My Event Ratings

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

In short: A good effort, more work required to make this worth coming back to.
In full: I guess my opinions might be influenced by a poor run (I blame the heat) but I think there is a lot of work to do with this one in the future.

Good points: Stadium facilities and finish. Really nice support, decent value for money, plenty of water/drinks, 'big' event atmosphere chip timing etc.

Bad points: The start was a shambles, too narrow and there were some very fast runners in the green pen stuck behind a lot of slower runners in the red pen for the first 1/2 mile. Noone could hear anything and the pacers were invisible. Where were the toilets on the way round!? They needs signs and lots of people were using bushes. Public ambling onto the course were a pain and the route was too easy to short cut with grassy corners and in one place towards the end a totally unnecessary 100m or so down a side road instead of following the path. Too hilly to be a real pb course but not hilly enough to be a proper challenge, a largely uninspiring course scenery wise. And my goody bag didn't have a mars bar!

Sounds terrible, but it was ok overall. I'll pick another one next year to try and avoid one as hot as this.
Date of review: May 7, 2013

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

In short: Not as fast as you'd think but very quick, well organised and unique in having 4 laps for pacing yourself. Really good race.
In full: The course isn't as quick as I thought as being on the coast there's nearly always a headwind! There are also two hairpins per 3 mile lap,a steep (short) up and being in laps fast runners will need to weave around other runners a fair bit in the latter stages. Excuses over!

A well organised race in a nice place, excellent medal, good food at the end and plenty of water. I liked the lap layout and it offers something a bit different to the usual. I'd keep it rather than changing the course.

Date of review: November 13, 2012

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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		100%

In short: First race in the calendar every year
In full: My third time and my third pb so potential is definitely there! £20 is more than it used to be but for a t-shirt (my wife thought the orange one was bad!), medal, gels, excellent marshalling, faultless route marking, smooth organisation, chip timing, free swim, fruit cake it's a bargain!

I came one place higher with a time 3 minutes slower in 2009 so the field is obviously getting quicker so I'll just have to try harder next year.

Many 'big' half marathon organisers would do well to run this to see what a running event should be all about.
Date of review: June 20, 2011

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Overall score		20%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		40%
Organisation		20%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		40%

In short: Badly organised, over priced and not that exciting
In full: Toilet queues at the start were intolerable, virtually the whole course was shared with traffic and I nearly got clipped by a tractor. Mostly uninspiring countryside and some really dull housing estates and busy a roads. I wouldn't bother coming back.
Date of review: May 31, 2011

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

In short: Hot, hilly, challenging, perfect length
Date of review: June 15, 2009

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

In short: An amazing race, great value for money and extremely friendly.
In full: Not a race for a personal best but everything else is brilliant. Well worth doing.
Date of review: June 17, 2008

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