I entered the London 10k for the fifth time this year with family members, son and brother. Organisation seems to have got steadily worse over the years and this one was a catastrophe from the administration and organisational perspective. I signed up for the Gold expensive Guaranteed entry quite early and was one of the "few" who did not receive the race pack (few thousand more like it!) but no matter I was advised to make an extra journey to London the day before to present myself either at the Trafalgar where my pack would be waiting for me (very unlikely) or to present myself at my numbered bag drop (22539) on the day from 7.00am. I did the latter at 8.00 and was met with pleasant but blank stares - no pack there then ! - Help desk issued a new green label number, 8552, Nike shirt and timing device so at least I feel almost the part. Fast forward to the end of the race and problem now is that (not very impressive) medal collection for green numbers is close to the finish and a good way from the bag drop but worse still the chaos back at the bag drop was crazy. When I did finally push to the front to request my London 10k 2012 shirt the lad would not let me have one because I did not have a receipt !!! What receipt !!! OK you win, I've paid the money, put up with all the excuses, run the race and now its my fault !
On the positive side, the runners and supporters were all great, they filled the trains pulling into London from very early in the morning and braved the wet weather and the poor organisation fantastically well.
Will I be back next year ? not sure I want to trust these guys with my hard earned any more so maybe I'll try the Bupa 10K in May.
