Oxford Half Marathon

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  • Cento percento the bus service to and from London is pretty frequent and relatively cheap, I use for the London marathon though not sure about buses to the Kassam.

    look on Oxford Bus Company or stage coach for time tables.

  • You can catch a bus to Blackbird leys from the city center it will take you very close to the Kassam.
  • anyone know if it will start as in other larger races do ..ie: two gates/points , one for sub 2hr, one for over 2hr?

  • not sure loula i would guess it would be a mass start as its chipped timeingimage
  • do you like your paper chip timer? look like a wrist band lol...bit flimsy if you ask me..ive always had the credit card style ones before...image....hope we dont have bad bottleneck situation thn........

  • have to say its a new one on me never seen these ones before ,they certainly would,nt fit around my wrist lolimage

    does anyone know how many people have enteredimage

  • I only entered a few weeks ago and my race number is in the 500's ... not sure if this is any indication though? Looking forward to a nice flat course after doing the Witney Cotswold Classic 10 miler last Sunday ..... boy that was hard work! A great race though very well organised, highly recommended.
  • doubt it, mine is 1860 and I only entered 2 weeks ago
  • My number is 91 and I only entered a few weeks ago but mine was a complimentary entry from my gym in Blackbird leys.
    I did hear somewhere that they have about 3 thousand entries.
  • Well the 1860 figure sounds a bit more like it - I think 3000 is the entry limit this year until they see how it pans out.
  • Thanks for all the advice on getting to Oxford. I think that the bus will be the best choice for me as I live in central London and I don't have a car, so hiring a car just for me could be rather expensive.

    Getting excited about the race now and looking forward to racing for the first time since London in April. Fingers crossed for good conditions and good luck to everyone for the final week of preparation.

    S.

  • Went out tonight from the Kassam stadium with a group of runners who have just formed a local running club( blackbird leys) It was great to see the signs up telling motorists about Sundays half marathon.
    I have had hard races these past two weeks so i'm hoping my local knowledge is somehow going to make this one a doddle. I think i may even give the course one final run before the weekend just to be on the safe side.image
  • I am worried because I still haven't got my entry pack.
    Could it be because I am not from UK?
    Has anybody heard, what to do in that kind of situation? There ir not so much information on oxfordmarathon.co.uk ... image
  • if you get the bus cento you can get off at headington which is just before oxford and taxi it to the kassam for about a tenner or carry on to oxford town center and get another bus to blackbird -leys, then a 10minute walk to the stadiumimage
  • wishing you all well for this HM

    we shall hopefully be there to spectate and cheer you all on,

    i wont be running as i've been off sick and have personal problems

    hoping to return to the curquit for Abingdon marathon  - it is only hoping

    wishing you all a super run and day

  • the Kassam Stadium is one minute from the bus stop in Blackbird leys.
    Just ask the driver to let you off at the right stop.
  • Can anyone tell me what sort of time the runners will be going down Morrell Ave?

    I know some people who live there who will be wanting to spectateimage

    From the map is it at about 5 miles in?Map on web site not showing mile markers which is a bit oddimage

  • dalli wrote (see)
    if you get the bus cento you can get off at headington which is just before oxford and taxi it to the kassam for about a tenner or carry on to oxford town center and get another bus to blackbird -leys, then a 10minute walk to the stadiumimage

    Not the original person talking about the bus, but thanks for the tip about getting off in Hedington.  Will there be somewhere in that vicinity that will be easy to get a cab from, or do you know of any companies that would be best to have the contact number for?

  • theirs a small taxi rank opposite barcklays bank at the traffic lights or try these 01865770077   01865775577         01865777333image   
  • Just got back from local BBQ. Just recovered from injury!

    Good luck everyone!! See you all tomorrow!!

    Jim.

  • really disappointing. Utter traffic chaos approaching the Kassam meant many runners leaving their cars (if they were lucky enough to have someone with them) and walking a mile. There were hundreds of cars behind me, so God knows if they got to the start on time. We were at the turn-off by 8.45, but not into the stadium till 9.20. Then an enormous queue to drop bags off - massively understaffed. Locals told me for OUFC games (with coaches etc) the traffic is awful, so why this was not foreseen and warnings given, I don't know.

    The big tempter for me was the stadium element, but unfortunately we started on a side road outside (I;m sure starting inside would have been chaotic, to be fair, with the numbers involved).

     Stewards at the stadium were OUFC and didn't know much about the race at all. Start delayed till 0945, but I had to shove my pre-race fruit & choc down very quickly, no time to warm up, and then get in the queue. Couldn't hear the starter with his small megaphone, then walked through the start because of a tiny funnel.

