My Event Ratings

Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		40%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		100%
Organisation		100%
Value		100%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Brilliantly organised race with great facilities
In full: First class organisation, great start & finish stadium venue, no worries about parking.
It's a slightly awkward course, lots of pavement work, road crossings, tight turns and a couple of slippery grass sections. The hill in the middle is no real problem though and a PB is not out of the question.
None of this detracts from the fact that this a very enjoyable race. Brilliant marshalling, great value, great goody bag, and I hope you deserve better weather next year!
Date of review: November 22, 2009

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		100%
Value		100%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Great value and friendly
In full: As a first timer to this course I was almost caught out by the fact that the start is about a mile from the race HQ. With a heavy bag and 4 children in tow we all got there eventually!
Aside from this slightly stressful start to the day this is a great race and I enjoyed a good PB - must have been all the tension coming out!
I'll be back next year, and I'll know where to go!
Date of review: November 17, 2009

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		60%
Value		40%
Beginner-friendliness		100%

In short: A great experience with fabulous scenery, dare I say a 'fun run'?
In full: I ran this event with my wife and we very much enjoyed it, the scenery is obviously brilliant and it's a great way to see the city.
Having said this there were a few negatives (and this is very hypocritical on my part given what I have said above!):

I found it a bit more like a giant fun-run, the start was awful and there was quite a bit of congestion in places - particularly the twisty bits in the parks and the frequent sharp turns. I alone saw 4 people take nasty falls.

There seemed a much higher percentage of people walking in this event (even after a mile or so!) and this didn't help the flow. That may sound mean, but this is a running event and the places are hotly-contested.

The mile markers - they were a bit random, eapecially the first one at 1.1 miles. The course measured 13.21 on my GPS which is worrying for a major event.

Overall I wouldn't do this again because there will always be compromises to accommodate that number of people, and I prefer smaller focussed running events. However for a fun event and a great experience I very much recommend it!
Date of review: October 13, 2009

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Overall score		100%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		100%
Organisation		100%
Value		100%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Stunning, I don't know what event could beat it.
In full: A glorious day in a beautiful place. This is also a fast course if your quads can survive the mostly downhill first half. The cool temperature and clean air also helped me to a big PB.
I can't fault anything about this race. Even the bus delay was fine as there was a great atmosphere on my bus, and anything that lengthened the day was OK by me as I didn't want it to end!

Date of review: October 6, 2009

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		20%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		80%
Value		60%
Beginner-friendliness		40%

In short: Brilliant trail event - when it gets going!
In full: This is a great off-road course but the first 5 miles are a bit of a traffic jam nightmare with 500 runners trying to get around single track paths and over styles. Get this out the way (along with any time you had targeted) and the second half of the course is brilliant. The steps are great fun and the view of Corfe when emerging from the forest is very hard to equal.
Date of review: September 6, 2009

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		100%
Organisation		100%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Fast 10K route in the countryside
In full: A very good course - short easy hill early on then plenty of opportunities to crank the pace up. Very well organised and I look forward to running it again next year.
Date of review: August 30, 2009

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Overall score		60%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		100%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		40%

In short: Well organised event, good finishing area
In full: Can't fault the race for value and organisation and the marshalling and water stops were excellent. I felt the route was slightly 'hemmed in' as most of it was through high-banked country lanes that blocked out the scenery and trapped the dreaded heat. Good hill at the end though, I knew it was coming but that doesn't make it any easier! Through the tree lined path and down to the finish was great.
Date of review: August 2, 2009

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		80%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		40%

In short: A unique appreciation of the Purbeck Hills!
In full: The run starts by the beach and climbs to 400ft over the first 3 miles, undulates down to Corfe and then climbs back up to 350ft in a tough 2 mile stretch added this year as part of course changes. The last 3 miles provided much needed relief with a gentle wind-assisted descent back to the seafront! I found a PB out of this somehow, at the time finishing the course without walking seemed the biggest achievement.

A very enjoyable day out in Swanage and a great place to spend the rest of the day, you'll want to stay for more than a couple of hours after spending £6 to park the car! :-)
Date of review: July 20, 2009

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		100%
Value		100%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Great fun 10 miler, friendly and good value
In full: A regular local training route for me but my first time in this event. Very well organised, loads of water and sponge stations more than welcome in the heat. The last two miles are tough, but you do get to run downhill for 3 miles before, it's a good challenging circuit that's well supported.
Date of review: July 6, 2009

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Overall score		80%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		100%
Organisation		100%
Value		100%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: A fun event, atmosphere makes up for slightly repetitive course.
In full: Very wel organised and good value for money considering the goody bag, road closures, and the feel that this is a 'proper' event rather than a club run. Slightly repetitive course and quite crowded, but this is offset by great spectator support.
Date of review: June 25, 2009

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