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Leicester Marathon
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Comments
Well done Runner888. Sub 4hours is still a very good time, especially as it was quite hot and sunny for the marathon runners and not easy to take on water from plastic cups. Girls in tight shorts always help the motivation!!!!!
Thanks K/R. I did my "Seb Coe" - Go out hard and hang on the best you can. I was knackered at the finish which is a good sign I gave my all. Your sub 90 mins is a very good time although I know you wanted faster. The turns around the underpass aren't the best after that distance and certainly affect an even pace. It was hard to come to almost a standstill and then kick off again.
I came out of the underpass and as we turned back on ourselves I twisted my socks which caused a blister coming through town.
Loved this event can't seem to find a place yo leace comments?
Brillient event I was flying along until I went through 1/2 way & then the sun came out! no complaints it just made it harder, managed to hobble up the last hill to the finish in just under 3.40
Will probably come back next year and try for sub 3.30
Well home now may go swimming this week as walking is not a option at the let alone running moment
Calf is still quite tight I have leant again two valuable lessons though I have to be a lot fitter and need to lose some weight
Runner 888 well done on the time tight pinks pants dam missed that one
Knight Rider yes hopefully will be back next year to try the full one that is if the body hasn’t given up the ghost by then
Hi, sorry for jumping in after the event (as it were) and especially with such a daft question, but...
I ran the half this year and last and it's a great race, but where were this year's souvenir t-shirts?
Cheers and well done everyone.
Suddy - I wondered that myself (Where's the t-shirt?) Every year I have done this, even 7 years ago when it was based out in the countryside, there has always been a t-shirt for the finishers.When it was out inthe countyside it had a different sponsor then when it moved back to the city it changed…
As the race is a charity event with the aim of raising as much money as possible, I think they are doing a good job and for a good cause, but also think a £20 entry and a medal that probably costs £1.50 max I feel a bit ripped off. They were selling t-shirts with the entry at an extra cost of £10. Not bad for a technical t-shirt, but surely as runners we should feel like we have got a good momento. I think next year they should reduce the entry fee to £15 if they aren't doing a free t-shirt.
Rant over - I enjoyed the race as it was my local.
K/R sorry to hear about your wife hope shes feeling better
I only run one or two marathons a year - so the cost isn't massively important to me. Petrol and hotel was far more than the entry fee.
I'd rather pay more for a tecchy tee shirt that I can wear to the gym rather than a free cotton one that ill never get use from.
Support and marshalling was fantastic - I would definitely do the race again.
Does anyone know how the peel runner who collapsed at mile 23 got on ? Did he get to finish in the end ?
I must admit i was a bit disappointed about the good bag and t-shirt i tend to were the cotton ones to the gym or around the house
what's more disappointing is it seems the organizers aren’t interested in the views of the like of me and you in ways they could improve the race or what we thought of itI bought the t-shirt when registering for the race as I wear them in the gym and training. Whilst it fits in the body it is so tight under the arms it chafes like crazy. The goody bag itself doesn't really bother me too much, although a chocolate bar would have been nice instead of a healthy banana!!!!
One of the biggest disappointments for me was the lack of media coverage. There was very little in the local newspaper in the run up to the race and nothing on local tv new programmes. The Leicester Mercury had a supplement yesterday but not one mention on either BBC or ITV regional new programmes last night.
The event has the potential to be much larger than it is if the marketing is done right. Leicester has the infrastructure to stage this with double the amount of runners but most of the people I work with (100+) only knew about it when the signs were put up warning of traffic delays and closures.
Location
Pretty well signposted (considering the actions of the day before) and easy to get to. Managed to park all day in the HayMarket for £1.60 and the warm-up jog to Victoria park was enough to get me warmed up for the race (also gives an early insight on the final hill!). Last year I ran 4 miles to the start line, this was so much better!
Marshalling
I was really impressed with the marshals, really enthusiastic (especially the guy at the end of the under pass around ~25mile mark). I think for the whole 26 miles, there were 2 who didn't clap and looked as though they would rather be in front of the Eastenders omnibus.
The Course
Really nice run, a good PB course IMO. There were a few curbs around the towns and villages (mostly marathon section only), but not many to cause a fuss. Some parts weren't coned off and the traffic was quite close in some parts, this is probably my only critique.
Cost and Prizes
Felt a bit ripped off with the medal... same one as last year with a new ribbon. Also, this year you had the choice to buy a technical top for £10 when registering... this arrives in time for the race. However (and unlike last year) no free tops were given for race completer's. Just a medal, banana and bottle of water. Here i'm only criticising the medal and upward costs from last year; I agreed to the rest when I signed up for the race!
