Events

Overall score		20%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		20%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		20%
Organisation		20%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: I've thrown my trainers away
In full: Nike Organisation - your a disgrace. I've thrown all my Nike gear away and you've lost forever a ex-loyal customer of 10 years. Addidas for me from now on. Thanks for NOTHING !
Date of review: September 5, 2008

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Overall score		20%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		40%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		40%
Organisation		20%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Abolutely hopeless waste of time & money.
In full: I've done three Nike Runs before, the first in Richmond Park was really badly organised, late start, not enough transport. The second North V South redeemed it enough for me to Race The World. What they didn't tell you when you signed up was that it was in the evening. I didn't find out until collecting my "Race Pack" which consisted of a couple of vouchers & a hideous red shirt & the girl in Niketown is telling me to be in the stadium by 6 & I'm thinking 6am, that's an early start so I checked in the race pack for more info only there wasn't any. So I asked & was informed that it was evening & they were "hoping" to get us off by about 7pm. I just knew that wouldn't happen !
This left us with a problem with eating, we had a large pasta luch before leaving home at 3pm to get there & ate bananas & cereal bars all afternoon but buy the time we eventually set off at 8.10pm we were hungry again & had left everything in the bag tent 3 hours early so had no cash to buy anything. Husband & I were in wave 3 so thankfully got a seat for the two & a half hour wait before we got off on the pouring rain, waves 1 & 2 were left standing with a rushed warm up & a late start where we tried to squeeze 10,000 people through a tunnel wide enough for about 6-8 people, with a sharp turn at the end, needleless to say it took a while. And then we were out in to the dark, with very poor lighting once you got away from the stadium, huge puddles on a very tight twisty course where people stopped suddenly or darted sideways making it rather treacherous to say the least. Everyone's dressed in red & it's dark so keeping track of where my husband was, was very difficult. When you got to the finish, you were herded up a ramp to collect a t-shirt but by wave three there were hardly any left partly because they were being handed out in handfuls to some people, so my husband ended up with an XL which I now have to make a lot smaller to fit. So what exactly did our £30 go towards, only £3 went to charity but what did we get for the rest ?No medals, no goody bags, no fun, no chance I'm doing it again !
Date of review: September 5, 2008

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Overall score		20%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		20%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		60%
Value		40%
Beginner-friendliness		20%

In short: Worst Nike Race I've ever done
In full: I've run all the other London Nike races and they were fab! Why didn't they ask us runners what we wanted? We want a race in the morning, where we have a nice quick warm up beforehand, set off straight away, (no concert required), nice scenery, huge crowd to cheer us on, medal at the end, and goody bag with some calories in it. This race had none of these. Nike, you have let us down! Can you sack whoever had this new 'bright idea' and go back to the winning formula you used to have? Thankyou.
Date of review: September 5, 2008

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		Maybe
Details:
Scenery		20%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		20%
Value		40%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Only 10% went to Charity
In full: I hate to shatter the one comforting aspect - i.e. that the charities got £30 of our hard earned money, but if you look closely at the race info (what little there was) it indicated that a mere 10% went to charity.
Date of review: September 5, 2008

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Overall score		60%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		20%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		20%
Organisation		40%
Value		60%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Other Nike runs i have done in the past have been brilliant.Could have done without the run to Ikea and back
Date of review: September 5, 2008

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Overall score		20%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		20%
PB potential		20%
Atmosphere		20%
Organisation		20%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		100%

In short: Rubbish
In full: Well where do I start?! I had my reservations before running but this event has backed up what I already thought about Nike. They dont have a clue about running or runners. I had to bring a bag with me but had to hand it in before i entered the stadium, therefore i had to throw away a perfectly good jacket in the stadium. (I hope they do actualy recycle them) There was too much standing around, I really felt for other waves (I was in wave 1) they had to hang around for ages. The waves should have been done for predicted times as the course was just too narrow and twisted. They had timing devices out on the course but i had no idea why they put them there as they didnt even print split times on the website. The course wasnt inspiring at all ion fact it was dangerous in my opinion. I dont mind not having a medal but i do mind being told we would get one but recieving one. The only saving grace was that i spent £30 for my chosen charity which was headed by lance armstrong. I hope new runners who ran or indeed reading these comments will not be put off by running. Try running some smaller 10k races with around 300+ runners. the atmosphere is better, marshalls are just as good and it is alot more relaxed!
Compare this event to the london marathon and there is no comparison, the marathon is a more enjoyable experience.
Date of review: September 4, 2008

