My Event Ratings

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

In short: All races should be like this
In full: Easily one of the best events I have ever taken part in.
Fantastic organisation. No stress. Super friendly. Glorious scenery. Great supporters. Fun course (not too hilly, although the last climb(mile 23/4?) felt tough!)
I would recommend this event to anyone.
Brilliant!

Date of review: May 14, 2012

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		80%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Nice race
In full: great, well organised race.
The scenery is really very pretty, typical quaint Kent countryside.
The course has two hills, the second is quite challenging. Overall though quite a fast course, I managed a PB today. Thanks to the organisers!
Date of review: September 18, 2011

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: not that bad?!
In full: This was my first marathon. Completed it in 3hrs 26mins.

I can only speak for myself... the start, route, water stations were all excellent. At the finish I came through, collected my medal and goody-bag with no problems. Got my own bag from the truck with no problems. Walked to the paddock, had a shower, met my freinds at the reunion area. We walked to the bus and went home. No big deal.
We did have to wait about 20 mins for a bus but considering there was literally thousands of people using the service I didn't think that was unreasonable.

As we were told in advance that Musselburgh was closed to cars my family watched in Preston-pans and cheered me on there. I must admit I'm glad they never tried to come to the finish.

For me this was a great, fast race that I will do again. It's maybe not a fun family day out but that's not what I wanted from it.
Date of review: May 23, 2011

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Great race, but too busy!
In full: Make no mistake, this is a special event. It it's loads of fun and very, very hard.
The scenery is amazing, even after dark when you can see the lines of head-torches stretching over the hills.
The climbs are tortuous and the obstacles tricky and the mud and water stretches are fun but very cold.
The organisation is great and the after-party very good - lovely beer!

However... almost immediately after the start i was caught in a bottleneck and reduced to walking pace. All throughout the run I was queing up or caught in heavy traffic, it was very frustrating.
For the size of trails there is just too many people running here. Either the numbers should be reduced, staggered starts introduced or maybe a longer road section incorporated near the beginning to help sort out the different paced runners.

As an 'event' this was a really brilliant evening as a 'race' it was quite annoying.
I'll definitely do this again next year but I'll put more effort in on the partying than the running.
Date of review: March 22, 2011

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Very good race
In full: My first race since a disaster at last years Canterbury Half. Really enjoyed it.
The course is fast with one bad (steep!) hill and a couple of longer drags. From 8 miles it's basically down-hill all the way so it's a great finish.
The ford was dry this year so that didn't present any problems.
I like getting a mug instead of a medal, although having nearly the exact same design as last year does seem like a wasted opportunity! ;-)
Fun race, thanks to the organisers and marshals.
Date of review: January 30, 2011

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Very enjoyable race!
In full: Good race, I found it well organized and plenty of marshals. Regarding encouragement from marshals, I try and say thank you to them rather than expecting them to cheer me on; they've given up their Sunday morning lie-in to come out and help after all!
The countryside around the route is lovely and the terrain is not too taxing with just a handful of reasonable climbs. Quite a fast one.
Overall a very enjoyable race and a good start to the racing year. Many thanks to the organizers.

p.s. loved the mug!
Date of review: January 31, 2010

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: A race of two halves
In full: The first half of this race I didn't really enjoy; the start was a bit chaotic and then there were lots of very busy roads to run along/beside.
The second half though, out in the country, was really pretty and nice and quiet (it was also mainly downhill which was good!)
The course is definitely undulating but nothing too bad, I managed to scrape a PB.
All in all I'd say the club has done a reasonable job given the location. I'll probably run it again next year.
Thanks to all the smiley and supportive marshals.
Date of review: October 19, 2009

Report this rating to the moderator

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

In short: Great PB potential
In full: Lovely race, great location at the wildlife park. The race was pretty well organised, lots of porto-loos at the start but no hand washing or alchohol rub, that would have been good.
The start was a little bit tight on the little country lane so make sure you get in the proper position for your pace.
The coutryside was really pretty and the route totally flat so a real PB opportunity, the wind was kind but if it had picked up it would have made things a bit trickier.
Using one of the training schedlues from this website I trained for 8 weeks building up to this race and smashed my PB and the 40 min barrier.
Great stuff, thanks a lot.
Date of review: September 5, 2009

Report this rating to the moderator