The Nike+ Human Race 10KHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (156 votes). 2008 race reviewed by: 206751
 | | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: This was a concert not a race
In full: Good points - I actually quite like running in the rain and the thunderstorm was fairly dramatic
Bad points - Having to go to Nike Town to pick up the T-shirt & chip (Why not post them?), Having to wait standing up for an hour and a half in the cold for the race while being bombarded with music that I didn't like , my feet aching before the race even began, not having signs for the exit to the tube after the race
Notice that everything Nike had control of fits neatly into the BAD points!
Date of review: September 2, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: peteram101
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: So much potential, but a let-down
In full: I was really looking forward to this, and I actually really enjoyed myself but it could have been so much better. OK, so Nike couldn't control the weather, but the timing and the length of the pre-race concert were not helpful if you wanted to treat this race as a chance to get a PB. It was too dark, the running areas too narrow in places and the setting (apart from the stadium itself) was dreadful.
I don't run for medals, but was pleased with the t-shirts. I run for the enjoyment it gives me and felt great afterwards. I didn't get my PB, but was happy enough with my time. I'll choose more selectively if I want to feel I'm in a more competitive faster paced race. I would do another Nike race, but only if the course is much better and it's held earlier in the day!
Date of review: September 2, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: John66
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: All been said
Date of review: September 2, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: Paul du Buf
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Special race
In full: Loved the wembley stadium, loved the world connection which made the race more then just a race.
Date of review: September 2, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: Luddy
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: rubbish
In full: it's all been said ... rubbish rubbish. Hope they won't do it again!
Date of review: September 1, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: Stuart Walters
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: My First Race! It was Amazing
In full: Ok, total novice to this, but loved the whole experience. What a way to start running - I'm definatly doing this again. Pendulum were great and uplifting, I had my time text and emailed to me, we got two free shirts, ok, Moby was shit, and there was a lot of waiting around, but still, it was Wembley stadium, we raced the world, ok, it wasn't the best of scenery, but hey, we ran as a city, together.
Date of review: September 1, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: eoinymc
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 20% |
In short: Rubbish..absolutely Rubbish...
In full: Wellll....where to start...
I am reading all these bad reviews of the race (and the odd good one!), but I believe the general consensus is that it was fairly poor!
Here is my story...
My girlfriend and I turned up at 5pm, thinking to ourselves, 'The first wave will be off at 6pm, since, I'm in wave 4, I'll be out of here at 7pm and back home by 8.30pm'....and we all know how that turned out! The security guard gave us our first view of the start times...8.40pm (so, fair play to them for getting us out at 8.30!!)
Anyway, sitting there for over 3 hours waiting and watching pure rubbish in pendulum and Moby. (We weren't there to run, not listen to music!). It would have been fine if they were there to help us around, or there at the end...but hold us in the stadium for nearly 2 hours!
Then, they won't let us stay in our seats until we go...we have to stand on the pitch while they clean the seats! (They could have had the stadium cleaned by then if they started at 2pm!)
So, then eventually we get going...and 500m into the race...straight outside the stadium in the pitch black car park, I run into a pothole and that is my race over!
So now, I'm sitting here with my ankle over my head and probably not able to run either the Dublin or Amsterdam marathons that I had planned to do!
So, nike, if you're reading...why in the hell did you make everyone run around horrible unlit industrial estates and car parks at night when we live in one of the most scenic and beautiful cities in the world? I await your reply...
Yours sincerely,
Eoin!
Date of review: September 1, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: Big Dave Barnet
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: A huge let down
In full: What a shame. With the Oylmpics finished in Beijing, and London being the host city, and this being the first mass event Nike could have really done something special... This could have been the showcase on the day.
But no...Charge a fortune for a run around an industrial estate. Im lucky, living and working in London, quick hop on the tube to collect the T Shirts, chips etc...why cant these be posted, like every other race ive entered. The wait before the race ....cant add what to others have already said...totally pointless, however why stand on the pitch....I just went and sat in the stands ( bored) and then went onto the pitch at about 7.00...and yes I was in wave 1.
Can anyone confirm the distance?? After two weeks in Spain on an all inclusive I thought I would be slower than usual..but it seems the course was longer than 10k. Would explain the extra couple of mins..
Anyway...bored now thinking of was to say. If I worken for Nike organising this I would read these reviews and hang my head in shame...is this the lowest score this year?
Roll on Great Nt Run.
Date of review: September 1, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: Stormforce
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 20% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Waiting for God-knows
In full: I was quite looking forward to this one, loved the concept of cities racing against each other. All that paled into insignificance after the terrible long wait; about 3 hours to start for Wave 4. To add insult to injury we were forced into a rainy pitch to stand there enduring a third warm up after Wave 3 had well cleared the start, and all so they could start shutting the seating areas. Ironically as soon as we started running the rain stopped, sadly we were wet through anyway by then.
I didn't mind the idea of the concert, though I reckon there was only about 30 mins worth of 'bands' over a very drawn out hour and a half, but I think the real point here is most people turn up at a 10k to RUN a 10k, and certainly not at the expense of such a late start in the name of so-called entertainment. Would agree an earlier start and post race party, where spectators could have mingled with runners, would have been better.
Found the dark wet industrial estates depressing, and as a novice runner found the gradients along the route a challenge, finishing 2 mins behind my PB. Having said that, starting the race fed up and hungry, I was pleased just to have managed to get round in one go. My own personal achievement was not to give in to the many many walkers around despite being exhausted. An extra water-station would have helped, having only ever seen the one all route.
Needless to say, finishing in Wave 4 meant a lack of T-shirt sizes available.
In short, not well thought out for runners; frustrating waiting at the start, chaos at the end to collect water and tees. Still, thanks to the other runners who seemed equally dismayed but as determined to 'just do it' I'm still glad I did it. Whether I would do it again will depend on how next year's is organised...
Date of review: September 1, 2008
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2008 race reviewed by: Matthew Neal
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% |
In short: A confusing concept in parts but with potential
In full: The idea of having a live performance before the run was good in theory but it failed in trying to provide a concert atmosphere with too few people who were there first as runners on a day when the weather certainly didn't recommend hanging around. Clearly a lot or organisation had gone into the event- the baggage area was well staffed and was a straight-foward process and the area around the stadium had plenty of signs. Once in the stadium there was a lot of waiting around and while it was sensible to divide up the participants into waves, having some people on the pitch next to the stage and some in the seating made it difficult to create an atmosphere with everyone involved. After waiting so long to run it was a relief to finally get going and it was definitely different from the average run to start in such a spectacular setting. However, by the time the wave I was in was started, it was already well dark inside which highlighted all the more that this was a 10k that was different to other runs out there. The course itself wasn't bad and it was clear that it had been thought out beforehand, keeping you close to the stadium a lot of the time, making the most of the location. However, considering that the event was made out to be so big by Nike, it could have been set closer to central London to make the most of the city. The course itself has the potential to set a pb except that there were so many runners that it didn't really open up enough to run a good time until some distance into the race when you would expect the field to separate out anyway- this was helped though by a generally more wider course. Spectator support was also noticeably lacking given that it was set so late on a sunday, confined to limited areas.
Overall: trying to force a run and a concert type event together didn't completely work but being able to run out of wembley stadium was a good touch. Maybe we should cut Nike some slack, it was a big event and the first time it's been done- so hopefully if it comes back next year those problems will be gone.
Date of review: September 1, 2008
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