Fleet Pre-London Half-Marathon 2010

Really enjoyable race, thank goodness the rain finally stopped on Saturday. Thanks to all, especially the marshalls and crowds out cheering people on. I was especially grateful for the children with a bucket of jelly babies at about 11 miles, reckon they got me to the finish! Shame no goodies at the finish though.

Always a bit of a squeeze going through the woods down to the start, but the programme suggests you wander down 30 mins before so no excuse for getting stuck in the crowd - I made it with a minute to spare but left it late,

I saw all the markers except mile 2 in the town - a look at the watch tends to tell me they're coming up.

This was a bit of a let down all in all. As a local lad, I've done it 6 or 7 times and it's always been seamless. But...:

- The distance was wrong. That new bit of road adds to the distance so I was very surprised when I got an email a few days before saying the course was now 67 metres shorter. They've got it the wrong way round. It was longer. Anyone who looks at the new bit of road can see that. My Garmin said 13.33.

 - The start is normally good, but as it was moved back 67 metres, the silly path through the woods came out too close to the start line. So it got really congested. Not putting up estimated finish times (as previous) made it silly. I ended up running the first few hundred metres on the pavement overtaking people.

- I don't know why they use that path through the woods. There's another way round that I use that isn't especially muddy (via Merivale if you know the town), and it would make it easier to get people in a sensible order at the start as they come from behind (so to speak).

- I didn't get a goody bag either. Didn't see them when I finished at 1:41.

I'm disappointed. But I'll be back next year.

An enjoyable event and great crowds.

 Porta loos are a welcome sight.

 But I am with you all on the start, It was rather difficult to gauge.

We came in just after 2 hrs which was a good pace for my partner, rather let down with no goodie bags, Beefburgers isn't the best after that.

It would be great to hear a official reason to the goodie bag scenario.

Finally a huge well done to the crowds and water stops a great turn out, lots of Jelly babies

Alec Fitzsimmons wrote (see)

This was a bit of a let down all in all. As a local lad, I've done it 6 or 7 times and it's always been seamless. But...:

- The distance was wrong. That new bit of road adds to the distance so I was very surprised when I got an email a few days before saying the course was now 67 metres shorter. They've got it the wrong way round. It was longer. Anyone who looks at the new bit of road can see that. My Garmin said 13.33.

 - The start is normally good, but as it was moved back 67 metres, the silly path through the woods came out too close to the start line. So it got really congested. Not putting up estimated finish times (as previous) made it silly. I ended up running the first few hundred metres on the pavement overtaking people.

- I don't know why they use that path through the woods. There's another way round that I use that isn't especially muddy (via Merivale if you know the town), and it would make it easier to get people in a sensible order at the start as they come from behind (so to speak).

- I didn't get a goody bag either. Didn't see them when I finished at 1:41.

I'm disappointed. But I'll be back next year.