My Event Ratings

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

In short: Very flat course but a bit off a rip off.
In full: This is a great pre marathon warm up race that takes in the many cycle paths of Lancaster and the surrounding area. Avoiding hills for 20 miles in this area is pretty impressive, and it's without doubt one of the flattest courses of any distance I've ever raced. Track start and finish is a bonus as is the post race sandwich. However, at £27 this race is a rip off; it doesn't use any public roads, just cycle paths and pavements that are still open to the public. Also, the water is only in irritating plastic cups that are hard to drink from. Overall this is a solid and fast event that will remain popular due to it's position on the calender, but is too expensive for what it is.
Date of review: March 18, 2013

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

In short: Usual highs and lows, but still a must-do event!
In full: Second year running this. Crowds can be a real problem for a lot of people as the organisers don't seem to make enough of an effort to sort people out into a proper order. The course is mostly bland dual carriageway but this is cancelled out by the tyne bridge, the amazing start line and first mile down the motorway, and the south shields sea front. Some pretty special places to run..
The whole event is full of atmosphere right from the start area to the finish and this is a definate highlight of the event. Drink/ aid stations are frequent so top marks there. Course not too fast or slow even if you get a clear run, downhill overall but many undulations to deal with.
Major criticism though would be the baggage 'buses'; who the hell thought they were a good idea!? hundreds of runners clambering up and down a narrow bus trying to find their bag that is inevitably burried amongst hundreds of others! When most events make do with baggage lorries and assistants to get your bag. An event of this calibre should have a much more high tech system in place.
Overall though a top, must-do event and I will certainly be back for many years to come!
Date of review: September 24, 2012

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

In short: Great race with the usual Run For all Problems.
In full: Very fast and scenic course through the very heart York, as well as a great section alongside the river. Expensive for a 10K at £26 but it does include a very central course, 2 water stations plus a medal and t-shirt.
The one complaint is that, as with other Run For All events there is very little emphasis on sorting people into an appropriate starting order. This is not a fun run and it is not advertised as one, so the commentators should do more to discourage the old ladies with fairy wings from standing in the sub 40 minute section. Many stories of bad traffic and congestion going around. Would still do it again in a flash, though.
Date of review: August 7, 2012

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

In short: Ignore the criticisms - this is one solid event.
In full: This was my second year doing this. I'll start with the bad points:
The lack of any sports drink is a real disappointment for an event of this scale. It is a minimum expectation in most marathons. If they HAD to just give away gels then they should have been from much earlier than 16.5 miles ie. regular intervals from 5/6 miles onwards.
The event offers pretty poor value for money considering they aren't exactly closing the city centre down for the day. The Gosford house section they insist on including every year should be cut; I doubt anyone would miss that weird farm section in the middle of nowhere with the horrific gravel surface. Not pleasant when you've brought racing flats for a road race.
Why they must charge yet more still for use of the event buses I don't know.
As many people have pointed out most of the marathon isn't actually in Edinburgh, so the course will disappoint a lot of people.
Now the good points:
As advertised, this is a lighting fast course with definite PB potential. Barely an incline to speak of and a tasty net drop from start to finish. The only downside is that the conditions from year to year have been pretty bad. But that can change, and the organisers can't do much about it. Whilst not exactly Edinburgh, the course does have a certain strange charm about it, and is definitely memorable with scenic sections along the cost and a central start down london road and round holyrood park.
Whilst there was no sports drink there were at least frequent water stations.
Huge amount of crowd support in many parts of the course. Marshall's all very friendly and helpful. Nice touches included kids handing out sweets/ squirting runners with water pistols and a petrol station manager using the jetwash to great affect! Many residents out with their hoses too, all much appreciated!
Finish area was massive and had great atmosphere, lots to do and things to see. Baggage worked very well also.
T-shirt is a great design and very high quality. Medal was very special and possibly my favourite ever (I do have a fair few).
Overall a very solid marathon and one I'd recommend trying. People complain about small organisational issues but it's easy to forget about what are ultimately pretty small issues. The important things are all taken care of.
Like a lot of people, I will be back next year.
Date of review: May 28, 2012

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

In short: Very solid and enjoyable event
In full: Ok so good points: The event offered very good value with a technical t-shirt, medal AND a toffee crisp included in the finishers bag. There were several sections of zero support but there were surprising amounts of support in the more built up areas. Overall organisation seemed to be to a high standard.
Bad points: We were led to the start line quite early and many there were no portaloos alongside the start line, meaning many people were just going in the starting pens or outside local shops. I doubt the owners were too pleased. A few toilets next to the start could fix this. There needs to be more seperation of runners into ability based zones, as after the sub 75 and sub 85 minute section it was basically a free for all, and I'll bet there was plenty of traffic problems for some of the faster runners. Course is quite hilly and not lighting fast but the downhills are at least gradual enough to take full advantage of them.
Overall a good event with some great atmosphere in places, so I may well be back next year.
Date of review: May 14, 2012

