My Event Ratings

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

In short: Testing course on a well marshalled scenic route
In full: Not quite sure why this scenic marathon only attracts 750 runners. It's far better than that. A generally well organised event which is deserving of a bigger field. The route is a two lapper and yes, there are hills; two testing ones and an incline that greets you at miles 8 and 18 which is a hill in any ones language. The best part of the day is the marshalls and the drinks station staff. They were excellent and mostly well briefed. Plenty of smiling and encouragment from them. The opening one mile lap around the town was fine for reasonable runners but my wife, who was watching the event, told me that slower runners at the back, who hadn't gone over the start line, were told to 'get out of the way' as the front runners were coming back through! Not very nice for those that were embarking on 26 miles to be treated that way. Surely a slightly longer first lap would solve this issue? One big problem with the route is at 25 miles when you have to negotiate a kissing gate at the end of the Greenway! Why wasn't the larger gate opened for runners? I had to squeeze past a child on a bike which was not ideal.
As others have said a shame no goody bag. A cereal or choccy bar would not have gone amiss.
And so to the commentator at the end... Apparently he missed the winner coming in. He also confused runners opting to do the half marathon distance instead of the full marathon coming in to finish. Marathon runners red numbers, half had white numbers on. So those with red numbers deciding to finish at half distance had supremely good times! My wife said he was congratulating marathon runners coming in at 1hr 50 mins!! Please get someone who is a bit more knowledgeable about running next year.
And finally the prize giving. A lot of runners like to see this part of the event. I do. When I asked when it would be the answer was 'ten minutes'. Half an hour went by: 'another ten minutes' Twenty minutes went by. I left. And so too I guess had most of the prize winners and vast majority of runners. I hope there is a mechanism for Runners World to feed all my fellow runners comments back to the Rotary Club as there is no local club involvement with the running of the race. 'We've been doing this for 32 years' I was told by one of the Rotary Club members. Maybe enough time to have really got it spot on then?
Date of review: April 29, 2013

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

In short: A big city - but not a big city race
In full: Good facilities at Worcester Rugby Club so no problems with parking and toilets. Interesting beginning, ten minutes late, with the start 'gate' being inflated just before we set off. Crowds around the course very thin but then it is a rural course with small hamlets along the route. Drinks stations were really good and well marshaled. Biggest disappointment though was the finish. Not much cheering, very very quiet and many runners didn't even realise there was a table with t-shirts hidden around a corner. No food to scoff such as banana or cereal bar - just a greasy spoon wagon selling burgers and bacon baps for £4. After an athletic event? Come on please do better than that. No medal in't acceptable I'm afraid. Yes I know we just chuck them in the draw at home but part of the day is wearing it and coming home to show off a medal. Probably the worst moment was the winner of the marathon. I stayed to watch him come in and the organisers hardly noticed him! I felt very sorry for the lad. No tape was ready and the commentator missed him completely; more interested in telling us some minutes later when he found out who he was that he had been beaten by him in a recent race! What?! Sharpen up your act chaps.
Date of review: April 15, 2013

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		Maybe
Details:
Scenery		60%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		20%
Value		60%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: A curate's egg
In full: From a personal perspective I enjoyed the route, undulating in places but with plenty of Warwickshire countryside to enjoy. Support staff and marshals and policing on the route were faultless. But and a big but, compared to other similar sized events it was hopelessly mismanaged. Info on the BHF was not clear enough about times that runners actually needed to be in the grounds i.e by 8am, NOT 'by 9am'. Problems with traffic should have been foreseen for such a small market town and can only ditto other runners complaining about the poor medal; inability of family/friends to join their runner before the start in a HUGE field; the awful run in to the finish on mud and the horrendous wait for a lot of runners in really cold conditions to pick up baggage. I feel sorry for the event organiser who was thanked at the start of the race for all her preparations! She must be squirming in her seat back at charity HQ today. Just hope that at least the BHF raised a lot of money for a cause that is so important.
Date of review: March 18, 2013

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

In full: Good mix of runners from the very quick looking for a PB to the locals supporting a good cause. The young marshals who looked very smart in their uniforms didn't add a lot by merely pointing out the very obvious route. They looked more bored than the dummies lining the route (real dummies, not spectators!) And why bother with handing out a plastic bag with a piece of paper in it saying I did the run? Mine went in the bin I'm afraid. A pat on the back and a 'well done' would have been better.
Date of review: April 6, 2011

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