Do you think L.M. needs re "branding"

I have been taking part in L.M. since 1999 and love every minute, maybe because it was my first marathon or because it is my home town, BUT I have noticed over the years that it seems to have become "dated". It is still a great event ( to me anyway) but a lot of the atmosphere seems to be missing each year. When I first started taking part nearly every pub on the route was adorned with banners and baloons, many had entertainers, last year there were hardly any, most just had a sign "watch the marathon here"  There used to be a competition with the schools to produce a banner to display, the best school judged getting some reward, have not seen that for 4/5 years now. This is a great unique event, a 26.2 mile street party with us, the competitors, as the entertainment, I really hope it does not end its days as just aqnother city closure for a run. Please L.M. lets get it back on track with runners and the people

Dave it doesn't need rebranding. I think to an extent all of us have forgotten what it is but thats because everybody be it charaties, runners, local's and all the other interested parties have taken it to be a slightly different thing and it's such a monster that they can't please everybody. It's a big city marathon and the national champianship race.

Another difference is a heck of a lot of pubs en route have closed down.

I think people prefer shopping now,not like the old days when not many shops were open.