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Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon
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Comments
I enjoyed the course and good to catch up with a couple of friends (yes that includes you Loz!). Course was pleasant and agree with the medal, it was a cheap insert type with even cheaper "ribbon".
96 HMs completed and agree Loz it's the worst medal I've had for a half-marathon.
I got caught out by the missing 12 mile marker too! I thought the mile was going on forever and I still needed to hold a little back for the final mile when all of a sudden the finish appeared!
pluses: good course (though I imagine parts could be treacherous if icy), good marshalls, excellent timing facilities with 5k splits, good luggage strore
minuses: no record of me when I arrived (though this was found later); gents loos (hire in some urinals and the queue will drop considerably); 2 very short (say 80cm ) poles in the middle of the path right towards the start - marshall there essential next year; value for money (as above); 12 mile marker (as above ); changing (as above - I though I'd read that there were showers but couldn't see them);medal (as above). Loads of lessons for next time - but def has potential but more value for money essential.
@Paul - I'm sure I read there were showers too, glad I didn't imagine it!
As an aside, reading the other reviews, I'm glad that I don't eat Bananas!
So...... this medal everyone is talking about can someone take a piccy and post it on here?
Booktrunk- I would but it's already in the bin...lol! It really was appalling...
Other than that and a lack of starting pens/ missing mile markers/ insufficient toilets I did enjoy the event and especially the route- very scenic.
Xyloid- yes, that was me as well... thinking that the 12th mile was dragging on forever...and then getting surprised by the finish!
I agree re the lack of toilets and the shitty medal and my shitty time
but I really enjoyed the route - never realised that MK was so pretty. I thought that we were going to run through some part of the city but then at about mile 11 I realised that that wasn't going to be happening any time soon! I could imagine that the start could be a problem for some congestion-wise - it was a rather narrow path.
Leics 2012 medal was a bit ropey (it improved for 2013) but i'm now dying to see this medal, it sounds bad
Due to popular demand
Does it say anything on the back about what it's for?
Well that's umm err pretty
at least it's Xmassy with the purle and tied... ribbon.
Nope. Nothing on the back!
OK, yeah that wins shit medal of the year award in my book then
and the photo doesn't show how very very light it is i.e. no substance to it whatsoever!
Looks like you threw it on the floor Loz (where it's meant to be by the way!).
I actually tried to peel the wrapper off and eat the chocolate inside....
The picture doesn't do it credit, it looks far cheaper in the flesh. And the ribbon on mine barely goes over my head!
Infairness, while the medal is crap, the fact that we got a free buff (albeit covered in a sponsors logo) is far better than what's found in most goodie bags.
I really enjoyed this race, found everything as expected according to the info on the website, and am sad to see the negative comments! I didn't feel at all misled and was pleased with the facilities, the course, and the goodies (yes, including the medal!!). I hope people aren't put off from entering next year's race
I did nearly sign up for this as i love races and who doesn't want to add another medal to the bling collection! Err, hmmm, not exactly blinngy is it, at best could be called Sports Day Retro ;Op
Didn't run in the end as had something to get to in the afternoon and it all would have been a bit of a rush. maybe next year - if they get a new medal supplier!
Sounds like the race itself was ok, have done a fair few half's and 10ks in MK as it's not too far away for me, and some nice redways and bits round the lake, and agood excuse to head to Xscape while I'm there.
I gave it to my 3 year old son but he threw it on the floor in disgust
It was nice to catch up Andy, see you at Bracknell if not before. I'm signed up for the White Horse at the start of April and was considering the Bramley 10 in February. Assume you've run that one before being an ex roadrunner?
Seriously, you were pleased with the medal?
You don't work for the MK winter wonderland organisers do you?
LOL - I walked past that as they were dismantling it. It really was pitiful.
Bramley is a good race Loz, very pleasant.I'll drop you a mail on that as it's even closer to where I live than Bracknell.
Enjoyed the race helped by a PB. Course was nice, few twists and undulations to break up the monotomy but still fairly fast. Personally not bothered about the medal. I did wonder if I had missed the 12mile mark and was also concerned at that stage how far I had to go (although had my garmin I could not be sure of the accuracy vs length of course) as that bit did seem to be an incline at the time (well my legs thought so).
Timing was great, good to have splits and real time results. Luckily wasn't affected by the lack of toilets but did see a very long queue not long before the start.
Actually for all the criticism of the organisation, I liked the timing splits not least because it shows clearly just how much I blew in the last quarter!
Hullo there,
I thought I'd just pop in and say Hi...so Hi!
I'm one of the organisers of Sundays race. Be gentle I'm a bit tired
The runner who collapsed just past the 8 mile mark is home and well and asked me to thank you all for your concern.
This was our very first race (could you tell?) and we all tried our hardest to make this an enjoyable and successful event. I've already emailed a few of you as you made direct contact. Thanks for the feedback - it is most welcome (even if some of it makes a tough read and kept me up all night - where are you Andrew?
)
Portaloos - yup. not enough. 5 for 450 men. We will sort.
Medals -
I emailed a runner this morning and said that I was tempted to say we were being ironic, and next years will be even worse (and for those wits among you, yes there ARE worse medals). But it's such a lie - we looked at the picture of the medal on-line and it looked quite swish. When they turned up in race week we were...underwhelmed.
All that aside I hope you did all have a good race - there are loads of things we've learned, such as people think it's funny to steal mile markers(and even worse 'caution runners' signs) you can never have enough sweets, toilets and bananas and we deffo need sugar out on the course. Lots of other admin stuff too.
I hope you liked the course and saw some really nice hidden bits of MK - after riding round it more times than I care to recall it's paled slightly for me
(I think I may have overdone the smileys in this post)
Oh and all the marshals commented on what a lovely bunch you were and how polite. Let's see if that's true...
That's a brave post Dave. But one that I'm sure I'm not alone in appreciating. I emailled the organiser of the Luton half marathon in October (and if you feel that the criticism on here is harsh, maybe read that for a sense of perspective!) becuase that event was truly awful and subsequemtly recieved a really dismissive reply that said all the negative feedback was wrong and they had lots of positive private feedback. I really respect that you've held your hands up and acknowledged where faults and shortcomings were rather than ignore or even worse deny them. It was a cracking course and this reply is enough to make me want to come back next year. When I see a reply like this on the forums I feel that there is a case for organisers having a right to reply on the events ratings section.
And in fairness to you I have commented that the picture above doesn't do justice to how poor the medal is so can fully appreciate how you may have been fooled by the supplier.
You are a top man Dave forcoming on here and facing "the angry mob".
I actually thought the course was very pleasant, I managed to use the loo at my friend's house - 5 mins away from the race, so that wasn't an issue for me
The medal was def the low point, but the rest was ok for me.
Cheers
Thanks for taking the time to post Dave.
I actually thought it went very well considering it was the first race and I think it has real potential bearing in mind the only alternative for December that I can think of is Bedford although that is significantly cheaper.
You cannot please all runners but I suspect if you ditch/replace the medal and provide slightly better food options (whole banana, cereal bar, mince pie maybe) which shouldn't be difficult with Costco round the corner then you'll be fine.
Oh and tea/coffee at the finish would be nice for the old guys like Andyp