In comparison
Last year: £ 20/22 (A/nA) - Includes free long sleeve top/medal
This year: £ 24/26 (A/nA) - medal only
Overall
Overall the race was good. I'd give it 8.5/10. As mentioned briefly, nothing seemed affected by the events in the day previously and the team responsible for organising the event did a fantastic job putting it all together on the day.
That's not good, Toby. What have they said to you? I would hope all race organisers take on board criticism and use it to imporve.
FWIW, I really enjoyed the event. The course's good bits (nice villages and attractive parks) more than made up for the busy road sections. And the marshalls were superb all the way round. I reckon £24 is a reasonable price for 5 hours of fun and sa.fety
HI all, I think it's a fair price considering - and a lovely course.
Had a after marathon blues day - where I feel abit down and grumpy. No aches or pains but all the excitement, adrenalin etc has gone so feel abit flat (got into LONDON for next year so shouldn't grumble). Has anyone got their eye on any winter races??? Any decent tips for winter training??
With regards to the cost, as said this years event was more than last years for maybe "less" but there was a fair amount of road closures and I thought that there was quite a large police pressence in the final couple of miles when back in the city/town centre (whether this was related to the events on Saturday I don't know) but either way policing costs and road closures has to be paid for by the event organisers.
It is a really good event but costs are spiralling up everywhere. I guess that the County Councils aren't overly flush with cash anymore so they are maybe wising up to the fact that they can charge a premium price to race organsiers where as previously they may have been a little more oblivous/generous.
Still very good value IMHO.
Yes, I think the road closures and marshalling were definitely stepped up compared with last year. Not that I felt there was anything to complain about last year but this year there were certainly more marshals out in the village bits and I don't remember all the roads being closed before around where you are briefly out of watermead before you go into abbey park.
The costs faced by big city race organisers must be going up and up all the time. I imagine insurance and safety is a big one and I wonder what drives that. The law? The runners? Society and "health and safety gone mad" stuff? It's interesting to me because I started fell running this year and the contrast is fascinating. Entry is only a few quid but a big race is just a couple of hundred people, there may only be marshals at check points a couple of moutains apart, often no course is marked and there isn't any desire to be bigger and better.
I am not for a moment saying one type of racing is better than the other, or that Leicester could be run like a fell race. I just never realised this tiny self sufficient fell running community existed. Also, now I think about it, I haven't moaned about not getting a t-shirt all summer on the fells. Perhaps I have been secretly missing the glory of goody bags and t-shirts!
I think goods points have been made by everyone
In years gone by marathon running was only really done by athletes and not by Jo public but more and more in recent years with coverage of events like London and the GNR and with the onset of fitness crazy it has been opened up to the public domain
So now a great opportunity has been open up to local councils to cater for the desire of people to run an event like this it gives them the opportunity to not only raise a good sum of money for locale charities but attract people to the city generating money for locale business
But i think the cost of organizing such an event is probable the main factor when setting the price of the entry fee and what you can afford to give away the end
Leicester is the smallest event i have run in with just 3,300 runners when i compare it to some of the race i have run such as Bristol and bath and Brighton which all have the same cost of organizing
so there are two ways to go you ether increase the entry fee and cut down on what you give away if you wish to keep the numbers low or increase the number of runners keeping the entry fee down and possibly generating more income not only to organize the event but to the city as a whole
There are dangers in both if you increase the fee it will get to a stage where it just become too expensive to enter and un like London and now possible Brighton Leicester is a little known race and hasn’t got the oh i must run that image and could not really get away with charging big amounts
On the other hand if you increase the number of runners you can be accused of money grabbing an accusation i have heard levelled at Bath by more than one person and lose that small friendly feel
Not an easy balancing act so really i suppose it comes down to what dose Leicester want from its marathon does it want a small race that comes and goes and is of no really importance to anybody expects the people running it or do they what an event that puts them on the map and has everyone wanting to run it
Leicester is not by far the most expensive race i have entered i have just entered the Bristol 10k that cost me £22 pounds but you do get a T-Shirt and medal and goodie bag and Brighton cost me about £48 to enter
So as said before it really does depend on what Leicester as a city wants’ to get out of there race
The Leicester marathon event is primarily a chairty event and I know the organisers have aspirations for the race to grow in numbers, which great as they get to raise more money and also gives the city a higher profile. Nottingham already attracts 12,000 runers and i think they want to get to this kind of level. I've not run the Nottigham race so don't know how it compares both in terms of value for money and course?
i think the point is that after running a marathon you'd like more than just a banana, a bottle of water and a cheap medal.
Another brilliant date!
Will probably do this again - maybe even the full?
Does anyone have an email address or phone number for the organisers?
They have removed 2009 results from the website and I need it for GFA proof
Owl
Found them here:
http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=1819091011
Thanks KR for PMing me.