    Lack of signs for expected finish time meant wading through hundreds of guys running a bit slower to start with, although a nice wide road meant it wasn't too bad.

    Unfortunately with all the stress & rush beforehand, I never digested my food really, and rapidly ran out of energy. Combined with a very dull first 6 miles on the bypass/factory with little support (honourable exception for one little village area), many stewards not talking, clapping or smiling meant I stopped at mile 6. I'll be running 20 next weekend, and could have done with the half, but I'd lost interest & heart, tbh.

    I could have plodded on, but also I was just - bored really. No buzz to the race at all. I asked the steward where we were "I don't know mate." Do you know if there's a quicker way to jog back to the Kassam? " I dunno mate". At least he let me borrow his phone so I could get picked up from where I was at.

    I guess this highlights when local clubs don't get so involved with the stewarding etc, and lack of local knowledge at the start, gives big problems. Poor volunteers at water stations couldn't get bottles out quick enough. Fair play for trying this, and maybe with significant modification, it will work in future, but more was bitten off than could be chewed today.

    I hope the stadium finish was good for the rest of you, and maybe many didn't have such a bad experience. But without a doubt the worst of the 7 half marathons I've done.

  • What a great run that was. image
    Luckily I only live up the road from the stadium so i never had any problems with the traffic. I thought the baggage could of been handled a bit better but with all the negativity leading up to this race I'm surprised it even got off the ground.
    I remember doing Reading half a few years ago where the start was delayed for over half an hour so today's delay was hardly noticeable.
    I always eat a good two hours before the start so again no problems there. The course was brilliant with plenty of room once we were on Grenoble road.( chip timing so the shuffle up to the start line did not matter.)
    I made a point of saying thanks at the water stations and road junctions and always got a shout of support back from the stewards.
    There were people out giving support at so many points along the route which was fantastic and being an Oxonion meant i had loads of family and friends all over the place.
    I set myself a target time of 1:33:30 so when I reached ten miles in 1:10 i knew i was bang on target. I had to dig deep going through littlemore but knowing the route so well also helped.
    Before the start I had visualized my finish which involved coming on as a sub for Oxford united and scoring the winner goal with a beautiful volley. You should have seen it!! It was a beauty.
    I even had my photo taken with Olly the Ox but the icing on the cake was when an Oxford united player then handed me two tickets to the next home game. image
    I am so pleased i came to support my local half marathon. Maybe next year with more support from local running clubs we can make this an even better event.
    Thanks to all who made this run possible.
  • Dalli- nice to see you at the start mate. I hope you had an enjoyable run.
  • Went to provide some vocal support on Old Road as I couldn't run this race but ended up helping man the water station which was massively understaffed. A further 3 passers by also helped to hand out water but this was still not enough for all the runners. I feel very sorry for those running who had to run through the chaos that was the water station, but big up to the random volunteers off the street who just decided to help!

  • What a great first Oxford Half Marathon.  Flat I am not so convinced on that!  Support was good all the way round with cheering and even some jelly babies, 

    As for traffic chaos at start.  What do people expect.  3000 entrants probably most going in separate cars.  If you have rituals to go through before your race start leave earlier.

     Thanks Oxford for a good local half marathon.  Will be back next year.

     PS Thought medal was well designed.  Spires and a mini.  True Oxford.

  • Forgot to mention the Wonderful medal which they gave to all the runners who crossed the finish line.
    This was the first event for the runners of the newly formed IWCA athletic club ( Blackbird leys )who kindly allowed me to be a guest runner for the day.
    All of our six runners finished chuffed to bits. Next year we intend to have at least 50 runners out doing it.
  • I can see where soe of the criticism is coming from but I think this was a good race, and I enjoyed it.  Support from local clubs would definitely help, espeiclally with marshalling and the water stations. 

    I didn't use the baggage drop so didn't see what happened there and with the car parking, when I arrived at 8.30am there was only a small queue and it was easy to find a space.  Having done other city HMs I expected it to be busy and arrived accordingly.

    Some bits of the route were really dull, but then how do you avoid that without doing laps?  The town & gown route is quite pleasant but very twisty and turny and would not be suitable for a larger race.  I do think they could do with more road closures if it's going to become a bigger city HM.

    Well done to all those that finished.

  • How can a Half marathon be boring ??

    whether it be rural, industrial, by pass , residential -

    surely it's alway a game of mind games ahh -

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