The Brighton MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (322 votes). 2010 race reviewed by: adrian fell
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Not flat! In full: Just finished in 3:42:36, a reasonable PB for me, previous was 3:58-ish. However that was 9 years ago the last time I ran a marathon & I prepared much more this time.
Conditions were both good & bad: Good - absolutely still, no wind whatsoever, something of a coup for Brighton! Bad (from a running perspective) blazing sun the whole way & although the temp never got particularly high it felt a lot higher! To put it in perspective, I don't need to drink much, my last 23m training run I never needed to drink at all, however today I got through TEN bottles of water! & one Powerade!
On the video of the course it's described as "dead flat" from 12m onwards. I don't know why they say that, it certainly isn't, there were still some 1m+ long climbs & although they weren't megasteep they were plenty difficult enough once you've done 18+ miles. Flat compared to something run entirely on hills - yes. Flat compared to something actually flat - no.
Minor niggles: Need more toilets! I turned up at 8.00am, immediately joined one of the toilet queues & reached the front of it at 8:58am. Not an indeal prep, I would have liked to have been sitting on the floor stretching rather than standing anxiously in a queue for an hour. Then the race start was delayed for 15 minutes, which we were told was whilst they made final checks to the course (?!) which heightened the nerves considerably. Finally the layout at the end meant a VERY long walk to get back to (in my case) the pier with no way of circumventing it that I could find. But for a first attempt at staging such a big event those were not to bad (apart from the toilet one - deffo need more next time - & stop non-runners using them, half the queue I was in was people who weren't even running!!)
Atmosphere was excellet as you'd expect from Brighton, lots of the course was rammed with cheering fans. Lots of drink stations & also powerade, gels etc. Also a very good atmosphere between the runners themselves which isn't always the case..!
Overall very glad I did it. Date of review: April 18, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Nick Kirby
 | | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Briliant organisation, a great course and fantastic support. Perfect! In full: The guys at the Brighton Marathon should be extremely happy as this event, for me at least, was a total dream. The park at the start was very well organised, plenty of room and the corral system worked a treat. There was a 15 minute delay at the start but that was because there was an obstruction on the course, so the organisers acted properly in dlaying the start. And they did notify runners what was happening.
The course really showed off Brighton and Hove (excpet for the industrial estate of course) and the support was amazing. Brighton really did turn out to cheer the runners along.
Once over the finish line, the goody bags, medals and other bits were very well organised. And might I say, a great medal and a great t-shirt.
I really can't fault this race in any way - well done to the organisers for pulling off such a great event. Date of review: April 18, 2010
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