Old Deer Park Richmond 10KHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (131 votes). 2009 race reviewed by: Lucie parker 3
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
Date of review: November 9, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Penny Illston
| | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: hopeless organisation which spoilt a potentially fantastic race
Date of review: November 9, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Ash Mann
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Absolutely horrendous, bordering on dangerous, levels of organisation. Overpriced rubbish
In full: here is the email i sent to the 'organisers'
y girlfriend and I took part in the Richmond Old Deer Park 10k yesterday and I feel you seriously need to consider some of our feedback which echoes many similar comments I heard from people at the race. The level of organisation seemed worryingly lacking in the following areas:
Communication with runners at the start - if you are going to delay the start time then you need a way of effectively communicating this to ALL of the runners, standing around in not a lot of clothing for over an hour in the cold was not fun and, at the length we were made to wait, starting to border on insulting.
Number of toilets - you knew how many runners you were expecting, 6 or 7 toilets was never going to be enough.
Route - again, you knew how many runners to expect, the route was never going to be adequate for that volume of people and while it bordered the main road it was extremely unsafe with no marshals/markings people were forced to run in the road due to the sheer numbers trying to share the pavement along with all the other usual pavement-users.
Number of marshals - nowhere near enough, which exacerbated the unfit nature of the majority of the route
Water station - an actual joke, how did you expect one lass on her own, filling a cup at a time, to be able to deal with the number of runners wanting water.
Elements of the route were also made dangerous by the lack of planning, such as the switchback section of the course - unmarked and the single person footbridge - unmarshaled.
The finish - don't have a queuing area so short that the queue goes back over the finish line.
Tshirt - at least have some mention of the race on the tshirt, it seemed painfully obvious you just had a load of 'energized sports' shirts that needed shifting
It's a shame that a potentially good run was ruined by some oversights of the basics of organising a mass participation event that put all of the participants at risk.
My advice, steer clear of anything organised by Energized Sports, absolute joke.
Date of review: November 9, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Matt Nicholls 2
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Chaos at the finish line. not enough space between the line and tag removal.
Date of review: November 9, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Andrew Buchanan 4
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Rubbish orgnisation - do not waste your money
In full: I agree with most of the comments already made. The very fact i'm writing this for me indicates how strongly i feel about the shambolic way in which this race was organised.
Complete lack of communication from the race organisers. I arrived at 8am and was one of the first to register. After 20 minutes a mass of people arrived to register, and they kept coming. There simple were too few marshals or organisers to process this many people.
The website said the race registration would finish at 9am!! this was not adhered to! The race started late, again without announcement - absolutely ridiculous
The course itself was just fraught with danger, it was narrow and covered in leaves which had mulched. The one water stop (at 3.5 k and not 5k as advertised) had one, yes one!! person pouring water into cups from a bottle!! they just could not deal with the demand - it may as well not have been there at all.
I paid £17 for this race and heard that the price was reduce to £10 - ridiculous!!
Cheap and poorly organised race!!
I would advise NOT to book any race with these organisers.
Date of review: November 9, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Marlize Swanepoel
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Poorly organized and understaffed, though the staff were friendly enough.
Date of review: November 9, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Darren Flick
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Beginner-friendliness | | 20% |
In short: Cheap and poorly organised race!!
In full: I agree with most of the comments already made. The very fact i'm writing this for me indicates how strongly i feel about the shambolic way in which this race was organised.
The main criticism that i would make was lack of communication from the race organisers. They simply didn't speak to us and inform us of what was happening. I arrived at 8am and was one of the first to register. After 20 minutes a mass of people arrived to register, and they kept coming. There simple were too few marshals or organisers to process this many people.
The website said the race registration would finish at 9am!! this was not adhered to! The race started late, again without announcement.
The course itself was just fraught with danger, it was narrow and covered in leaves which had mulched. The one water stop (at 3.5 k and not 5k as advertised) had one, yes one!! person pouring water into cups from a bottle!! they just could not deal with the demand - it may as well not have been there at all.
I paid £14 for this race and heard that the price was reduce to £10 - ridiculous!! how could they do this? i was very annoyed.
Cheap and poorly organised race!! It was clear that the organisers were trying to save money wherever they could.
I would certainly advise NOT to book any race with these organisers.
Enjoy your running people. :-)
Date of review: November 8, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Michael Barrett 5
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 40% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 20% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Thanks guys, but not again
Date of review: November 8, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Dewi Wyn Morgan
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Shocking organisation...won't be back next year
Date of review: November 8, 2009
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2009 race reviewed by: Michael Lyne
| | Overall score | | 20% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: A group of mates came up with an idea one day in the pub...
In full: Without a doubt the worst organised race I've ever had the misfortune to participate in, in over 25 years of running. I'd agree with most of what has been said elsewhere in this section...the long queues, the non-existent information, the sudden haring off across the park by those who were lucky enough to be milling around at the start. I got there in plenty of time and wasn't delayed by the trains or lack of but I still ended up stripping and setting off without any real preparation because of the amout of time queueing for chips, loos etc. The first three or four K...busy road, side roads not closed or adequately marshalled mainly because there wasn't enough of them. 'Water station' around four K with a couple of ladies struggling to pour water into cups. And yet thousands of bottles were given out at the finish...why weren't they used on the course?? The bit beside the Thames is certainly picturesque but far too wet and slippery for a PB. The marshall on the turn was warning people to take care because of the treacherous underfoot conditions. The finish...I'm not entirely sure I've finished yet...did I get my foot on the mat or not? And then the cattle pen...as mentioned elsewhere, the best bit was the banana.
In short, couldn't organise the proverbial thingy in a brewery.
Date of review: November 8, 2009
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