My Event Ratings

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

In short: Excellent race and venue - a must for the racing calendar
In full: Great 10k race on the Saturday, cheap camping with family friendly activities - lots for the kids to do. Also dog friendly. ^hr challenge also excellent - a good route and we always seem to get good weather. Our 3rd year back and definitely a favourite.
Date of review: July 26, 2012

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Good race, challenging hills and bog of doom but let down by poor organisation
In full: Enjoyed the race itself - challenging hills and the bog of doom was cold! Plenty of people there to enjoy themselves so a good atmosphere. A very full goody bag at the end and good support from the marshals en route.

Already plenty of comments on the cold, although I don't think you can blame the organisers for frozen toilets - not easy to fix.

However, there are quite a few points to improve the organisation:

a few more signs to get there would be nice.
The start was 15 minutes late and there was no announcement about the delay despite us all standing around getting colder. This led to the two starts getting mixed up. The race then started without any warning whatsoever. They had the PA system to use - so why didn't they?
There really should be some sort of ranking at the start so slower runners aren't at the front causing the delays on the hills and forcing the faster runners to weave in and out of people right at the start.
At the end, the mens baggage was a shambles - the cadets manning this got there after we did and then only seemed to fetch the bags of those runners standing in a particular spot, even if they had just turned up and jumped the queue! So after 10 minutes of standing around getting cold we just walked inside and grabbed our own bags. These guys were completely disorganised - not good when the runners are getting back cold and soaking wet, they need to get their bags back quickly to enable them to change.

The website stated that you didn't need to be able to swim! But my wife is less than 5 foot tall and couldn't touch the bottom in the Bog of Doom - so perhaps the website should be updated.
Date of review: November 28, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: good varied course - expected it to be harder
In full: Run laps were easier than expected, having run the Grim Challenge before. Varied terrain with soft sandy spots to slow you down on the bike and water to wade through carrying the bike. This was my first duathlon and very enjoyable.
Date of review: October 29, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Very good weekend of running, especially for a club with lots of little children
In full: We camped as a club with six families with ages of children ranging from 2 to 17. we all had a great time the youngsters were well catered for with the short organised runs, the free painting/lego/activity tent and football. There was mountain biking and Go Ape to amuse the older children (at extra cost) The organiser put a lot into this event with excellent showers and toilets for the amount of people who camped. Though if more camp next year, it will need more then. Everything you needed was on site so you didn't need to go anywhere. The race entry covered 3 nights camping plus goody bags plus cheap massages and a band in the evening - excellent value all round. The runs were challenging with the steady hills but enjoyable - if slightly shorter than advertised. Their was a good atmosphere amongst those competing and the organisers who was on hand and always willing to chat. The only minor things that could be improved was getting the marshals to provide more vocal encouragement to the runners (friendly but quiet) and the caterers food was ok but could have been warmer - possibly due to not being a huge turnover. Entertainment on the Saturday was good - it was on site, it finished early so didn't upset the kids and rounded off a nice day. I hope more people take part next year, this event deserves it
Date of review: July 31, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Good run, good challenging hill
In full: Could do with pens with planned times to spread people out at start, otherwise good run. Enjoyed the hill - went past a lot of people and got a PB for a half-marathon too.
Date of review: October 11, 2009

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Enjoyed the race, good course. Slight confusion over initial vague instructions but once you got going very good. Lots of water stops and excellent goody bag.
In full: First time did this and didn't do enough training and it showed! Initial instructions left some guesswork and request to register on the Friday was wrong. Good interesting course with a huge amount of water stops. Only problems were the one fence causing a bottleneck and the steep muddy slope which prevented overtaking. Wear trail shoes - I didn't! Although one guy in Innov8's in front of me fell over 5 times when I didn't.
Start was very crowded and difficult for anyone to get to their correct running position. a fenced walkway up the side would have helped along with timed marker posts. Although i was near the front I couldn't hear the starter hooter so this could be improved. Excellent that there was a choice of t-shirt sizes for my wife as she always ends up with an oversize t-shirt. This was good for all types of runners with the different length races and we travelled as a club with some tkaing part in 3 of the races (including toodlers trot) Although there seemed to be kids as old as 10 entering as toddlers!
Date of review: August 19, 2009

Report this rating to the moderator