Larking Gowen City of Norwich Half Marathon  Here's how RW members rated this race (267 votes). | The big picture (267 votes) | | Overall score | | 81% | | How many would do it again? | | 92% | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 70% | | PB potential | | 73% | | Atmosphere | | 70% | | Organisation | | 78% | | Value | | 74% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 78% |
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2011 race reviewed by: RyanN
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Nice run, well organised, good atmosphere, happy days!
Date of review: May 17, 2013
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2012 race reviewed by: @KeyserSuze
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 40% |
In short: Home town half marathon
In full: Very windy as it's two laps of open fields.
Lovely atmosphere, perhaps as it's a home run for me and I was able to spot lots of friendly faces along the way.
The medal is worth having and the goody bag is the best I've seen in 8 half marathons - water, banana, energy drink, crisps, mars bar and I believe, a nutrigrain type bar as well.
Date of review: February 18, 2013
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2012 race reviewed by: Emma Blake
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Fantastically organised
Date of review: January 4, 2013
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2012 race reviewed by: Jonathan Thetford
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: An excellent Half Marathon
In full: This is the 5th time in as many years that I have run this race and it will always be a permanent fixture for me as long I and the race keep going! Conditions this year made it difficult for runners to obtain a PB, although it is potentially a PB course. Excellent marshalling, car parking and toilets all very good. Great medal, one of the best bespoke I've had, although all of the medals from running this race have been very good. Goody bag, packed with crisps, bars, drinks and no unwanted bits of rubbish which I have received in other goody bags over the years which go straight into the recycling. Well done and thankyou to all of the people who make this race a very special event in Norfolk Road Racing calendar. Look forward to November 2013!
Date of review: November 30, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Ipswich Runner
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Excellent organisation makes a great event
In full: CONAC have a well deserved reputation for organising top quality events. I am a race director so appreciate all the work they put in to staging a first class race. This year was tough due to the very strong winds. It is a very good event and runs like clock work despite having an entry of 3000. I race most weekends and would say that its one of the best organised races I have done. The Trowse 10k in April is of a similar standard.
Date of review: November 29, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Sophie Boden
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Great race -- not to be missed!
In full: Considering this race is organised by a running club they do a fantastic job so well done to CONAC. I suspect those moaning about a gate not being unlocked have probably never been involved with race organisation themselves.
Everything went very smoothly and an excellent goody bag and medal at the finish. Will be back next year.
Date of review: November 29, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Alan Reynolds
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Good, though some room for improvement. Very windy!
In full: The organisers have had no luck with the weather - postponed in 2010 due to ice, howling gales in 2011 and even windier this time around. However, they've done a pretty good job with the organisation of this event.
There were a couple of irritations though. The showground gate nearest the Premier Inn was locked again (seemingly just for the event), necessitating a fairly lengthy diversion. While I was prepared for this after last year, a warning to first timers would be useful. (Last year, we had to run to the start!)
The lineup at the start was very busy and it was difficult to see the 'estimated time' signs to work out where to line up - I had to jump and I am six foot. Making the signs a little taller (and perhaps further apart) would help. The result was a somewhat congested start, with runners of different abilities more mixed up than usual.
Having said that, I still found it an enjoyable race, despite the atrocious wind. After the rather chunky medals of the last two years, this year's was great - perhaps the best of my collection. I expect to enter a fourth (and maybe fifth and sixth) time!
Date of review: November 29, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: BethR
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: A well organised and overall enjoyable race - even with the wind!
Date of review: November 28, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Rod Barrett
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Even windier than 2011 (making it tough) but sunshine & no rain a bonus!
In full: I have run Norwich 3 times and this was my slowest and toughest in the gusty, high winds. Two hours before the race, though, it was also raining and skies were grey - so sun was a bonus. Nice support, given the weather, and friendly feel to the occasion. My gripe, as last year, was that gates to the Showground shown on the race diagram were not all open so I had a long trek from hotel to start. I'm an old charity runner, drawn back for family reasons, and as long as I am still running, I will probably be back again in 2013.
Date of review: November 27, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Jamie Russell
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Excellent race, wind was ridiculous
In full: Good friendly race. Course was flat and scenic. The wind was crazy and made the race challenging in places. Definate PB potential in the right conditions.
Date of review: November 27, 2012
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