My Event Ratings

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

In short: Late start AGAIN
In full: I really like this race, I've set PBs twice here but the start of the race really needs to be looked at. It started late, yet again, and this year was colder than last year so your warm up goes out of the window. And yet again, the very slow runners decide starting at the 90 minute mark is perfectly acceptable (in their masses) causing all sorts of tripping and bottlenecks for the first half-mile or so.
Once past this point, the race is really good and quite fast. Eccy Road, the city centre and Don Valley has plenty of support, even sections of Brightside Lane in the industrial areas had people lining up - well done the people of Sheffield! We even got a technical t-shirt and a bottle of flavoured water at the end this year, whatever next!!
Date of review: May 24, 2013

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

In short: First time London Marathon
In full: This was my second marathon after a disastrous Nottingham Marathon in 2011.
The organisation for the runners was fantastic, save for some bottlenecks around the course which slowed you right down. The only issue with VLM is that the crowds are so large that it does cause you to slow down and speed up to catch up. As an inexperienced marathon runner, this ended up catching up with me in the form of cramp after 20 miles!
For spectators - apparently the Underground was a nightmare and there were many closures causing massive issues. You would have thought that maintenance work would have been scheduled around such a massive event.
Date of review: May 1, 2013

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

In short: Good Race - Improved since 2011
In full: I used this as a training race for London and managed a PB. As with many of the smaller events, it is dominated by club runners but it seemed welcoming non-the-less. The course now starts at Goldthorpe Leisure Centre and still has two loops but goes out towards Barnburgh, and the lovely steep hill there. Although the roads were still open, there wasn't too much hassle from traffic - although the odd idiot liked to fly down the country lanes in their chav-mobile.
Date of review: March 18, 2013

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

In short: Hot day
In full: The organisation was good and they added an extra drinks station and sponge stations along the way, however, the early stations were woefully understaffed/poor organised and caused lots of problems with people running into each other. The tables could have been spread out much further so density of runners would be lower or have had them on both sides of the road (as done further along the course when the runners had already spread out). Other than that, great race, much better without the underground carpark and subways, and stadium finish... seemed further this year for some reason.
Date of review: May 28, 2012

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

In short: PB Course
In full: Very well organised event and a PB course if there ever was one.
Date of review: March 5, 2012

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

In short: My favourite half marathon
In full: Perfect mix of scenery and a challenge of undulating hills but also fast enough not to put people off. I somehow managed a PB too.
Date of review: November 1, 2011

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

In short: My first full marathon
In full: Despite having a personal nightmare of a race (a full 35 minutes off what I expected due to chronic cramp, hamstring, knee and ankle problems), I have to give massive praise to the organisers for running this like clockwork, plenty of water, sports drinks, gels and a good course (the lake possibly an exception!) and great sports village too. Great support from the public.

I will come back to do the half marathon in future but that's just personal preference of distance.
Date of review: September 11, 2011

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Overall score		60%
Would you do it again?		Maybe
Details:
Scenery		20%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		40%
Value		80%
Beginner-friendliness		60%

In short: A mixed bag race
In full: I ran this on the back of being ill for a few days so suffered extremely badly with the weather and hills - 19 minutes down on Sheffield last month.
On the good points, the marshalls and support were very good. Special shout out to the locals with the hosepipes, I just wish they were about throughout the course!
Bad points - dull as dishwater course. Running on A-Roads is uninspiring. The sponges could have been given out later on in the course too, around 9 miles. By the time I had finished, there was no water, which on a day like yesterday is unforgivable. Luckily the runners seemed very sensible and walked when needed rather than pushing themselves to collapsing from dehydration.
Date of review: June 27, 2011

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

In short: Great race
In full: My first Sheffield Half and I managed to slice off a good 3 minutes from my PB so that was very pleasing. As like most races are going these days, water is now in cups (a personal bug bear) but they were frequent.
Could have done with that rain that was promised towards the end though!
Date of review: May 8, 2011

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

In short: Good effort for inaugural race
In full: Decent course, with roads partially closed. I was disappointed with the goody bag - just a poor quality t-shirt - I honestly would have preferred a bottle of water.
Overall, organisation was very good.
Date of review: March 20, 2011

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