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

In short: Lovely stuff
In full: Ok, bad stuff out of the way first!
Water pouches were a bit pointless and gimmicky: some were easy to open and others were a real pain, whilst it did sometimes taste a bit funny.
The powerade station were really inconsistant and there was a huge gap in the middle of the race without one (surely I can't have been the only one annoyed by this!)
Miles 18 and 19 were very quiet compared to the rest of the race.
The course is largely unimaginative and features A LOT of out and back sections, which runners generally hate as they are demoralising.
Now the good stuff: the whole event feels like it is a big event; something special. There's some properly good organization behind the whole thing.
The course is generally pretty flat with only small inclines to slow you down in the first half.
Water stations are frequent.
Crowd support is on another level here.
Some solid scenery throughout the course. Even the power station has a certain charm about it.
Overall a very good event, especially for beginners. If you are thinking about doing it next year I would not hesitate in signing up as entries fill up VERY quickly if previous years are anything to go by, and this event is only going to get bigger and more prestigious.
Date of review: April 16, 2012

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

In short: Great race; some great scenery and atmosphere amongst runners!
In full: This was my second consecutive Loch Ness Marathon. This whole event has a very special, different feel you don't quite get from other events. It starts in the middle of nowhere, and most of the course is much the same so there's a special atmosphere as throughout. Scenery is good but you cannot see as much of the loch as you would hope!
Quite a challenging course, very downhill overall but many undulations and punishing climbs to go with it. Final 3 pancake flat miles in Inverness were a relief!
Organisation was disappointing after last year. The buses left for the start line quite late, then took a VERY long time to get there (1 hour 30 mins approx) so we were 15 mins from the race start upon arrival. This was followed by stewards and the commentator rushing us to get our bags dropped and get to the start line in time for the race. We had JUST got there. Give us a chance guys! Not impressed. Also, once again the park at the end was absolutely caked in mud, meaning runners and spectators alike were tip toeing around the place. Use mats or something instead.
Overall a very different and special event and I would definitely recommend giving it a try.
Date of review: October 3, 2011

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

In short: Lives up to it's name, and the hype.
In full: This was my first great north run. Atmosphere at the start was fantastic, couldn't wait to get going! I had heard so many hardcore horror stories about how bad the traffic in this race is, and how you can't move for people. I can't speak for everyone, but I was at the back of zone B (the front public zone) and had a few thousand people ahead of me when i crossed the line, and I had no such traffic issues. I finished in 1 hour 28, and was able to maintain this pace amongst the pack for the whole race; yes it was a thick crowd but everyone appeared to be up to speed!
The course was not scenic at all, with the notable exception of the Tyne Bridge, with it being mostly dual carriageway/ residential area. There was a lot of support though, as expected.
Not exactly a fast course despite getting a clean run throughout, but not exactly a fell run either. You're generally either climbing or falling slightly.
Great finish area and intense crowd support at the end, T-shirt and medal are also good. It's a long trip back to Newcastle because of queuing, but you should expect as much!
Overall a great race let down only by some bland scenery!
Date of review: September 20, 2011

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

In short: Awesome route over a relatively fast course.
In full: Nice enough atmosphere at the start although the warm up was an annoying waste of time, especially when you can't really participate due to being so tightly packed into starting pens. The pens were also not big enough, meaning many people still of the route when the race started. Course includes the very best of York and really makes the race special. There's a couple of slight gradients but nothing you would call a proper hill, so it's pretty quick too. Many people over estimating their abilities in the starting pens as usual but not the organisers fault! The lack of a medal didn't bother me, but might disappoint some people.
Date of review: August 3, 2011

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		Maybe
Details:
Scenery		40%
PB potential		100%
Atmosphere		20%
Organisation		40%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Edinburgh has much better to offer.
In full: If you enter this expecting the big city marathon experience in edinburgh then you will be disapointed; the course starts in edinburgh but quickly kicks you out into the outskirts of the city until you end up running alongside the coast for the rest of the event. This does mean that the first section of the race is fairly downhill and the remainder is very flat, so it's a pretty fast course. However the other aspects of the course let it down: it is unimaginative as it doubles back on itself frequently, it features mostly boring back streets or depressing power stations to run through, and you end up in sheer countryside at one point - not exactly edinburgh is it!
The end could have been much better: the screen wasn't even working and shouldn't have been the solution anyway, they should have come up with a better finish line from the beginning. It stinks of things being done on the cheap. I will point out however that the hoards of people crowding outside the runners' exist after they have finished was NOT the organisers' fault, this was down to the general public being extremely stupid and stubborn whilst ignoring the signposted DESIGNATED reunion area, creating a huge jam in the process and ruining the day for everyone. People can be so stupid.
Shuttle buses were to far from the finish, but at least ran smoothly. Medal + t-shirt decent enough.
The start was atmospheric and very well organised although a final point would be that I was at the very front of the London road start, and when the starting gun went off they still had the blue rope in front of us holding us back!! what a embarrassing mistake. Chaos ensued as everyone charged forward anyway and had to duck under the blue rope.
I think that has covered everything!
Date of review: May 24, 2011

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