My Event Ratings

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

In short: Beautiful scenery and fast course, organisation fine
In full: Yes, the course was long in 2012 but they almost certainly got it right this time and it was a beautiful and fantastically well-supported run in the sunshine.

The Brighton course is fast. The climb at the beginning slows people down but at the turn you have a long down hill section followed by the flat, on Sunday this meant enjoying a strong tail wind. The problem for PBs was that at the final turn you suddenly hit a gale.

People complaining about it being too long again might not understand (a) how courses are measured and (b) how Garmins record distance.

All courses have a tolerance of 0.1% over-distance to ensure they qualify for records and that deviations in runners' routes do not put them under-distance. No under-distance course can qualify for records so the bias is always towards very slight over distance.

Secondly, Garmins and GPS watches simply do not record distance accurately. Runners World has covered this well as has the New York Times. If there are any turns on the course you will lose accuracy. They are a useful guide to pacing but not a reliable measure for distance.

Well done Brighton
Date of review: February 26, 2013

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

In short: Great race....shame it wasn't actually a half-marathon
In full: My timings totally agreed with the previous reviewer. The error was almost certainly between mile 4 and 5.

It's such a shame. The weather was fantastic and the organisation was very very good apart from the distance error, but distance matters an enormous amount.

My time was 1.31.46, if the course had been correctly measured I would have been inside 1.30, a personal best and something I would have felt incredibly proud of. I will still have fond memories of the Brighton HM but they will always be tinged with an intense disappointment.

I trained very hard to go sub 1.30 but the record book says I failed.

PS: I wore a t-shirt saying "I'm Ben!". To any of the people who shouted my name, thank you, made a massive difference.

Date of review: February 19, 2012

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

In short: Pretty terrain, well organised, and they finally got the distance markers right!
Date of review: June 9, 2007

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