2011 race reviewed by: Ash Carden
 | | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Very good, but why not make it a little better?
In full: I went into this race feeling it would be a flat path around a lake, within 1K I realised this was not the case! Could have benefitted from another water stop, perhaps at 4k and 7k? In the hot sun there was little respite for the runners, a number of which could have benefitted. Also, I think running the course in reverse order would have prevented a slow, kettling start across a narrow bridge, this would have been a good mechanism for a finish, with the finish, being a nice open wide area to use as the start (albeit around half a mile away from the car area). One other slight matter, it was a shame that there are very few 5 or 10k races in the Colchester area, the Alton Water 10k race was advertised, with me and some freinds booking it, only to find that the Colchester 10k was released four days later on the same day... perhaps the organisers should liaise with each other to spread them out a little,(rotary club organised I believe) I would have been happy to do both, instead, I fear that some of the Alton Water runners DNS because they went for the undersubscribed Colchester 10K race to get a PB, or better position.(only around 200 runners in Colchester 10K, so didn't benefit the charity as much as it could..) I would have race both if they were a week apart. This isn't really a criticism, just something to consider because there are hardly any 10k races in the area, then (like buses!) we get two.
Thanks for a well organised race in a great setting.
Date of review: May 9, 2011
|
denotes Subscriber-only content | 