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		20%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		80%
Value		40%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: What's with all the 'Run for London' pitch?
In full: Unlike many people here, I don't think organization was that bad. I think it was quite good, actually - execution-wise. Yes, the course was hideous... BUT - if you want to start and finish in Wembley stadium, what are the choices? Yes, the wait was a bit too long and so was the concert... BUT the tees were indeed very nice, and the guest speakers did make it feel a bit special...
What really hacked me off though was organizing the start waves on the first come first serve basis! I mean, if you want to organize a fun run, fair enough, but then why prep people up with all the 'You're running for London... run as fast as you can' talk? I'm pretty sure the average time would've been a whole lot better if the waves had been based on people's expected finishing times! I have no problem with beginners enjoying a run at their own pace, I just don't want to be stuck behind them for 7K!!!
Date of review: September 4, 2008

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		Maybe
Details:
Scenery		20%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		40%
Organisation		40%
Value		40%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Not brilliant organization this year. Why were we made to stand for so long in the rain before we ran?! And where were the medals?!!!
In full: This was the 4th Nike 10K that I've done & I was rather disappointed with the organization this time round. I wasn't really bothered either way about the pre-race concert (I quite enjoyed Moby), but was really fed up that as I was in Wave 2, we were made to stand in the middle of the stadium for nearly 3 hours before the race started. (I'd got into the stadium at about 4.55 and didn't run til 7.50!) My friend & I did go back out to by the food kiosks & have a cuppa (& a donut!) & sat on the floor out there for a bit, but it was far from ideal race preparation! In fact by the time we started, I had totally lost any enthusiasm for doing the run at all, as had my friend. The heavens opened just as we were about to start, & it p***ed it down for the first 4-5K, which was pretty miserable. Thought the course was really boring & uninspiring - running round an industrial estate in the rain & the dark on a Sunday night is not my idea of fun! - & it was a lot hillier than I'd expected. I thought some of the marshalls out on the course did sterling work in their support - especially the very cheerful chap by the Tesco petrol station! (Thank you, if you're reading this!) However, thought the staffing at the stadium & in the finish area was very poor - felt like we were being herded around like sheep all evening! The stadium staff just seemed to be totally hacked off with being there, and fed up with the Nike staff, & it felt like we runners bore the brunt of that! They were trying to kick us out of the Arena while we were trying to put on dry clothes & have a drink, and yet folk from waves 3 & 4 would still have been running! And where were our medals? Thought the long sleeved t-shirts at the finish were fab, and was VERY glad to have something dry to put on! (How come some people also had a different red short sleeved t? Damn, I missed those!) (And "there will be limited bagage storage facilities"... HELLO - they had Wembley bloody Arena!!!!) Not a PB worthy experience! I DID think the stadium was fab though - and the glimpses of it you got during the race were amazing. It was nice having loads of loos before & after. I also liked the few glimpses you got of the sea of red-clad runners looked really cool. Nike need to iron out some of these problems if they put on a 10K next year!
Date of review: September 4, 2008

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		80%
Value		60%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Munich Human Race was Awesome
In full: I ran the Human Race in Munich. It was brilliantly organised - the kit storage was in the main Olympic Basketball halls from the 72 Olympics. The race was well marshalled and there were thousands of spectators around the course. Best of all, the course started in the Olympic park and yes, you've guessed it, it finished in the Olympic Stadium, in just the same way the Marathon would have done in 72 - under the grandstand and out onto the track - a once in a lifetime experince for a none elite runner! :-)
Date of review: September 4, 2008

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Overall score		60%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		40%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		40%
Organisation		60%
Value		40%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Paris Human Race - sounds better than the London one!
In full: I didn't actually do the race, but I watched the one in Paris. I found it bizarrely small and low-key, which was maybe down to the price. The T-shirts looked good, but I would have felt hot running in that rather than a vest. The weather was pretty warm in Paris, but there were still only a couple of hundred spectators for 5000 runners, and literally no-one was clapping when the winner came in until I started doing so and they took my lead! The course was probably a bit prettier than London as it was in a park, but no more interesting, covering as it did zero Paris landmarks. The concert in Paris (Kelly Rowland and some French bands) was after the race, though, so it seems unfair that the people in London were forced to sit through one beforehand. Goody bags looked good, they were from Starbucks and had muffins in amongst other stuff.
Date of review: September 4, 2008

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