Pharmalink Maidenhead Half Marathon

A good race and potentially a very good one.

The course itself was delightful. 

The support was surprisingly good for a semi-rural race.

The marshalling was very efficient - and most marshalls were very encouraging.

Chip removal excellent.

Negatives:

1) The start was a bit of a fiasco. I`m not sure who decided to put that first small loop in but it wasn`t very well thought through. The lead runners completing the small loop came piling into the back of the main field which was yet to start. Others who had just started became confused and in some cases missed the small loop altogether and went straight into the big loop  (had to be called back by the marshalls). One runner I spoke to, did 2 small loops in the confusion, .

2) Baggage lorries seemed a bit chaotic. A number of people had to wait for ages to get their bags. I was one of the first back - still took them about 10 mins to find my bag.

 All new races have teething problems and this one was no different - but I think it was a cracking eventand would recommend it to anyone. Well done and thank you to the organisers.

Great race all in all. Nice course, fast and flat with the exception of the one small set of stairs and an underpass. Orginisation was generally spot on (as it always is with Purple Patch races).

The town was obviously behind the race with the road closures, big pull out in the Maidenhead Advertiser, good marshalls and sections of crowd along the way.

The only point for improvement was that the baggage pick up at the end was a bit chaotic but I see from the post race e-mail that they've heard this already and plan to improve for next year.

GJ and slotting this in as a regular in my calendar (entries are even open already for next year and it's on my birthday to boot )

A link to the revised route for 2012 is now on the Purple Patch website.  I think the new route looks good. Last year's loop at the start which caused some problems and generated some criticsm, has gone. Running past the finish before doing the same loop at the end has also gone. The route no longer goes under Maidenhead bridge, so the steps there are no longer an issue. It looks like once through a subway under the A4, approx 1km after the start, and again through a different in the final km, surely the only safe option for getting across the A4!

Well done to Purple Patch for addresing last year's concerns, and revamping the course, which although now bascially two laps, is still pretty flat and attractive (and passes my house twice this time)

Looking forward to it actually. Glad the route changes happened as it would have put some people off. Still going to be a very flat course, and the multiple laps should mean better support (to be fair, last year it started p**sing down so the final push through town was quiet). The only other downside last year was the bag storage....but that didnt really bother anyone that much and the rain probably didnt help (all the bags randomly lumped in the back of a van rather than laid out in numbered sections...probably because of the rain).