British 10k London Run - 8th July 2012

  Personally,I would avoid like the plague.

personally I would rather do a local 10k - they tend to cost around £10 to £15, come with mementos, excellent organisation, easy to park near the start/finish and a great atmosphere and support  - what more could you want? Also, if you happen to be ill/injured on the day it isn't such a big deal!

I looked at the cost of entering the Great North Run, and just thought it was ridiculous, would rather support and run the local half marathons...

If you want a big London 10k then do the Bupa 10k in May.  I suspect that might be full now though, but a note for future reference.  Its organised like clockwork by the London marathon team. 

The British 10k is a shambles and run by people who seem to be motivated by money not sport.

I did it last year, because a charity I support was organising a team for it.

I can't recommend it.

I'm surprised to see that they have a ballot this year. I don't recall there being a problem getting in on previous years and wonder if its just a hype to get people to pay £50?  I'd be interested to know how many ballot entries are rejected.

I have done it twice before, but am doing BUPA this year. It's an OK race, but the things that count against it are :

1. Value for money ? Not really

2. If you like medals and goodies - crap bit of tin and naff all else.

3. Organisation - not the best, but not bad enough to put a lot off (Remember, I did it twice !)

4. £50 and 2 tech shirts - that's a new one this year

5. fast time ? - If you want to set a PB, unless you can get to the front before the start (There aren't any pens) then possibly forget it, just treat it as another sunday morning training run

The choice is yours

Hi Sonic, £50 for gty entry sounds ridiculous even including 2 tech shirts and a photo (although race pics are also expensive) and £32 to enter a ballot is just as bad, i've not heard anything good about this race, but hope for you and the organisers have been reading the feedback left about their race and use this to improve their race.

You'll love the Bupa 10k expensive for a 10k too, but their organisation is spot on, I did the Bupa Edinburgh a few years back and had a great race from pre start to post finish.

It is good to be part of a mass event but at £30 plus it had better be faultless, with the growing popularity of running, there is a lot of choice out there and people alway's have the option of voting with their feet.

Best of luck and please let us know how it goes.

I did it last year, it's one of the worse races I've done to be honest, certainly the worst for value for money since it's also the most expensive.

There are 2 positives - a scenic course (I have to say I tend not to notice my surroundings that much when I'm racing over 5K or 10K because I tend to be thinking about pace etc) and good support around the majority of the course. 

I was close to the front for the start - but it meant waiting for an hour and a half without having any space to properly keep warm. I actually set a PB on the course, but unless you're at the front you've got no hope even though it's a flat course. I had friends further back who said they had no choice but to walk the first KM.

The race was very late starting. You also have to wait while they have a marching band and play the national anthem. That might appeal to people, but you have about a 1% chance of seeing or hearing any of it if you're competing.

There was a t-shirt last year, but it was a cotton t-shirt promoting the 2012 race, which I thought was a bit insulting to say to runners that this year's race wasn't as important. Why would I want a momento of the next year's race that I'm not doing?!

I don't think it sold out last year, one of my friends signed up only a month or so in advance.

I also don't remember what I paid last year but it was definitely less than £50. I do remember on your race number there was a form for guarenteed entry to the 2012 race and thinking it was extortionate though.

My final grumble, there are no toilets provided. You are at least warned of this in advance, but because of the long wait it seemed like every single male that was ahead of me stopped in the bit where the road goes through a short tunnel to relieve themselves against the wall. However great this might have been for the position I finished in, I found it pretty awkward running past them all.

I'm going to be looking for a different race in July.