My Event Ratings

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

In short: New Sponsor and a New Course
In full: I live about 10 minutes away so it's an easy one to get to and I've run the 1/2 or the full marathon since 2005.

A new sponsor and a new course. The irony is, the original 1/2 was a nice scenic route around the nice parts of Nottingham, like Wollaton Park and the castle. It didn't need to be changed from a scenery point of view. It was the second part of the full that was so bad.

The stewards, water station personnel did a great job. A big thank you to them. The atmosphere was great.

What I didn't like was the so-called goody bag. A Mars bar (yuck), crappy chemical filled flapjack, a packet soup (I think), ready salted crisps and some coffee flavoured sweets aren't really adequate for the £30 or so.

The medal was nice.

Did anyone get a radically different chip time to their official time?! My chip time was 5 minutes less! :)

I'd also like to know where the money goes on all of this.
Date of review: September 30, 2012

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

In short: Mixed Feelings
In full: We all knew the weather would be bad but I didn't think it would be *that* awful. Was more like February.

Atmosphere was very good. A lot of friendly people there and I can imagine on a sunny day it would be a wonderful race.

I only found out the cancellation of the full marathon because I was quite near the loudspeaker. I can imagine that a lot of people would not have heard it.

I think they made the right decision and if they'd have cancelled it the day before it could have been a worse mistake.

My only grumble really was about the finish, which was congested unnecessarily. I was lucky enough to get a medal but where was the goody bag? Pretty expensive race, so not amused by that.

Don't know if I'll run this again but a big thank you to the marshals, people at the water stations and crowds who supported the runners.
Date of review: May 3, 2012

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

In short: Frustrating Race but...
In full: This is my 6th go at the Robin Hood Marathon. I usually enjoy it. The crowds are supportive, the first half of the marathon is around the best parts of the city and it is quite a scenic city, Nottingham.

The second half, is always the same. I think the marathon runners get a raw deal, really. The real killer is Holme Pierrepont, which is the watersports centre. It's basically a lap of that. There's no cover and the headwinds make running very difficult.
I've emailed the organisers a few times about changing just that bit, as I know a lot of other people hate it as well. We'll have to see.
The goody bag was hopeless. A pack of crisps, a few adverts, some cloths and some toothpaste.
The medal was good, though.

So in summary, a fine race and thank you to the organisers but please change the course a bit and put some flapjacks in the goody bag!
Date of review: September 11, 2011

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

In short: Mostly Enjoyable
In full: Firstly thanks to the organisers.

This is quite a tough race in beautiful surroundings. The first half of the race is mostly hills.
Mostly friendly except for some of the military marshals who only half-filled cups and seemed surly for no particular reason.

I'm glad I ran it but as someone mentioned, the plastic bottle wasn't that impressive. I think the organisers should have made it clear not to expect a medal/goodie bag and that the money was going to charity. I'd have been happier with that.
Date of review: May 23, 2011

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

In short: 5th Year Running - Route Needs Changing
In full: This is my local. I started with the 1/2 back in 2005 and since then have done the full.

The half is a really good race as it takes in the more scenic parts of Nottingham like Wollaton Park.
You can forgive the hills for that.

The full is lonelier experience as it breaks off to eventually go to the waters sports centre and there is little support (though more this year) and there's no shade. It's repetitive and no one seems to enjoy it. However, the course for the 2nd half never seems to change. I don't know if it's a logistical problem or they can't be bothered.
They should bother because it's not cheap to enter.

All in all I probably enjoyed it this year more than previously because even though my knees were agony, I still got under 4 hours. So I am very pleased.
The support was mostly really good.

The goody bag is full of sweets containing artificial sweeteners, so I'd rather give those a miss. A couple of flapjacks and a packet of crisps would be better!

Medal changes subtly every year. Nice to run the 30th race.

All in all, good but could do so much better.

By the way, this is no reflection on the people who volunteer and were organised and encouraging and kept everything running smoothly. A big thank you to them.

My gripe is with the course and whoever decides that doing a lap and half of Holme Pierrepont is in any way enjoyable.
Date of review: September 12, 2010

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

In short: Good one!
In full: My first go at this one. I heard it was undulating and it certainly was. Only to be expected in Derbyshire, though. Marshals and water station folks were great. Nice atmosphere.
First 9 miles I was fine then I really suffered for the rest of it.
Weather wasn't great but made it more rewarding knowing that I'd got round.
Date of review: November 29, 2009

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

In short: Always Enjoyable
In full: This is my local marathon and my 4th go at it. Everything started fine until I was walking there and realised I'd forgotten my running shoes! I had to run in trainers. So I thought I might run the first 1/2 and then quit but I felt ok and carried on and did the rest. Despite the wrong shoes, I think I enjoyed this more than in the past. The crowd and other runners just seemed friendlier this year. Some kind member of the public was giving out bananas. A fellow runner gave me a bottle of water.

I love this race but I do wish they'd change the 2nd half because running around Holme Pierrepont is a bit dull. If they did that, it would be a much better race. Either way, I hope to be back next year.

A big thank you to everyone who made it possible.
Date of review: September 15, 2009

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

In short: Good 1/2
In full: Firstly, thanks to everyone who involved with the organisation, the marshalls and the people giving out the water.

I've run this 3 years running and it's quite a good one.

May I make a few suggestions?

Could the race be run earlier in the day, say 9.00 or 9.30. It gets mighty warm. It made me quite ill this afternoon, in fact.

How about 1/2 mile markers? It works very well in the Belvoir 1/2.

Finally, instead of a t-shirt, how about a medal as a prize?
Date of review: August 9, 2009

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

In short: Friendly Race but Challenging!
In full: This was my second ever race back when I started running in 2005.
It rained heavily that day and when woke up this morning it looked like it would do again except it stayed dry and the sun came out later on.

I find this quite a tricky one. 3 years ago, my knee was making a clicking sound for weeks afterwards. I must have toughened up because I feel ok now.
Don't know what my time was but it's certainly the slowest 1/2 I've run.

Just want to say a big thank you to the organisers, the people at the water stations and everyone who turned up to support. It's a very friendly race.
Date of review: October 26, 2008

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

In short: Friendly, challenging, fun XC 10K !
In full: I've gone race mad recently. Newark 1/2, Robin Hood Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Goose Fair Gallop and now the Bestwood 10k.

Firstly, I'd like to say thank you to the organisers, marshals and everyone else for making this a really fun race.

There are some tough hills, but it's a pleasant course. I got under 47 minutes and was happy with that.

Will definitely be back next year.

Date of review: October 14, 2007

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