My Event Ratings

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

In short: A great mix of mud and some nasty hills
In full: I did it tow years ago and had forgotten how tough it was. A great course, although this year marred by the addition of the stinky ditch near the end, which just a gimmick. Ditch the ditch guys.
Date of review: February 28, 2011

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

In short: A super-tough course along a fantastic stretch of coast
In full: Aesthetically, a point-to-point course along a glorious stretch of coast is about as good as it gets. It makes a good contrast to the "how many beaches and bogs can we fit in?" madness of the Grizzly (which I also love) that takes place in the same area about a month before.
It's very low key and friendly, with helpful touches like proper food at some of the water stations (I needed it!)
Running doesn't get much better than this.
Date of review: October 7, 2010

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

In short: Excellent course and marshals, but the organisation is a bit hit-and-miss!
In full: I loved the course, which was challenging and scenic (around 85% trail). It's really tough on a wet day like this year, with some stiff climbs. Its point-to-point nature and mix of full, half and relay runners also adds interest.
Unfortunately, the organisation, including pre-event information, is a bit ragged around the edges, which spoils it a little.
Mind you, I've done it three times now, so it can't be that bad!
Date of review: October 7, 2010

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

In short: A challenging race on hilly but fast terrain
Date of review: September 26, 2010

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

In short: An excellent mix of terrain, with a killer climb, stunning scenery and a warm welcome
In full: I've done the Seaview 17 twice and so know how friendly Minehead RC are, and just how good the food would be at the end.

£6 doesn't buy prizes or 'free' T-shirts, but it pays for a well organised race and a superb buffet after.

The start/finish is in a idyllic place, and the race takes you through a beautiful wood and up onto magnificent moors and back into the wood.

It features one steep, sustained climb, with a couple of smaller steepish ones and a gentle grind over the first few miles.

The race has two steep, rocky, technical descents near the end.

28 people ran the inaugural race this year, it deserves to get bigger as its reputation grows, although alternative parking would be needed for more than a moderate increase.

See http://www.chippenhamharriers.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1366 for an account of my race.
Date of review: April 19, 2010

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

In short: Scenic, almost all off-road but still pretty fast going: a blast
Date of review: March 28, 2010

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

In short: Fun, scenic, route marking could be better in places.
In full: I had a great time doing this and I love that there are so many distances available: I did the 30k, my friend did the 20.
The route marking was mostly excellent, which made it all the more puzzling when it was lacking. The zig-zag drop into Salisbury needed markings at junctions for sure. We were all issued with paper maps at the beginning, but obviously if the weather had been bad they would have been useless.
Also the 30k course felt like it needed one more water station in the middle to me.
Still, good fun.
Date of review: August 12, 2009

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

In short: A fun. hilly half
In full: As other reviewers have said: big enough to feel like a proper event, small enough so you can get going fairly quickly.
I'm a mountain marathon/off-road type, so I didn't think of it as that hilly, but I know it's hilly by road standards.
Why get yourself to Cardiff for 9:00 when you can have a lie in and do Swindon at 11:00?!
Date of review: October 14, 2007

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

In short: More than just a running event.
In full: I'd say a mountain marathon is really a two-day, self-supported, very long orienteering event.
Some of the ratings are meaningless - ie the concept of a PB in an event that varies wildly from year to year and never follows the same course is irrelevant. Scenery is usually excellent, if you can see it! Hill fog often puts pay to that.
The event is fairly friendly, but also very big and rather intimidating for the uninitiated.
The OMM is now a huge money making machine: the event information book is in fact 50% OMM branded product catalogue. To have an enjoyable OMM you do need a range of specialised kit, so you may well be ordering stuff from it.
I'm looking forward to the 07 OMM, as I'm better prepared: mentally, physically and gear!
Date of review: October 12, 2007

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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: A proper marathon but off-road, with some stiff hills, plenty of water stations and friendly marshalls.
In full: My main running interests are off-road, ultra and mountain marathons, so this event worked well for me!
I used it as a hard training run for the OMM (although I ran sans rucksack, unlike another OMMer I saw).
I can see why the organisers wanted the 1/2 marathoners to join us for the second half - I liked finishing with everybody together. I was only in one stile bottleneck, but even there the marshalls asked the masses to let us marathoners through, so we weren't held up too much. It has to be remembered that having a constant stream of fun-runners to pass gives you good motivation for a fast pace.
I'm glad they did it that way round: the second half was more scenic than the first, or at least the tracks seemed more continous, with fewer 'scrappy' bits of road. I've not ran it the other way though, so maybe it's just my recollection of it!
I'd have marked it better for organisation if the T-shirt/medal distribution had been slicker. Plus the guy in charge of the T-shirts for the marathon finishers was a bit grumpy and officious.

Date of review: October 3, 2007

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