: The good points:
The start was well organised.
Baggage lorries were well marked, as were the start zones. There seemed to be enough toilets.
The course was pretty much flat. The weather was reasonable for most of the course was OK. I found the last 8 miles or so hard work, due to the headwind running back to the finish. The drinks stations were excellent as was the support in the towns in the coastal towns. The finish was a bit easier than in previous years due to it being moved to the road.
The problems with the race began after the finish line was crossed.
On crossing the finish line there was no one to direct you where to go, I followed the crowd and ended up in a side street where I found the people handing out the medals, t shirts, goody bags and drinks. The people trying to reunite runners with their bags seemed to be totally overwhelmed (people with similar running numbers finishing around the same time). Trying to escape from the runners finish area was interesting, one exit, about 5 ft wide, to allow the runners to leave but then faced with hundreds of friends and family waiting to see loved ones directly in front of the exit. The walk to the buses was the same as last year, I knew what to expect, but it was still a challenge, after running 26 miles.
I know the organisers have tried different ways of improving the finish area. I'd suggest that they should look at reversing the course. Finish the race in one of the parks in Edinburgh, start it at the race course. This system works for London (start at Blackheath, finish on the Mall) and Loch Ness (bus to the banks of Loch Ness, finish in a park in Inverness) why not Edinburgh ?
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: john riley 3
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 40% |
In short: o dear
In full: what has gone wrong i droppedout at 14miles when medics were happy to let me go had to fend for myself relay shuttle bus back to finish then walk to get kit no one knew what to do could have got medal etc but did not want one was very down no one cared what went wrong????????????
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Ands737
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Amateurish Organisation Ruined PotentiallY a Good Race
In full:
The Edinburgh weekend of running is a great chnace for people of all standards and endurance to take part and enjoy the atmosphere of a big city marathon. My running club has supported the half marathon, marathon and marathon relay for the last 3 years. This was my first time of running Edinburgh. Previous marathons include London, Cardiff, Dublin and Paris.
Positive points
1) Crowd support was sporadic in places at the start but in the second half of the marathon there was some great areas of really energetic support and a great finish.
2) Water and energy drinks were regular, even though on the plan the enrgy drinks did start abit late in the race.
3) Well marshalled during the race.
Negative Points.
1) I got my number 1 week before the start. My girlfriend got her number 4 days before the start. I cannot think of any race where I have entered so early and received my number so close to the start date. I would expect to get that number weeks before the final week. Not acceptable.
2) Not enough mens urinals at the start. There were only 2 units (8 in total). I have run smaller local Half Marathons with better facilities. The queue for portaloos or the urinals were just as long. Also it was not obvious that there was a second unit of urinals these were tucked away, and only information from other men, did the word get around.
3) If I had not switched on my mile alerts on my Garmen GPS, then I would have missed the majority of mile markers. The mile markers were to small and were not easy to identify. The mile markers were circular and probably no bigger than the length of a A4 piece of paper. In fact 1 of the markers was positioned off the route. Mile markers need to be obvious. If there not, dont bother putting them out, your wasting your time
4) The finish just where do you start:
5) From the finish line to the luzozade distribution area was probably 200-300m. Having crossed the line and immediately all runners are cooling down, there was not a single marshall, first aid person, or helper checking on runners welfare or providing foil blankets. The lack of protection and ability to provide protection for runners would be compounded later.
6) The entire area between the luzozade area, first aid, t-shirt/goodby bag and baggage was extremely too congested. To get through this area took me over 40mins. By this time I was shivering in just my club vest. If there had been a medical problem here, assistance would have been a long time in coming and prevented by the sheer weight of numbers present. I did see the first aiders at work and there efforts should be applauded.
7) The wait for the goody bag/T-shirt was horrendous and the organisation and leadership of the the whole needs to be thoroughly examined. There was NO leadership or organisation. Total shambles. There rubbish and empty boxes every where, lying a first world war casaulty cleaaring station.
8). Just when it couldnt get any worse, oh it can. Baggage reclaim. I have done baggage 3 times at the London marathon, to say what I witnessed was extremely poor would have been complimentary. First of all runners number signs were already being taken off lorries and placed on the ground in front of the lorries but inside the crash barriers. This is great, especially when you have runners waiting to reclaim baggage obstructing the sign, so now you have runners obstructing other runners because their trying to read the sign which should have been hanging up in the first place. When I eventually got to the correct lorry and position, there was 1 adult, 1 scout or cub and 3 young teenagers who had absoluately no idea what they were doing. I'm assuming the bags were not in number order as they were asking runners to describe their bags rather than search by number the easier option. Again NO leadership which resulted in DIRE organisation. Having done London baggage 3 times I have never seen such organised chaos. All the time there are runners still desparately trying to there bags, getting congested in an ever descreasing space and body temperature decreasing rapidly. All these problems could have been solved with more space and better leadership at the top. People volunteer to help, they wont come back if they've had a roungh experience.
9) Your friends and family missed you crossing the line becasue the big screen did not work. In fact Ive never done any race of any distance anywhere in the world or even the universe, where there are no spectators at the finish line.
