Brussels 20km

E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

As there were no "recent" posts related to this race; i thought that i'd post a review in case anyone was interested in running this race in future years (and i cant seem to do it in the events review forum).

Brussels 20km
29th May 2011
24'c - Bright sunshine.

Race Organisation:
- For me this left a lot to be desired. The stalls before hand had very little information about what was going on. I just turned up and went with the flow. The start was very managed with two lines merging into 1 and the 1km point.

- The race was marshalled mainly by the police - and without issue. I found them to be very helpful and cheery.

- The km markers were occasionally hard to see but I was more concerned with my blisters than the km!

Refuelling/Water stops:

- Badly managed and planned. The water was provided by SPA and with screw caps (even though they provided sports cap bottles at the end).

- They were evenly placed and although crowded. I felt that the actual water spots were not well managed. Everyone was being shoved to get a drink and you kept waiting roughly 10/15 seconds for a drink to be passed to you. In constrast - the Isostar drink was on hand and available.

Post race information:

- After the race there was a long queue of people to actually get moving (no flow). I waited 5 minutes for a drink (due to the amount of people crossing the line/warming down) and then longer for a banana/Mars Bar. Again, slight niggles as there were over 30.000 runners but still - i feel if they had a better flow system at the end - everything would have progressed a little quicker.

- Coming back to the metro was very difficult. There were no "routes" or guides set up to let you know where you were going or how to get there. The metro was overcrowded with limited "crowd" control in place.

- In the "race enclosure" you were given free banana's/ Mars Bar/Water. Couldnt really ask for more!

General Comments:

- This race had fantastic support from the "locals". They were out throughout the course cheering and the kids were fantastic!

- The weather was a little too hot for my liking. The course led you through woods so it was generally welcome to be out of the sun for a couple of km's!

- Course is a great course (for what it covers) and shows a good tour of the city. There's a hill in the last 3 km's which makes it a slightly hard finish but well worth it.

- Red Cross were very professional and quick to any accidents. They were a strong (and welcome) support throughout the race.

- Overall - i'd run this race again. The course is definitely PB worthy and worth a shot at.

Comments

  • I did this race in May 2012, the temperature was in the 30's. Personally I thought it was amazing. Plenty of water stations along the way, the support en route was fantastic and it was great to see a different city on foot. There are over 30 thousand people who do this race annually from all over the World so they must be doing something right. The cost a whopping 18 quid, really is superb value. If you fancy doing something different in a different country then go for it, i'd love to do it again.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    @Deacs - This was the review from 2011 when it was done in the afternoon. In 2012 they made a lot of changes to the race itself.

    My race report from 2012 is here

  • Hi Emma

    yep I heard 2011 was ridiculously hot, I believe somebody died due to the heat. I wasn't dismissing your opinion at all; people don't seem to know about the Brussels 20km we only found it by accident, great weekend away though and I'd love to do it again. 

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