Richmond Park January 5k,10k and Half Marathon

Thank you to the organiser for a lovely morning! This was my first 10k, and having only done Parkrun before I was a bit nervous doing a "proper" race with a number/timing chip. I really didn't need to be. It was a lovely atmosphere and the organisers and marshalls were so friendly and helpful. The course is a 5k loop, so 10k does two loops (there was a water station at the 5k mark) and half marathon does a 1k out and back at the start, followed by 4 laps. The medals are handed out at the finish line and you get a bottle of water and sweets at the end. The weather was slightly rainy on the day. The organisers recommended trail shoes, but the course is largely tarmac/gravel with a little bit on grass, which was a little slippery in the weather, but decent road shoes are fine. Most of the course is a gentle uphill, with a steep downhill section. Richmond Park is lovely, but it is very large! I thought it would be easy to reach from Richmond, but the race starts at Sheen Gate which is not very easy to get to on a Sunday morning. Results were sent online almost instantly, and I loved being able to get my time as soon as the race finished. I would recommend this race to anyone running their first 10k!

This was my first half marathon ever, so don't have much to make a comparison with, but for a first experience the day was made very easy by the organisers. The venue was stunning, helped in part by the weather, and was a good balance of terrain and elevation. It was very smooth to register with clear instructions on where to go. One downside was how busy the course got. As well as the general public - walkers, horse riders, cyclists, other runners etc. - the course got very busy when the 5K and 10K races got under way, and trying to navigate so many runners/walkers when you're on your final miles was a little tricky. The route was a series of laps, which has its updsides and downsides, but for the most part was OK. Nice medal and good T-shirt to remember the day too (t-shirt cost extra). From my very limited experience this was a good race.

This was my first half marathon and the day was just perfect, sunny an suitably cool at least initially. The location is simply stunning! The ground was dry on which was great as, like many I run with road shoes. Others reviewers of past event had recommended this. With my running team mate we had prepared and reviewed the course and practiced a few laps during our training. It helped motivate me past the 17th km which was our longest run The event was very well organised and not too crowded. The events team are nice and enthusiastic people, encouraging along the way and giving clear indications. The water station provided only water (not isotonic water, possibly do avoid adverse reactions). I would suggest they move to paper cups and space the waste buckets further from the pickup table. I thoroughly recommend this run and the team behind it.

Route fine but much more hard pack and ashphalt surface than expected - some grip needed but, unless there really has been masses of rain, trail shoes are ott for this route. It is a shame that more use isn't made of the paths - eg to avoid the stretch on pavement alongside traffic. Getting to the race start by public transport wasn't easy : the start is not near tube or train stations or even bus routes. To be fair, this is clear in the race description but the reality hits on race day with a 9am start. Organisation was good - everything smooth.

Well-organised for a small event and a beautiful course, albeit that I'm not that much of a fan of laps. The main gripes are lack of decent toilets (everyone has to queue to use the public ones as portaloos are apparently not permitted in the park) and the number of other users of the park, including runners, cyclists and dogwalkers, often coming in the opposite direction or across the route. Still, well worth it on a nice autumn morning and a nice friendly atmosphere.

Well organised event, smooth registration with helpful staff and marshals, all the way. The 5 km race is one loop, the 10 Km is two loops and the half marathon race is 4 loops. Lovely route with a good part of each loop being uphill as it is in Richmond Park. The bonus was seeing a few deer in the distance and a large stag grazing not far from the running path. Water stations at the start and at the end of the 5 K loop. Medals were handed at the finish line and lots of refuelling foods such as cookies, brownies, jelly beans and drinks were also available. Until the next race mid Oct.

Well organised event, smooth registration, and helpful staff and marshalls throughout the race. The 5 km race is one loop, the 10 Km is two loops and the half marathon race is 4 loops. Lovely route but a good part of it being uphill as it is in Richmond Park. The bonus was seeing a few deer in the distance and a large stag not far from the running path. Water stations at the start and at the end of the 5 K loop. At the end, medals were provided and lots of refuelling foods such as cookies, brownies, jelly beans and drinks. Until the next race mid Oct.

I run the half marathon and overall it was really good fun. There were a few things that could have worked better for me, but I still had an enjoyable experience. The course was very narrow and winding at the beginning which made for a very slow start. I spent my first km running all over the place to try and pass other people and I saw a few runners tripping and falling. Also, the first half of the loop is predominantly uphill, whilst the second half goes downhill. This may be a matter of preference, but I found the course quite hard (my overall time was quite a bit slower than expected). I think ideally a flatter route, or one where up and downs are spread more evenly throughout the loop would allow for quicker times. I must say the wind was very strong on the day, which made the uphills even more challenging. The water was provided in plastic cups rather than bottles, so I spilled most of it rather than drink it. And I would have loved for the medals to say half marathon. But shout out to the volunteers/organisers who tried really hard to get the people around to cheer you on at the end (there weren't too many). Everyone was really kind and helpful.

I found the day to be absolutely fine. The course is undulating with the first half lap being up hill, the second half mostly down hill, with a little kicker before you reach the lap completion. The staff were extremely friendly. Like others have said, 4 laps for a half marathon isn't ideal given the size of the park available, however, there are roads in use in the park and cyclists, cars, crossings that would be impossible to control for a running race. I would have liked a medal specific to my race (the half marathon) rather than a generic medal given to competitors of the 5k, 10k, and half-marathon. I think there should have been a member of staff at all key turning points, however, there were too few along the course in my opinion. Better recovery foods could have been provided at the end of the race. However, the day was a success and I would do the event again in future, knowing what it entails now.

The race was organised well at the start, and i had an amazing time, my issue was at the finish line you had no marshalls people were not guided to the finish line and ran past it which contributed to extra time on their timings. I did highlight this to the people recording the times and they had to find someone to guide people towards the line/tent. I ran the 10K and when I finished there was no sweets or drinks left, so all i could get was water, after running 10k i felt like there was nothing left for us, I could see other runners had sweet drinks and chocolates.

The race organization felt lazy overall. For a half marathon it's a 4x 5km lap (and it's not like Richmond wouldn't fit a single lap as most other parks in London), the only food they offered at the end of the race were candy and lollipops (great for recovery -.-), not music or anything (not that I'd care much but hey at least they'd be trying), no bathrooms apart from the public ones which were unusable, and signalization was poor (for the half marathon it just assumed every lap was 5k and therefore there was a 0.3k margin of error by the start of lap 2, 0.6k by lap 3, etc. etc. Given it was just a 5k lap you could expect they would close the area but not the case, so apart from the 21k/10k/5k runners you would frequently encounter dogs, cyclists, running groups, etc. If you're really fond of medals, then sure why not, but if you just like running, I'd just go on any day and run by yourself. The only pros: staff & volunteers were very friendly, and Richmond is a nice park for running. A couple hilly kms with a mix of trail and road.