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Oulton park half marathon 2014
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Having sacrificed the hills of the Huddersfield 10k for this new race I was looking forward to a different race. I'm sorry to say it was a mistake. parking was easy as you would expect at such a venue and registration was smooth and that's where the positives end. for a start there was no start...we'll you basically walked onto the race track when the rest of the runners did. There was no announcement no intro nothing. it was more of a surprise when the sparse crowd moved forwards. there was a band making their way round the track but save for overtaking them that was the last of the entertainment not that you need it running I appreciate. The course wasa surprise as I didn't quite expect the hills. The first part of the course was into a strong headwind. No escape from the weather but 6 laps knowing you were going to run into it every time you passed the start made it hard to enjoy. 6 laps became tedious. I knew it was a lap course but thought it would be different. There was no marshals to support you and no crowd. Literally no one, the drink station was at the end of each lap. Water pouches which I had never tried before were east to use. The finish was the pit stop bit again to me the finish line wasn't that obvious. Again no crowds lining the finish and no one cheering you in. The goody bag is he poorest I have ever seen. For the price you would expect ant shirt or medal. Huddersfield is cheaper more enjoyable and you get any shirt. it may become the car wash t shirt but its ant shirt non the less to add to the pile. Once finished you could type in your number and get a print out which was a new one to me but a nice bonus. But that's it the only real positive. I'm sorry to say if this is the lead up race to manchester I would look elsewhere. It was testing on the legs due to the hills but there was no real positives to take. oh I managed a pb which I was surprised at. perhaps the boredom made me run faster....
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it clearly states medal as a memento and winners prizes,when i asked where the medal was i was told the winner of each age category got 1. ive sent the directors an email demanding answers! £22,no t shirt,no medal(as advertised) just a carrier bag with a load of tat in it! never seen anything like this at a race before in my life, i hope everyone that entered complains as i have and hopefully we will get somewhere with this!
Ok - the positives. It was very easy to park and no queues for the toilets. I enjoyed the band going around and they added a bit to the atmosphere. I liked the laps as it was interesting to see the lead runner (he lapped me twice but I also lapped someone twice) plus you got to know the hills and where the strong wind was. The water pouches were great too. But the overall run came out quite long on my Garmin watch (13.36 miles). A quater of a mile extra is a long time for a 10 minute a mile person. At the start of the run I went back to my car to put on my race number and I met a guy who said he had just completed the 10k. He was moaning about there being no medal in his goody bag. I confess that at that time I thought to myself "get over it, it is people like you pushing the price of races up". However, after running a quater of a mile extra and getting a time that looks like a personal worse due to this, I too was dismayed to be handed the worse goody bag ever. There was nothing but advertising in it. That would have been fine if it had been cheap to enter but it cost £20. Sorry to the 10k guy who was moaning about the lack of medal - I know what you mean now!
I think most goody bags are like this to be honest - but it said medals - so we should have got one.
As races go I would rate it as one of the worst and I secured a PB at 1.37. I spoke to the wheelchair race winner and he also said he was given no trophy.....enough said. For an event with such a backing it goes down as one of the worst.
Surely if it advertised medals you should have got medals - especially at £20 a pop.
The Essex 20 which has either been run or is going to be run said no medals or goody bags and the price to enter was around £6 - so the people who ran it or will run it know what to expect - so £20 seems a lot to pay out for nothing.
i'm pretty sure it wouldnt've cost that much to hire the venue out, surely the cost of policing and closing down major city centres would cost far more, this was nothing more than a rip off, i've never come across a race costing so much that you basically got nothing for.
Sure closing down say London would cost more - but how many people ran on Sunday ? 400 or so ?
I'd not say it was a ripoff - just not the best value around.
Now British 10k in London - ??50 ! Thats a rip off.
i understand where you're coming from Cougie and the British 10k is well known for being a rip off,but honestly,do you know of any race,any size for £22 where you dont get a memento of any description? I mean how many people would've seriously entered the race for that price if there wasnt a medal or a memento promised as there was?