My Event Ratings

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

In short: Fast, friendly size, fluid organisation but no-frills
In full: Part of an evening race series, the 5km course consisted of 2 large laps of Battersea Park, on tarmac. Set a road pb on in this race despite racing over the same distance 2 days prior so definite speed potential, comparable to the Serpie course in Hyde Park. Battersea is used for all the Sri Chinmoy London races so it could get a bit boring if you were booked in for the entire series but knowing the course is also an advantage. Friendly atmosphere yet competitive at the top end and age group medals and water/squash at the end were a nice touch for a bargain race. Great way to spend an evening, only qualm would be that some of the other park users seemed blissfully unaware of the fact there was a race on and at that time of day it's pretty busy.
Date of review: April 19, 2013

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Overall score		60%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		80%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		40%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: Friendly, fast course, but for £20 I would actually like an official race time
In full: As people have said, start was a bit disorganised with no clear start line. The course, however, was good - flat and fast and despite being made up of laps not too dull as it took you along the river and towpath. HOWEVER - most likely short, as came up as 12.98 on my Garmin. Biggest gripe though is that apparently due to the 'extreme weather conditions' - rain - I didn't even have a time on the results, never mind a non-chip time. For £20 this is unacceptable and so is the excuse, I could go and run 13miles and time it on my own without paying considerable money for the privelege. Annoying particularly as I was in the top 10 for my gender so it would be nice to actually have my name and time recognised in the results, getting smudged in the rain is no excuse. Not returning until they add chip timing.
Date of review: September 29, 2012

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

In short: What it says on the tin - fairly fast, good value (and with a good level of competition!) 5k in central London
Date of review: August 27, 2012

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

In short: Nice setting and distance, but steep price and slow and over-length course would make me think again
In full: I did the 15k, which consistef of 3 laps of the twisty course. It was fairly flat with the odd undulation and cross country section, but frequent hairpin turns and backing on yourself made it seem longer than it was (and the loop was 300m over length apparently). Plus with less than 1k to go I was misdirected by a marshall and had to go back running an extra 200m before finishing, so you can imagine I was not too happy about that.
Nice scenery and fairly ok organisation though.
A major qualm however would be that although the races were staggered, me and a fair few other runners had to dodge many slower runners and even 5k walkers on the first 2 laps. Also, dare I ssay that I think a couple of people dropped off a lap's worth of their race...
Date of review: August 27, 2012

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Overall score		40%
Would you do it again?		No
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		20%
Atmosphere		60%
Organisation		20%
Value		20%
Beginner-friendliness		100%

In short: A scenic and potentially fast route spoilt by poor organisation and having to dodge people the entire way.
In full: The opportunity to run through a traffic-free central London was what lured me and most likely many others to this race, as it really is a chance that apart from the VLM you rarely get.
But very disappointed and really not worth the money, so this was a one-off experience for me.
First of all, calling it a 'race' is a joke in itself. I didn't start too far back in comparison to the entire crowd but was unable to run at my pace for any of course due to constantly having to weave between slower runners and walkers, walking two or three abreast and I was still dodging walkers and people who just stopped suddenly in the middle of the course with 400m to go!! (For once in a race I actually managed a long sprint finish, as usually by this point in a 10k at race pace my legs feel like jelly and feel like throwing up...) The narrow course made even this difficult so for much of the time you were forced to sit in behind people, probably ran an extra 0.5-1k just moving horizontally across course to get in the gaps. So, as other reviews have stated, the lack of a staggered start or at least ordering by predicted race time really lets the race down; as faster runners cannot get into their pace I am sure walkers must have got annoyed by being bumped into constantly. To show the difference - time today was 6.30min over my pb from 3 weeks ago, on a multi terrain course and being less well prepared.
The organisation was pretty bad too, as others have stated - taking half an hour to cross the start line was pretty annoying, especially as last went to the loo at 8 due to the start/baggage bays being a mile away. Consequently was not happy at having to queue 3mins or so for the portaloos mid race (would have done a Paula as that's almost a k's time but with the security probably wouls not have been a great idea.) At the end you had to ask for your medal, and that only after finding the people supposed to be giving them out! Poor excuse for a goody bag too, a £1 off voucher, random sugar satchet(?) green tea satchet and nuts. Didn't make sense to me either.
Obviously, this race will keep drawing in entrants due to the admittedly 'iconic route' (although being busy trying not to crash into people, didn't absorb much of it tbh except Big Ben)but I for certain won't be doing it again.
Date of review: July 8, 2012

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

In full: Although I'd run longer distances, and raced similar ones before, this was my first 'official' 10k race (and not cross-country). Although the small field put a bit of a damper on the atmosphere it gave the event a much less intimidating feel, although there were a fair few club runners. The friendliness and support of the marshalls on the last couple of k's helped spur me on and make up a bit for the lack of crowd support.
In terms of organisation, there were (by race standards) nice toilets a couple of hundred yards from the start, race set off on bang on time, and results were up pretty promptly. Nice medal though, although I would say describing the Rocky bar and packet of raisins at the end as a 'goody bag' was pushing it...nevertheless, it served its purpose with the necessary glucose boost.
The surroundings of Bushy Park were naturally very scenic (though watch out for the deer!), although the course seemed a bit off in some places...particularly the grass sections marked by cones. The use of some fences/tape at least as in xc fixtures would have been much better, more accurate and avoided some cutting around, or else I am pretty sure given the vast expanse of Bushy a 10K course utilising exclusively the gravel or bike paths could have been marked out. Indeed, by sticking to a rough outline of the Parkrun course the organisers weren't really making the most of the setting, I feel.
However, this is definitely a good course for fast times. I was using the race as a 'test run' for a 10K I am doing later this month to have a time to work towards, and lets just say despite the sporadic training in previous weeks and a tummy upset on the day I was pretty pleased with my time. The course is pancake flat and had the weather conditions been better, would have been even faster.
My only final qualm is that for some reason, despite being a good course the event is not UKA affiliated for some reason. So that elusive PB you obtain won't make it onto Power of 10, unfortunately...
Date of review: June 21, 2012

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