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Brighton Marathon 2016
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Scraped over the line in 4 hours 46 for my personal worst by some distance. And yet...mprobably my proudest finish given the circumstances and that I really thought about pulling out at mile 14. So glad I kept going.
As for the organisation, I could have done without standing in queues for best part of an hour on Saturday having travelled from Scotland that day. But I don't mind the cups (Belfast has done this for years).
At the end, I picked up a tshirt from the x-large section but got home yesterday to find I'd been given a medium!! Gutted!! So if anyone out there has a x-large tshirt they'd like to swap for a medium, let me know!!!
I passed the 3:15 pacers around 10km, when I was still hovering around 3:05 pace. I assume they started at Withdean, and they went off a bit earlier? I was quite near the front of the Preston Park start, and didn't see any pacers at all. Either that, or they were way ahead of pace. Any idea what they finished in? I'd be interested to see their splits.
Lindsay, might be worth asking the Brighton organisers - if you shower them with praise while asking nicely they might send you a tshirt that fits
the 3.45 pacers had to shout out that they were pacers
and then £40 for photos, all in all a joke of a marathon aimed at grabbing your cash rather than putting on a good event
have fedback using their form, and won't be back again
Lindsay - similar issue here - I optimistically picked up a medium but trying it on, clearly I need a large. Maybe I keep it as a motivation to drop some pounds and up the pace
Jason they were way in front - I went through half way in 1:34 and chatted with them for a few miles to portslade.
Surprised so many people had so many issues - I thought it was a great day and having done marathons all over the world, rate it up there with London and Berlin etc. Richard - if you want a joke you should see the price of some other marathons and photos, I would say Brighton is average to lower end of the Price spectrum.
Is it me being a moaner. Is it people on this thread. Is it my mates? Just seen a facebook page and 90% is complaints how this year's race was organised. I can't remember people being so negative in previous years. Have we changed or has the organisation? I think there has been a severe blow to Brighton's reputation.
The small bags probably set them off to a bad start. The clearly looks like a mistake, and it'dve been better if the organisers hadn't tried to cover it up as a 'security' concern.
Everything went smoothly apart from that for me, and I was able to work round it easy enough. The guys I spoke to afterward - finishing around 4 hours - didn't have a bad word to say either.
Found this thread quite late.
I did Brighton last year and again this year and think it is a fantastic event. Won't be doing it next year but that is only because it falls on the same date as Paris Marathon and I'm already signed up for that.
Lots of the grumbles I'm hearing here are pretty harsh. Minor complaints from me that the water and energy drinks were served in identical paper cups, I had to ask what was being given out every time. The muddy start was a nuisance but the event was a victim of the weather.
Other than that it was great. Will definitely do this event again in the future.
It seems to be an accumulation of lots of small issues. Many of them didn't affect all people but was bad organisation none the less. The pacers thinng didn't bother me as I wasn't using them but pacers should be running on pace and visible or whats the point of having them. The kit bags should have been bigger but again didn't affect me as I didn't use bag storage. The field was muddy, but that's just nature, not much they could do about that. The walk out from the finish was fine for me but by the time the crowds started finishing it was very bad as was the exit from the village itself which they put right by the big screen. The different drinks in the same cups was a bit of a pain as I only wanted water not sports drink. The toilet situation was a complete farce and driven purely by cost I would think. I have attended events for less than 1000 people with more toilets than they had at Brighton, but again I wasn't personally affected by this. As i said lots of minor niggles that shouldn't really be happening at a well run event but regardless I really enjoyed the day myself. Not sure if I will ever run it again as there are plenty of others to run, but hopefully they will fine tune things for next time.
Oh and the EXPO was crap, making people attend that is the one real crime they committed!!!
I agree that there mas nothing really bad at all about the race apart from a few minor issues.
Shame about the lack of toilets at preston.
Are slightly smaller bags an issue? what are you guys taking with you?
All expos are crap, so no issue there
I had no worries getting out of the finish area and found the large number in the village a good buzz.
Its already sold out its 5500 places at discount rate so cant be all that bad! I did Paris 2 weeks ago and found Brighton better than Paris, and most other marathons, but always room for improvements.
Biggest gripe I had was running too slow... I might blame that on brighton marathon as well!