10) Okay, so you've run 26miles in just over 4hours, queued for the best of an hour, got cold, shivered, now got 3-4 layers on, trying to get warm. You will get warm with the trek for the bus. I wished I had measured the distance it felt close to 2 miles. Tooo far. Plus you've brought your bus ticket on line or earlier, nobody checks the tickets, I know people got on who had not brought a ticket, so the whole system is open to abuse.
I'm an experienced runner and volunteer for either marshalling or helping at the finish at either local 10km, half marathons or the likes of the London Marathon. Edinburgh has the potential to rival London as an alternative race, but unless the organisers go back to basics and examine the above, then their race will attract bad publicity and the search for volunteers could become fruitful.
For me the race was not marred by the strong winds on the way back or the rain , that did not bother me, the race was marred by the poor organisation.
I hope the organisers read the above comments and other comments written here and act upon it. It would be a tragedy if the organisers failed to listen, and ruin what is a great a weekend of running for all abilities and for the City of Edinburgh.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Georgieboy
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Awful event - real let down
In full: Cant add anything that has not been said before. My 9 year old daughters school fun run was better organised. Pathetic
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Heather Bovill
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Expensive and poorly organised
In full: The course was very scenic but the race was expensive and the organisation poor. While the beginning of the race seemed quite well organised the end was a mess. Having people who have just completed 26.2 miles wait in a huge queue for a very empty goodie bag without anything to keep them warm was ridiculous. One person at least collapsed while we were waiting. The course was very scenic but the race was expensive and the organisation poor. While the beginning of the race seemed quite well organised the end was a mess. Having people who have just completed 26.2 miles wait in a huge queue for a very empty goodie bag without anything to keep them warm was ridiculous. One person at least collapsed while we were waiting.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: dhale750
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Edinburgh has much better to offer.
In full: If you enter this expecting the big city marathon experience in edinburgh then you will be disapointed; the course starts in edinburgh but quickly kicks you out into the outskirts of the city until you end up running alongside the coast for the rest of the event. This does mean that the first section of the race is fairly downhill and the remainder is very flat, so it's a pretty fast course. However the other aspects of the course let it down: it is unimaginative as it doubles back on itself frequently, it features mostly boring back streets or depressing power stations to run through, and you end up in sheer countryside at one point - not exactly edinburgh is it!
The end could have been much better: the screen wasn't even working and shouldn't have been the solution anyway, they should have come up with a better finish line from the beginning. It stinks of things being done on the cheap. I will point out however that the hoards of people crowding outside the runners' exist after they have finished was NOT the organisers' fault, this was down to the general public being extremely stupid and stubborn whilst ignoring the signposted DESIGNATED reunion area, creating a huge jam in the process and ruining the day for everyone. People can be so stupid.
Shuttle buses were to far from the finish, but at least ran smoothly. Medal + t-shirt decent enough.
The start was atmospheric and very well organised although a final point would be that I was at the very front of the London road start, and when the starting gun went off they still had the blue rope in front of us holding us back!! what a embarrassing mistake. Chaos ensued as everyone charged forward anyway and had to duck under the blue rope.
I think that has covered everything!
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Clag
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Poor finish - again!
In full: Having done the marathon last year (& vowed never again) I found myself taking a friend's place as he dropped out.
Initial organisation appeared better than last year. There were more toilets at the start of the race and the urinals for men definitely helped to keep the queues down. Pens were not manned but were well labelled and everyone appeared to sort themselves out quite well. Baggage buses were well numbered and easy to find.
The start was quite smooth - off and running fairly quickly with no major disasters and plenty of bins to dump extra clothes etc.
The route itself was fine and the changeable weather was quite welcome - blustery with some sunshine and the odd shower was a welcome change after the heat of last year.
The water stations were well signed and usually well manned. However, there was one that lacked numbers of marshals for supplying water and I ended up passing it by due to the numbers of people trying to get water. It would be good to have longer tables, lots more marshals and both sides of the road available if possible.
Toilet facilities were reasonably plentiful - I didn't use them but the queues appeared to be relatively short while out on the course.
Support, particularly towards the end, was plentiful and very encouraging - thanks to all spectators for cheering us all on. However, the finish itself was a bit of a let down. I didn't see any markers suggesting it was close and having finished in the race arena last year I expected at some point to be funneled in there. It was a bit of an anti-climax when I therefore realised I'd crossed the finishing line only because those in front of me started walking.
There was then a long walk to get water and sports drink, I had to ask for a medal as they weren't really forthcoming and was disappointed to see that it was not dated. Then there was a huge queue for t-shirts. I know that there were problems with the finshing area being crowded last year and access for ambulances, but the street was then totally crammed while people waited for around 15 minutes to get through the t-shirt area. A couple of folks had sat down in the midst of this and struggled to get back up, and I think there could have been real issues had someone amongst the crowd required assistance.
I got my t-shirt (Medium) but am aware that there were many others around me disappointed as they had run out of both small and large by the time I finished (4:19). The lads on the baggage buses were did a good job but could have done with more support. There was then a walk around to the reunion area which was well marked. Having experienced the shambles of the buses last year, we stayed in Musselburgh and found it was easy to walk home.
Once again, a potentially good race spoiled to some degree by the organisational glitches.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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