Oxford Half Marathon

Has anyone else entered for this or done it in previous years?  Looking forward to it and also quite nervous!

«1

Comments

  • yes done it last year miss boris,good race , different route this year though .....,there were some minor problems with parking last year so i would get to the kasam early.

    what you nervous about anyway ?image

  • Hi all

     

    Running the Oxford Half on Oct 14th.Received today via emailed pdf the race details.It said car parking pass included.I've looked and looked but cant see it.Anyone help before I get in touch with the organisersimage

  • Anyone else?Car parking pass def not in race details,wonder if it being posted with number and chip?

    Said though it was included in race deatilsimage

     

    Any Oxford HM organisers reading this?

     

     

  • Hi all,

    Yes, I'm, running the Oxford Half on the 14th. It'll be my first half and I'm really excited (though I've been having a few too many calf issues to date). I got my race pack today and didn't get a parking pass. It said that only selected runners got then, though I don't know how they make the selection.

    For me, this is by the by as I haven't got a car. However, I wondered if anyone was coming from Central Oxford or Summertown (North Oxford) and would be interested in sharing a taxi, or being gallant enough to give me a lift (I can contribute in cash or Jelly Babies)? According the the Oxford United page, a taxi costs about £10 from the railway station. I'd like to meet others and don't really want to pay for a taxi on my own. 

    Perhaps I'll meet one or two of you next Sunday. Otherwise, good luck - hope it's a great one!

     

    Caroline

  • caroline you will be able to get a bus to blackbird leys from town in fact theres one that stops outside the kasam image

  • hi Dalli ! how are you?? im not doing oxford HM this year as i have  Druids on 9th Nov and Abingdon mara on 21st Oct..am popping off to Northdowns for a long run Saturdayimage...

  • Thanks Dalli. Though I hear that the bus from town takes absolutely ages. I'll have to get on the bus by about 7.30am to get there in time!

  • Im in for this race also.  We got a parking pass which is handy as there are 4 of us coming over from Reading.  

    The course profile is described as predominantley flat - can anyone give more info ??  Really looking forwards to it.

  • Site now says that parking passes are to be e-mailed to people. Nothing received yet, but then I'm still waiting on my Race PACK. image

  • A bit of a concern that race pack hasn't arrived yet. I assume it's not the plan to collect timing chip on the day but if they're emailing parking passes now then I do wonder. Thought I heard them say 3500 entrants on radio oxford so hope this doesn't cause delays on the day.

    Think it was 2000 last year and I was lucky enough to find street parking nearby but found the baggage drop busy so left my gear in the car. Weather forecast looking fine but a bit breezy so fingers crossed.

  • Received my race pack today and it included parking pass. I only entered a couple of weeks ago so assume this means that everyone's should be on the way. My number is over 4000, not sure if this is an indication of the number of entrants. Local BBC radio is now saying wet and windy for sunday but on BBC website it looks ok.

  • hey everyone, anyone know if there are going to be pacers at this? ANd if so if they'll be  finishing times or minutes/miles - trying to get under 1:57 (pb) so trying to work out the best plan for me in terms of using pacers, thanks

  • Hi David, i have heard that there are pace makers and they are in finishing times in 5 minute increments.

  • Hello, I also did not receive a parking permit and not in the emails either - no response from organisers which is concerning! My number indicates there are at least 4000 runners which may explain why the organisation is struggling. How early would people recommend getting to the stadium (if I can negotiate Oxford buses!) 

  • how likely is it i can buy an entry off someone on the morning of the event?

  • Anyone notice the 8 & 9 mile markers were missing or was that just me?!
  • PipesPipes ✭✭✭

    I was cheering just before the mile 10 mark, Peacey, and lots of people were surprised when I told them where they were. They said they hadn't seen 9, but didn't mention 8.

    Hope everybody's race went well.

  • Cheers, Pipes. I was aiming for sub 80 and using the mile markers to manually lap but missed 8,9 so my pacing went a bit messed up, saying that I don't think I'd of gone sub 80 today but even still its a bit of a schoolboy error by the organisers if they missed them!
  • Yes I missed mile markers for 8 & 9 too. Other than baggage collect all went well for me as I smashed previous PB by about 9 mins!. Does anyone know when chip times will be available?

    I had my reservations when I saw the bag drop set up but that was a hellish long wait to collect. So glad it wasn't raining and at least the sun had some warmth so didn't chill down too much.

  • Well done Simon, I was thankful I had my OH to look after the kit, the snaked lines to collect look bad!



    Annoyed by the markers, really did mess my race to an extent, I'd expect better when paying nearly ??30 to enter, FFS.
  • I also missed the 8 and 9 markers, pretty sure they didn't exist. Nice surprise when I saw the mile 10 marker though! The narrow river paths were also a bit annoying, I lost a lot of time trying to get past people. Baggage collection was a joke but other than that an enjoyable day!

  • Thanks Peacey. Yeah I also found it nice surprise to see the 10 mile marker as I pretty much gave up trying to get past others along the towpath. At least it meant something left in tank for last 3 which I was thankful for so I didn't have that going backwards feeling! Last year I blew out badly by that point but didn't have the river distraction as was all road and more of the bypass so I think this year was improvement on that. 

  • both the 8 & 9 mile markers were there but they were both quite close to the ground so could have been missed if you were in a pack of people.

     

  • i was running with a pace-maker and i think we didnt see either the 8 or 9 mile markers either - think they might have been less obvious as were in field etc - thought the route ws pretty good (although the last three miles seem a bit bleak)., however, the organization, both in terms of info around beforehand (website etc) and the t-shirt/timing chip/baggage pick up queues at the end, was pretty bad - having to stand in about three queues for about an hour and a half after finishing is really not what you want...maybe they should have funneled us into separate queue rather than the free-for-all it felt like for t-shirts etc, and also split the baggage drop into 3/4 different locations by race number.. guess its still early days for them though

  • i thought it was a really well run event, and i've done my fair share of events over the years. As for the 8/9 mile marker not being obvious, i think thats neither here nor there to be honest. I think if you've dialled in your pace by 5-6 miles it should be pretty easy to stay consistent up until mile 10, regardless of the odd mile marker missing. I noted that you still had a good time Peacey, (you still beat me :0) but by the sound of it you're a bit of a racing snake and frustrated you didn't hit sub 1:20. Do you not run with gps?

  • Thanks David, yes i wa running with a GPS, the issue i had was that i wasnt using the autolap function, instead i was hitting the lap button at each marker so i could be 100% sure of my pace (Garmins are circa 0.1-.02m out over a half) and missing 2 markers meant my average pace reading was all over the place so i just ran the final few miles based on feel, i dont think i would of sub 80'd anyway but annoying all the same.

  • that makes sense, no wonder you got p@ssed off. although i've done plenty marathons, this was only my second standalone half in 17yrs!! I pb'd (1:22:28) so obviously i'm stat searching now to see what i could pull out the bag on a different course. would you say oxford was a slow/fast course?

  • Well done on your time!

    I've definatley run quicker courses but all things considered its a reasonable PB course, bit twisty in places for my liking but thats just a personal opinion!

     

  • Just to say, I was the Pacer for the 1:55 time and missed just one of the mile markers which I think was Mile 8 but it did not distract at all from the day and for me it made the next mile more fun as I was not sure whether to pick up the pace or not. I would like to have seen 5km timing mats and something over the road at the halfway point but these are minor gripes.  

    Other than that I thought it was a good course, great people to run with, lovely weather and although the queue at the end was long for bags I am sure they will sort this out for future years.

    I will definately run it again.    

     

Sign In or Register to comment.