Nike Milton Keynes Half MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (558 votes). 2010 race reviewed by: Apostolos Michalas
 | | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Poor organisation
In full: Too crowded at the start, few water stations, no other drinks available (i.e. isotonics). The baggage section was appalingly disorganised, felt sorry for the stewards, not their fault, but to wait over an hour to collect my bag, with sore legs was appaling! I won't be back!
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Lynn Allen
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Reasonable course but organistion at the start let the race down.
In full: Second time of running the Nike MK Half (first time from the OU). The only thing which was better today was probably the parking and the ease of getting away after the event.
The lack of organisation at the start was not good. Don't know why the 10K had to start in front of the Half when they were caught very quickly by the faster runners doing the Half, and even some of the slower ones like myself. Also why go to the trouble of asking for peoples approximate finish times when you don't use them to sort people at the start. All it takes is a few boards being held up with times on!!!
The lack of anything to eat at the end and with just a bottle of water at the finish, not what you would expect from a race of this size.
Also needed more people on the water stations as they didn't seem to be coping with the volume of people passing through at times.
Shame that a big organisation like Nike can't get this right.
On a positive note, the marshalls were encouraging and a big thanks to them.
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Jane Foster 2
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: A good route but let down by poor signage and no snacks at the end. Not sure what the fee went on.
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Nick Turner-Henke
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 20% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Baggage Fiasco ruined it
In full: Course was good butnotthat flat-alotof short ups and downs under roads.
Organisation poor. Took 35mins to drop of baggage so got to the start with a minute to spare. No goodybag - not even a banana or energy drink. Baggage pick up a joke - waited 20 mins then had to take my wife back to the car to get some food before she fainted to return 1hr later to pick our bags up .
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Graham Blackburn
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Good PB potential but let down by bad orginisation
In full: I'll start with the good points
Good fast course with great PB potential, good race pack giving full details, there were ample toilets onc I found them, I thought the marshalling was good but in a few places runners were left to dodge the traffic.
Unfortunately this was let down by the woeful baggage deposit and collection. What was taking so long? Having to wait up to an hour or more is just unacceptable.
The start was not staggered and was completely fenced off making it difficult to start somewhere near where I thought I should without jumping over a barrier.
On finishing I was given a medal and bottle of water, where was the sports drink, chocolate bar and banana?
Lastly Im not sure what Nke did other than put their name to this event.
I think next year I'll try Silverstone
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Tenjiso
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Improving
In full: I preferred the new start location as there was less bunching at the beginning of the race than last year. However, it seems such a simple thing to add signs with approximate finishing times at the start to help stop slower runners from starting too far near the front.
Being able to park so near the start meant that I had no need to use the baggage area. There were absolutely no hold-ups for me getting to and from the parking.
The course was mostly flat, with some scenic and some boring parts. The hilly part at the end was mentioned in the race pack, so it came as no surprise.
A couple of the water stations could have done with more help. One of them had only two guys on it, and they were struggling to keep up. The water stations were better positioned this year (last year I nearly got knocked flying by people who ran back to a station they had missed).
The marshalling and support was an improvement on last year. There was never any doubt which way to go around the paths.
I live quite close to MK, otherwise I would not be happy at the lack of shower facilities.
Overall, it was a great day to be running and I enjoyed this event. I will certainly return.
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: JMW21
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | No | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Great potential, real shame about the organisation
In full: Good parking, but the baggage handling really ruined this race. If I'd been able to get my own bag I wouldn't have minded so much not getting a goody bag of any description at the finish, but standing in a queue with nothing to eat or drink other than a small bottle of water for 90 minutes after the end of the race really rubbed it in. I did this race as prep for a marathon and won't be doing it again.
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Sean1504
| | Overall score | | 40% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Quick course but hopeless organisation...
In full: The course is quick (I got a pb) but the organisation was hopeless. For a start the queue to drop baggage off was long, to pick baggage up was even worse with some people waiting more than an hour. The one toilet available to people in the XScape centre also had an enormous queue and there was no communication to these people that there was alternative toilets outside. The 10k race started before the half marathon (not necessarily a bad thing) but the 10k start was ahead of the half marathon one. There was no signs to indicate that there was two separate starting points just announcements on the tannoy that I gather some people couldn't hear. There was no predicted time boards up at the start either, I got to the front but I can imagine there was quite a lot of people getting held up further back. The start was completely fenced in with no gaps for runners meaning hopping the fences was a must if you didn't want to start right at the back. The race was generally well marshalled/signed but I felt the point that the 10k runners split off from the half route should have been more clearly signposted, I can imagine some people went wrong. Lack of food of any description at the finish was stingy, a banana or a granola bar doesn't cost much and the medal looked cheap as well. I would do this again as it's a quick course but if the organisation was improved this could be a really good race.
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Emily Adams 3
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Good event, good facilites before and after and parking was no problem.
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Tags
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: What a shame - great PB potential (which I did), terrible organisation...
In full: I am only echoing the other runners so wont post lots of detail but basically I was so disappointed as I actually knocked 6.5 mins off my PB and its a good course.
The organisation really let it down - I expected more of Nike...
Terrible, terrible baggage facilities (at one point I thought it would take me longer to get my bag back than it took me to run a half marathon - in the end it was 70 mins)
Poor marshalling - guys, try to help us round rather than chat to each other, its only a couple of hours out of your life.
Bad start - poor signage, no idea where to get into the pen (we moved a barrier to achieve it), incomprehensible PA, and mix of distances all starting at the same time.
Refreshments - for a race with big ambition and a huge corporate sponsor, where were the sports drinks on the course and nothing to eat at the end. As I could not get to my bag for food or money I was so hungry after the run. Where were the granola bars, etc. that even smaller runs can manage to source?
Poor, poor, poor, MK / Nike.
I will probably be back as its a local course and it is a fast one too. But they HAVE to sort out the organisation for next year. Pull your socks up!
Date of review: March 7, 2010
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