Staplehurst Carnival 'n Fete 10K  Here's how RW members rated this race (18 votes). | 1 to 10 of 18 ratings | Page: 1 2 |
| The big picture (18 votes) | | Overall score | | 80% | | How many would do it again? | | 94% | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 74% | | PB potential | | 83% | | Atmosphere | | 59% | | Organisation | | 71% | | Value | | 73% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 86% |
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2012 race reviewed by: Lee Clark 5
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Another Fine Race and Jaffa Cakes are Back! In full: Yay, the Jaffa cakes make a welcome return!
Well done again to Nice Work as this race is getting better year on year. Yet again a warm day but not nearly as warm as previous years. An extra lap of the playing field to add the missing 200m and make it to 10k plus running the rest of the course in reverse of previous years. Not sure which route I preferred and which route potentially gives a quicker time. This years route meant the only two up hills (very slight) were in the last 3km. If you've gone off too fast then that can hurt.
I was slightly surprised by the fact that cars were allowed to leave before the end of the race but as it is the only entrance to the field there wasn't much choice. Previous years have also seen cars driving down the finish which was on the housing estate road.
I was pleased to see a bigger field despite it meaning I dropped outside the top 50.
The Good - Flat course, bags of PB potential, very well organised, scenic, jaffa cakes and cereal bars at the finish.
The Not so Good - Only 1 water station (every other year there has been 1 which you pass twice), the cars having to go through the finish straight gate.
Almost perfect! Date of review: June 18, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Stuart Shaw 6
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Very fast race along quiet country roads In full: A great way to spend Sunday morning. Fast and flat in darling buds of may country. Only gripe, as mentioned in previous posts, cars were leaving through same gate that people were finishing which was a bit rude. Date of review: June 17, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Stuart George
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Nice flat race close to home In full: Fun race and good organisation.
One thing - stop people leaving in their cars when runners are still finishing, as they leave/arrive through the same gate. Date of review: June 17, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Carb loader
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Well done to Nice Work & everyone who helped to make the race go smoothly, it was friendly, easy to find, flat route so PB opportunity too. Liked medal & energy bars at the finish, plus Jaffa cakes! Date of review: June 17, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: SGB1953
 | | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Excellent race well done to Staplehurst Carnival/ Nice Work In full: Thanks to Staplehurst Carnival Committee and Nice Work for organising this excellent race. Thanks to the marshals for giving up their time so that we could all run the race.
I thought this was an excellent race, the countryside was good. Most of it was along roads which were shared with traffic, but most of the roads were not very busy and the cars seemed to cope well with the runners.
This is definitely a race for improving one's 10K personal best.
We missed the signs for the car parking in the field in which the start and finish took place. However we parked easily enough anyway. The race was well-marshalled, but there was little local support. Perhaps this will grow as the race grows.
This year 243 finished the race compared to 118 last year, which I guess speaks for the success of the race.
As to details of the distance and gross climb, according to my Garmin, these were 9.93km and 25m respectively. Thus the race is much flatter than the Larkfield 10K, which itself is very flat. Date of review: June 17, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Koos Verhagen
 | | 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: Great race, well organised, lovely weather, lots of wind... In full: I really enjoyed it. Like the grass finish/start so it is finally 10 k and not shorter. Very pleased with my time which is almost 4 minutes faster then last year. Nice medal. Will be back next year! Date of review: June 17, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: Barefoot Bazz
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Charming race thats very friendly In full: The only thing I would say is that the sinage to the field for parking and to the race HQ wasnt very good. BUT.... the marshals were great, organisers very friendly and the day was well worth the run. Very hot but on the whole, a charming race that is great for beginners and elite aalike! Date of review: June 17, 2012
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2012 race reviewed by: VITZUK
 | | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Small field; fast course; excellent organisation In full: Another well organised run by Nice Work. Small field but nice friendly atmosphere. Seemed to be dominated by club runners which isn't so intimidating anymore for me!
Course is mostly flat mostly along country lanes - there is a longish gradual incline between 6-7Km mark. There are also a couple of long downhills which balances things out. The heat made it a little challenging today but there were good periods of shade with tree lined lanes. 1 water station just after the 5Km mark.
Water, jaffa cakes and energy bars at the end which was a nice touch. Medal too.
My only gripe would be those leaving early while others are still finishing. The car park entrance/exit was along the last 40 metres of the course. I think Nice Work should apply the same rule it has for the Ashford 10Km race - you cannot leave until all runners have returned. Just a bit rude in my opinion. Or move the finish line?
I'll be back next year.
Date of review: June 17, 2012
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2011 race reviewed by: Lee Clark 5
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Still one of my favourites but where were the jaffa cakes? In full: New organisers, new time and a new day.
The car park could have been better signposted. Having raced the previous two years and having read the documentation I knew we could park on the field but when I got there I just found the field with the gate open and no cars. I was the first! Fortunately others quickly followed.
Last year we had bottles of water at the stations, it would have been nice to have these again espcially as the day started getting warm just as we set off. The last two years we were also given jaffa cakes at the end but this year there were none. :-(
Other than those minor gripes the organisation was good and the marshalls were great. One of the organisers very kindly carried my bag from HQ to the finish so I could grab it after the race. Thanks. The weather was cooler than the last years but it still started to get quite warm. For me however, this was a great race. I knocked 5 minutes off of last years time and because I didn't go off too quickly I managed to overtake a lot of people from 3k all the way to the end without getting passed myself. It's a great feeling.
Date of review: July 6, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Helen King 6
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% |
In short: Very well run and enjoyable race In full: I thought this was a very enjoyable race. There was a really friendly atmosphere and the marshalling was well done. The only critisism would be the directions to the carpark were a bit limited from the main road, other than that, it was faultless. Well spaced out water stations, nice medal (with the year on, which makes a nice change!) and well signed course. The route is predominently flat, enabling a good time. I would definitely do it again next year. Date of review: June 27, 2011
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