Yes, most of the problems were minor. I wasn't affected by the kit bag because they were giving out bigger ones when I went to the expo late on Saturday (so it does seem that the security excuse was just that, an excuse for ordering the wrong size bags). The expo queue was also annoying (45 mins) but not a disaster. But waiting for the toilets for 50 mins at Preston Park was not acceptable. The PA guy actually had the gall to announce that he hoped we were enjoying the extra portaloos compared to last year! It ruined my start because of the stress and it was clear that lots of runners missed their waves for starting. That wouldn't be great if you were meant to be in the red start and looking for a GFA time. Oh, and I finished in under 4 hours and there was a pretty horrible bottle neck to negotiate at the finish which was hard to take when I was feeling a bit faint and wobbly.
I've not got much to compare it to as I've only done a small local marathon and London, but London copes with much greater numbers without the queueing problems. I think it's good for people to voice their grievances and hopefully Brighton will take the comments on board and improve for next year.
Well, look on the bright side, at least (as far as we know), the course was the correct distance, unlike Manchester in 2013, 2014 and 2015!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/36104638
I think the bags could have been a little bigger (and if it was a mistake, maybe they needed to get samples well in advance), the thing about not mailing out the race pack is annoying (is it to get more people staying over and spending money, to keep the city happy?), and there could have been a few more toilets, but beyond that there's not much they could reasonably change - it's hard to see how you avoid the finish being the way it is, you've only got so much room to work with.
I think the problem at the finish was that after you passed the baggage trucks you had to turn right to get onto the beach. The way through here was very narrow and I would have thought if they made it just a few feet wider then more people could get through at one time. As it was people were at a standstill. But maybe they can't go any further east down the beach in which case there probably isn't much they can do about it.
As I said, I don't have much to compare it to so maybe these things are to be expected at any marathon. And lots of things were done well - the bag drop for example.
they may be lots of small issues but it's not a cheap event, I don't mind paying if it's well organised
I was chuckling about the bags how I hoped it was a spinal tap type mistake between inches and centimetres, but i suspect it was a cost saving issue which they put a veneer of how it was a security issue on
Like I said a few pages back, I loved the event and as this was my first I didn't have anything to compare it with. That being said, would I do it again next year.....??
Probably not, the thought of running the final miles through that power station will haunt me forever
. I found that section completely dull and soul destroying.
The power station section has been moaned about every year, the problem is where could the course go instead? Brighton has hills to the north and sea to the south, there's not too much leeway to fit 26.2 in.
The mud in the park worries me, it was much worse on Saturday, a cold night and dry day on Sunday improved it, if Sun had been as wet as Fri and Sat (I was setting up stuff in the park and seafront both days and it was horrible!) it would have been bad.
The route out from finish is limited by the sea and 'cliffs' - year 1 I don't think there was anything on the beach, the only way out was the pavement on the seaward side of finish like it is for the half so the trackway does give a wider exit. You have to go a long way east to get to a wide road out. What are the options?
I think I'll frame that! I've never heard of anyone else who like it! Particularly the bit by the sewage works!
I hadn't really thought about it, but retrospectively I agree with Mr Worry, it was kind of nice to get away from all the noise for a bit.
When I have been strong and run the miles well I liked the power station section, when I don't train and struggle I don't like it as much but I prefer it to the hove out and back section. - Need the wall back at mile 20!
My first ever marathon, and i managed better than i expected - 3hrs 26m09s. I have been doing a lot of pace practise in my warm up races, so i was happy i started slowly for the first 3 miles, and went through half way in 1hr 44m. I then ran a negative split for the second half and felt very strong in the last 5k which was my fastest. In all a good race for me personally, especially as i had to have my calf strapped with rocktape at the expo and was worrying it was going to pull out of the course.
It was a good race, but my gripes would be the silly size of the bags, the lack of toilets, and the worst pacers I've ever seen. I don't think i saw one all the way round because the weren't wearing the balloon or flag that most pacers were at these sort of races.
I had a great time! The support was brilliant and lots of water stations. The T-Shirt was much better this year too. Seeing Norman Cook and Zoe Ball cheering people on at mile 23 was brilliant too.
I understand that the balloons were ordered but didn't arrive for the pacers to use.
I didn't find the Power Station part as bad this year - I had prepared myself for it after last year and got a boost when we turned back to head home - I tried to convince myself that the worse part was over!
I have entered for next year too!