Grand Union Canal Half Marathon  Here's how RW members rated this race (173 votes). 2011 race reviewed by: Sepang
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
Date of review: November 14, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Daniela Somerscales
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Interesting but hard work
In full: Beautiful scenery but don't run this for PB. It's narrow and the surface is tough. Still - a really nice race helpded by the glorious weather.
Date of review: November 14, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Alun Riley
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Not one for your PB, but a great fun, friendly race. Highly recommended.
Date of review: November 14, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Amandax
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: My first half. Lovely run helped by good weather
In full: One bottleneck just after start due to a gate . Maybe more than 2 waves might help. Also a few beware runners signs may have made it more obvious to non runners. Also a louder pa system, we struggled to hear. However plenty of marshals, good pre race info and nice medal. Would do again and try and better my time. Very scenic . Await photos !
Date of review: November 14, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: woody 40
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: point to pointless.
In full: sorry to to sound harsh guys, but this really wasn't for me, the pathways were far to narrow to pick up any reasonable momentum, actually started feeling sorry for the locals by half way , especially the grey haired old lady, out for a stroll in her best bib and tucker, clinging on to the sidings for dear life, and the poor lass who badly sprained her ankle, and had to wait for an age to get some medical attention. this along with the fisherman, dog walkers, cyclist's, trail walkers, leisure runners running the other way, oh plus the barge people, made this more of a sunday morning group training run that a race. lovely weather was a bonus,
Date of review: November 13, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: abeuseli
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Scenic route, narrow in places, well organised
Date of review: November 13, 2011
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2010 race reviewed by: Peter Loose
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
Date of review: February 21, 2011
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2010 race reviewed by: Chris Goldsmith
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Cold, muddy half-marathon but well worth it
In full: On the whole a good half-marathon. The point-to-point course down the canal keeps you interested however it does get tough under foot. The general organisation is good and the marshals are efficient and friendly.
The bag storage is terrible and seems to be a regular complaint of this event. If pre-numbered tags were supplied in the race kit it would cut down the queues at the start of the race. At the end of the race the baggage people only need to lay out the bags in piles 100-199 etc and that would have cut down on the melee at the back of the truck. The bag movers have a good one hour jump on the race group to get this sorted. Overall a good event with a challenging uphill finish and a nice medal.
Date of review: November 26, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Helen99
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Very scenic, good organisation. Thank you, marshalls. Too few loos at start and first mile very slow.
Date of review: November 20, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: La petite rosbif
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Nice run, crush in the first mile meant it wasn't a race
In full: I liked this race, the scenery was lovely, and the atmostphere was good. I didn't think it was that muddy at all, and the marshalls were brilliant.
On the flip-side, the start was total nonsense, spent the first mile repeatedly having to stop and walk because of the crush which kind of defeats the object of the race (Purple Patch - you're charging people to do a race right?). And the bag-drop was rubbish. Sort it out PP, its not rocket science.
Date of review: November 19, 2010
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