My Event Ratings

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

In short: Awesome!
In full: Organisation was excellent. Well supervised parking was arranged near the start. Good line of toilets. Nice souvenirs for sale and a free programme. Roads were cleared of moving and parked cars. Marshalling was firm so no drivers got in the way. I felt very safe. The Tunbridge Wells organisers could learn a lot from Hastings. The support from the locals was so heartwarming - that helped me to a PB. The church choirs out singing. The pubs cheering. The crowd at 5 miles banging saucepans, blowing whistles and making a huge racket made me grin from ear to ear and lifted my legs. The wonderful downhill section along the pretty Old Town High Street, and then the long easy flat run up to the finish. And a nice cup of sweet tea at the end. Brilliant. I loved every minute.
Date of review: March 12, 2006

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		20%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: Messy and cold
In full: The organisation of this race leaves a lot to be desired. It is clearly held in the wrong place. We are asked to go to a car park from where we get a free coach to the race HQ, but there is no coach back so everyone is faced with a good 20 minute walk after the race. Race HQ is not at the start. The start is a 10 minute walk along a narrow path and up a suburban street full of cars. The cars are allowed across the start line until 5 minutes before the race start. Runners who start to gather behind the start line have to keep moving out of the way of the cars. When the race did start some cars still tried to come through causing significant problems. On the roads themselves the cars are allowed at the same time as the runners with very ineffective marshaling to try and keep people and cars apart. On narrow stretches on road I had to stop twice because of traffic jams with cars. As I am a slow runner I arrived at the finish at 12.40 to find the finish announcer had had enough and gone home and organisers had started to dismantle the finish. I hadn't been informed there was a 2 1/2 hour time limit - a little courtesy and encouragement to the back runners would be appreciated. To cap everything off, there were no bananas, the medal is cheap and nasty and the showers were cold.
On the plus side, the countryside, even when the weather is grey and miserable, is very attractive. The long double hill is tough, but it comes at the right point and gives a sense of achievement. The marshals were friendly and encouraging.
I much prefer the Dartford Half.
Date of review: February 26, 2006

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

In short: Cruel Finish And No Bananas
In full: Relaxed and friendly romp along the flat. But running into the wind was hard going - running uphill is easier. It decided me against doing any other coastal runs in the cold season!
Worse point, however, was having to run past the finish before turning round and coming back. Is it possible to organise it differently?
Best point: the medal is beautiful.
Date of review: November 6, 2005

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		40%
PB potential		100%
Atmosphere		40%
Organisation		40%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		100%

In short: Small Local Gathering
In full: Very small turnout for what appears to be the first attempt at this race. Long delay to the start while the local news photographer messed out - same again at the finish. No marshals on the route. Friendly and charming enough, but sometimes felt like we were intruding on a private family day out.
Date of review: October 14, 2005

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

In short: Good Fun
In full: An enjoyable morning. The brass band and the scenery of Hampstead Heath are the plus points. Some signposting at entrances to the Heath would be helpful in pointing people to the start point. Long initial climb is balanced by the easy freefall to the finish. Some better organisation at the finish is needed - a number of runners got confused. Fund-raising appears to be the main aim of the event and you need to inform the organisers if you are not fund-raising or you'll get a number of follow-up letters asking for money.
Date of review: October 14, 2005

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

In short: Encouraging marshalls compensate for lack of water.
In full: My first long race. I opted to run at the back, which was a mistake as there were few others there to help me along, and we soon discovered that we had to grab the discarded water bottles of the faster runners if we wanted to stay alive! To be fair, when the organisers became aware they had a water problem they started to collect the discarded half empty bottles and hand them out to the tail-enders. At that stage I don't think people were too concerned about hygiene problems! The marshalls were constantly encouraging, and the atmosphere they generated helped me complete the course. I will certainly run again next year - but this time I will run in the middle of the pack!
Date of review: July 19, 2005

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