LEICESTERSHIRE HALF MARATHON – FEBRUARY 2024

My first half marathon event. This was my first half marathon event, so unable to compare. However, felt from first booking my place online to finishing the race that the event was well organised. # Parking was good plenty of spaces. # warm up exercises good # actually venue nice grounds # food and beverages available # Marshall's were very motivating around the route # medal and goodie bag was good Although, I did feel there could have been some seating area for family/friends while they wait for you to complete race. Overall for my first race I was happy and would recommend

Well organised with PB potential. A good event run in terrible weather conditions this year (2020). The wind and rain nearly put me off going, but a gap in the cloud appeared right at the start of the race and off we went! The course itself is a little boring, to be honest - lots of loops around the old aerodrome / driving schools, but the elements round the old back lanes and small villages are great. Generally flat with a few minor inclines. Lots of freebies, big fan of the water stations giving actual bottles out as someone that gets thirsty easy (though I recognise it’s not the plastic waste isn’t good for the environment). Nice medal, can’t complain. Would like to see a bit more of a race village - there were only two massage tables available at the end, and my Dad who came to support wasn’t impressed with what he called the slowest food van in Britain! Would like to see more sponsor tents / other bits and bobs around. A good event for the middle of marathon training.

Poorly organised.. Poorly organised. Wanted to go the start line held back by stewards. I mentioned the race started in 3 mins, to which he replied you have to wait until the loud speaker instructs you to go down. No one could hear the loud speaker. Finally allowed to go to start, could hear the start gun. The first 200m was to tight for the number of people. Not a very scenic course, race track is an eyesore. Wouldn't run it again and wound advise others against it. On the plus side marshalls were very friendly, including the one mentioned above. Not their fault

Had to re-register at event. I signed up and got my confirmation email through 5 days in advance, but they had no record of me when I got there, and had to re-register. They'd taken my money, obviously, just not registered me. They had three tables at the registration/pick up area each for different groups of surnames, but the letters allocated to each desk (eg Surnames A - E) were only shown to you when you got to the desk; the letters were lying flat on the table. So you join a queue because there is no way of knowing which queue you should be in, then get a sigh and a roll of the eyes from the person behind the desk when you say your surname and they direct you to another table. Because it's my fault the only place to read what surnames a table is for when you actually get to the table. Good parking, good marshalling and a nice course. But the the organisation logistics let it down.

Well organised but route not that exciting. Very well organised and friendly smaller-scale half marathon event with good freebies at the end. Only criticism would be that with the route being largely round the race track it ended up feeling a bit repetitive compared to a race that had taken in more of the surrounding villages (although that's obviously harder to manage in terms of road closures etc).

Decent enough. Well organised and not a bad course although some repetitive parts not ideal for some. The only real criticism is the surface which is very unsafe in certain areas. I almost badly injured myself when my foot went into (one of hundreds) a pot hole. I saw many others slipping and losing their footing. There was also a bottle neck right at the start which caused around a minute delay which wasn’t ideal. That aside, it was a very enjoyable race and I would definitely do it again.

Great little event. For a small event this has to be by far one of the best organised ones I have ever been to. Clear directions, loads of free parking just a short walk from the event village. Event village was small but had everything you needed. Portaloos are always in high demand so would be worth getting the urinal ones for the men. The route wasn’t the most exciting but the parts through the village were lovely. All the marshalls were fantastic and cheered every runner on. Great freebies at the end and a bargain at £28. Will definitely be doing this again, great job.