Bedford Clanger MarathonHere's how RW members rated this race in the past (10 votes). | 1 to 10 of 10 ratings | Page: 1 |
| The big picture (10 votes) | | Overall score | | 84% | | How many would do it again? | | 95% | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 68% | | PB potential | | 58% | | Atmosphere | | 68% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 86% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 76% |
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2011 race reviewed by: LHWMG
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 40% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Very friendly event.
In full: Enjoyable event, following instructions - need to be updated/checked new tarmac,missing/now knocked down gate - also distances to a turn late on was well overstated - overall nice event.
Date of review: May 22, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: a.k.a "billy"
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 100% |
In short: Friendly and relaxed off road marathon.
In full: This years race was much better attended than the previous year so word has certainly got out amongst the regulars of the marathon circuit. This seemed to help in my view as there were many more people to chat with.
The event route is easy to follow on the whole and 90% of it is scenic countryside. The town part I found fine and it makes you appreciate the countryside sections more.
I'll certainly return in future if fitness allows?
Date of review: April 5, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Edward Kenny
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Hughly enjoyable
In full: Really great event - no frills, good mix of urban (ala Bedford), country and riverside. Good mix of road, off-road and other. Very friendly and the food / servie at Box End is very good (and reasonable) Highly recommend if you want to run the distance, meet a good mix of people and not get hung up on a fast time...!
Date of review: March 17, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Martin Addrison
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 80% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Well run and friendly with good directions
In full: this was my third off road marathon and the best so far. Good directions and it would have been hard to get lost. Friendly marshalls at start and at the stops on the way round. a good course - but if we could have avoided the dull bits of bedford it would have been better
thanks for the organisation
Date of review: March 16, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Hanky
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: A good fun 'different' marathon. Could do with more off road though. Very enjoyable...
Date of review: March 15, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Matt Wang 2
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Very Social, very relaxed and a great first ever marathon!
Date of review: March 14, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: Tack-n-Gybe
| | 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: A great morning out, small and friendly event
In full: Not up to running long distance so entered this event as a walker. A great morning out. Will do this again.
Date of review: March 14, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: kaskajohn
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 100% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Great day out, friendly event and for a good cause.
In full: Well organised, friendly event. Better this year due to a bigger field of runners. Frequent checkpoints break the run up and the instructions are easy to follow. Hope there is a 3rd Clanger next year.
Only thing I would do different is to wear old road shoes, as alot of race on hard surfaces.
Date of review: March 13, 2011
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2011 race reviewed by: SpeirsyMV40
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Very good with a warm welcome. Nice route - lucky with the lack of mud
In full: Nice route given the location. Very lucky not to have too much mud (hardly any) - but could have been a lot worse. Only down side was a 1-2 mile stretch through Bedford. Having gone from welcoming "hellos" - it was not head down and "are they talking to me??? Nutters". Nice race and good cause.
Date of review: March 13, 2011
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2010 race reviewed by: ShufflingB
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Lots of potential, would suggest slight tweakage
In full: I liked this event a lot in spite being a bit of a twit and managing to get myself lost and run rather more distance than I would have liked [0].
What's good ...
Organisation and friendliness of everyone taking part and helping out was extremely pleasant. The squash and isotonic cake :-) at the refreshment locations was also most welcome, as was the clanger at the end.
What could be improved ...
Well I live in Bedford and frequently go off over the fields so I'm quite familiar with the terrain. There's a small part of the course that we ran that went through a pretty grotty part of Bedford around the London Road area. I'd suggest that this could be avoided whilst keeping the same distance and improving scenic potential by taking the race loop further North and then coming in along past Priory country path and along the banks of the river through town.
What to look out for if you're thinking about this ...
We ran it in quite dry conditions, if it's wet Bedford soil is mostly clay, it will be a lot harder, make sure to wear shoes that both grip and also shed the clay.
[0] Entirely my own fault for a) being too slow to complete the course before the iPhone's batteries went dead when I was using that to navigate [1] and b) somewhere along the way managing to lose Noel's excellent written instructions.
[1] very good up to that point.
Date of review: January 16, 2011
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