Edinburgh MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race (1467 votes). 2011 race reviewed by: Heather Fox
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Not really an Edinburgh Marathon, more East Lothian, can have very strong head winds, but generally flat
In full: personally I feel that this should be called the East Lothian Marathon, as it starts on the edge of the Capital City Centre, you don't really get to appreciate any of the sights of Edinburgh. The course is pretty much flat with minor inclines. The route takes you along the coastal road, past Mussleburgh, then you turn around and run back to Mussleburgh. Unfortunately this year we experienced very strong head winds from about mile 21 to 24... which is fairly demoralising when you are already shattered. The Admin of getting a goodie bag, own luggage and then trying to get back into Edinburgh needs to be assessed. There were long queues for the buses and trains, of which there was only 1 train an hour. Perhaps a finish line nearer to the city centre, and an alteration of the route to incorporate Edinburgh would be better. The T shirt and Medal were great though.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: No More Nails
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: The organisers Need to learn from their mistakes. There were a few too many post race but the run itself was ok
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Antony Overstall 2
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: My memory of this will always be the finish
In full: The start was good, the course was nice, there were enough water stations and then I finished....
We had to queue for about 5-10 mins to get the generic t-shirt and goody bag (although we weren't sure what we were queuing for!). It is actually quite dangerous to stand still after a long period of exercise. The medal and t-shirt appeared generic to any of the races over the weekend - saves costs.
Then we walked down to the "reunion" area and the first thing to come in to my head when I saw the mass of people rammed up behind barriers was "Hillsborough".
We then had to walk about a mile to get to the buses. I had paid £3.50 for my bus ride home for them not to check the tickets. I would have actually expected them to provide the buses for free and they apparently were, but just charging people who were gullible enough to buy their tickets in advance.
If you were to organise a marathon where your one aim was to make as much profit as possible with quite a large disregard for the runners welfare then Edinburgh Marathon would be the result.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Robert McArdle
| | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: If you want to race a marathon then this is a good event, less so for a day out
In full: I think a lot of the criticism is a bit harsh, the start was well organised and the time pens seemed to work as I was running with others at my pace almost immediately which is my biggest gripe with big city races. The running round traffic cones twice wasn't ideal but apart from that it was a fair and testing course. I am sure if even half the points raise on this forum are addressed it will be an excellent race next year for all the runners not just those who get round before it gets too crowded.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Richard Cookson 4
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: so disappointed and let down-wish I hadn't bothered!
In full: I wont go on too much about this as previous comments echo my thoughts but I have noticed below that people are saying that they didnt have t-shirts in their size left. When I finished there were no marathon t-shirts at all and was told they had run out over an hour ago.
I trained for a year and travelled 300 miles to participate in this race and cant tell you how upset I am to not have the memento I paid for and worked so hard for.
The end was so disappointing-i was so glad my partner made the decision to watch the race several miles from the finish as otherwise he would not have been able to see me near the end at all. It was an absolute joke and noone even bothered to say 'well done'.
My running friends all told me how amazing i would feel after completing my first marathon and, because of the poor organisation and lack of thought put into this event, I felt miserable. Had it not been for the wonderful support of my partner, I would have had the worse day imaginable.
Sophie Smith
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: DWM
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Finish line was a disgrace. Told no spectators at the line and big screen not working. Won't go back to this shambles!
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Richard Stanley
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Fantastic smooth running start, frequent well organised water / energy stops, good scenery, flat and fast - beat my last time by 13 mins, so can't be bad! End was OK, a fair walk to the buses but a not unwelcome 'warm down' - I enjoyed it!
In full: I understand some of the comments about the finish, but do wonder whether a bit of negative momentum is building up - are some being a little harsh? I could easily do this again.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: L-Cs
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Half Marathon seemed to go down much better- I think!!
In full: Having read most of the comments here, I think the organisers were suffering from the aftermath of the half marathon which started a couple of hours before. I didn't experience any great problems in terms of organisation (and I've run a fair few halfs before). However the finish line was a total shambles. Having dragged my poor family up with me from London and then out of bed at 6 on the actual morning, i did expect for them to be able to see me en-route. However they couldn't get anywhere near the finish. the screen in the reunion area didn't work and as a result it was like that got the shuttle bus to the finish for nothing. The shuttles back took about 15 mins to wait for, which I didn't find too bad and i quite enjoyed the ride taking in sone of the scenery. However it was a very disappointing end to a race I'd been looking forward to for months. I'd never been to Scotland before and thought this would be a fantastic end to an otherwise very positive experience. Such a shame.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Alex2405
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: The race had good potential but was let down by bad organisation and lack of attention to detail.
In full: Edinburgh Marathon promised so much but delivered so little.
To be fair the race itself was fine. The fuel stations were well managed and the local support was great.
However, the finish was hurrendous.... My family were told they could not go to the finishing straight to cheer me on, even though there was hardly anyone there. After the finish line there was about a 1.5 mile walk to the meeting area, which was so badly signed that I ended up waiting for 40 minutes next to a road, thinking that was the area (not what I needed).
My main complaint was the lack of attention to detail; in my opinion when someone completes a marathon they should be rewarded (especially when the entry fee in £44). But at the finish we all got a genereic 'Edinburgh Marathon Festival' t-shirt, and a generic EMF medal which said 'marathon' on the bottom. My family ran the 10K on the saturday and recieved the same gear (but the medal said 10k, 5k and Junior). It seems like they got a 'job lot' to save on costs.
Very dissapointing.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Jane Tesseyman
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Demoralising and badly organised
In full: After finishing my first half marathon last year (Great North Run) and feeling totally elated I vowed I wanted to do a marathon! Everyone expected that to wear of with the adrenaline! I didn't get a place for London so opted for Edinburgh on a suggestion from the running shop. I didn't check out the course before entering and was concerned about running back on myself and the lack of hills! It is extremely flat (I train on hils and don't enjoy the flat) and extremely demoraslising to watch the front runners and lead clock go past before you've even reached half way! Then you have the opposite when you turn and come back all the poor folk struggling to bring up the rear and knowing how bad they feel seeing you pass.
At the end there was nowhere for spectators to be near the finish - you could watch on the big screen in the reunion area across a main road from the finish. There was no-one to check the runners were ok - and the t-shirt, medal & goody bag section was more like concert touts selling rip off merchandise - which once you realised that neither the t-shirt nor the medal has the date on it felt closer to the truth! What a sad and upsetting end to my first marathon! Buck your ideas up EMF this could and should have be a top event.
Date of review: May 24, 2011
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