My Event Ratings

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

In full: My friend and I ran this year's Oxford Half Marathon. She lives in Oxford and told me of the problems that the organisers were having with the Council and the local AA group - taking this on board I think we should all be lucky that the race ever got going!
Yes they had some problems with traffic getting into the Stadium, but I think that was mainly because people left it too late; we arrived at 8:30am for a 9:30am start and parked no problem!

I have read some comments where people have tried to compare the Oxford Half to others such as Reading, Bristol and Bath - how many years have they been going for?!!! this was the first time for Oxford and they did a great job; my brother ran the Bristol Half several times in the 90's and the race was always a fiasco with late starting and lack of times, and Reading was not much better up until recent years!
I have also raced at Bath before and experienced far worse problems.

I think the Oxford course could have been better and I understand this will change for next year, having read on this forum that the race did not get the go-ahead until 3-4 months before the date it was excellent.
The Stadium finish was superb and we found everyone to be friendly and supportive, the medal we received at the end was brilliant and unique; it was also great to see Liz Yelling on the Start line who also spoke to us afterwards and seems very nice.
Yes, the route could have been flatter and more scenic, but this is Oxford and you're not going to see galloping Wildebeast and Water Buffalo in Oxford!!
Full credit to the event, and if a couple of minor teething troubles are overcome next year this has the making of being a truly great event - we will be back for 2012 certainly.
Date of review: November 20, 2011

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