RunThrough Victoria Park Christmas Run 5k, 10k & Half Marathon

Well organised. Excellent organisation. Great complimentary snacks and drinks after but what you would expect for the quite steep price and wished they could've given out t shirts for the price you pay. Disappointed also with the course as counting 7.5 laps for the half marathon proved hard and stressful however by wearing a watch showing mileage and knowing the last 0.5 lap is about a km is the way to go. Inevitably for most runners there will be lapping throughout the whole race because of the high number of laps which at times was annoying and slowed me down. Good experience overall though.

Rewarding and well-organised, but a bit confusing. It was really well-organised, I don't attend races very often at all but it was always clear where to go and what to do and there were lots of people on hand to help out when I wasn't sure. The only criticism I have is that having to keep track of how many laps I had done was pretty hard, I was using strava but it got the km I'd done totally wrong so I had to rely completely on remembering how many laps I had completed. When you're doing 6.5 laps this is a bit of a pain. Definitely recommend anyone wanting to do this half-marathon brings a good watch to help them keep track.

Lovely, flat route. This was my first half marathon so it was great for a beginner being flat and with a nice even terrain. The route was well explained and easy to keep track of and there was plenty of water available en route. The only thing, for me as a beginner, was that I was obviously one of the slower ones and the course became very lonely by the last lap and some of the marshalls had given up cheering you on when this was when we needed it most! Overall, a great experience, even if very sore the next day.

Flat, fast and well organised. I travelled down from Leeds to complete this 10k with a London-based friend and we both loved it. Flat, fast (PBs for us both) and overall well-organised, we both agreed we'd do it again. Although the course isn't the most interesting (laps around a park - without a watch completing the half marathon would've been very confusing) overall, it was a brilliant start to our weekend. - A massive shout out to the lady on the mic who was doing a great job of cheering everyone over the line!

The first ones always hard... First race of the year is always tough, but the organisation of the team on the ground and the cheerfulness of the whole team and accompanying vendors made me get in the mood and forget the cold. Big smiles and lots of encouragement. A slick and organised pathway to your race beginning as well, well honed. The course however was tricky and confusing, rescued only by the diligent Marshals on the course. Great race

A reasonably-organised event, nice flat course. As ever, it was a good challenge to do a half marathon. It's only my 3rd one, so I don't have a large number of comparisons yet. The last 2 were huge (25,000 in Hackney and 16,000 runners in Royal Parks) and for charity so this was bound to be very different. It was a nice flat course and quite pretty. A little repetitive with doing so many laps of the same course but that didn't really bother me. The only major criticisms were: - the general public was allowed to wander onto the course seemingly at will. This did not impress me at all. I don't expect them to get out of my way on my training runs in normal life. But this was supposed to be a paid-for, organised event. If they didn't get permission from the park admin authorities, why even run it? -Much smaller gripe, but combining the 5K, 10K and Half Marathon courses made it hard to tell when I should go one way and when the other if offered a left/right choice of course. Mostly the stewards were helpful but occasionally they weren't on it. A minor criticism is that some of the stewards who were presumably supposed to cheer people on looked miserable and didn't really do much. I guess i can't blame them on one hand, since it was cold and it must have been cold and boring to stand there, but a shame since their colleagues did a good job. The smiling musician with the steel drums did a very nice job of creating a good vibe in his corner of the race. Overall, a good experience but I may try other places and see whether these were just standard issues with all smaller-scale half marathons or whether it could be done better. On a positive note, minor gripes aside, overall, I was glad to have another opportunity to do a timed race with the feeling of an event and I'm glad I took part!

Fantastic first race. I was nervous to attend my first event other than park run, I found the organisers to be very helpful, the Marshall's were all lovely and it was a pretty location. The only downside was my chip never registered me coming over the finish line but had registered that I started. Luckily I have a finish photo with the time and I even set a new PB! I would definitely recommend these events!

Well organised - nice setting with friendly marshals. Although I'm not a fan of laps really enjoyed this half marathon. It's a flat paved course so easy to get into stride and perfect pb territory. There is lots going on at the park and the marshals were encouraging with their tambourines! I went with a couple of friends and we had opted for half marathon and 10k. The different distances mean it's accessible to all and great to see such a mixture of abilities running together.

Very well organised, though I got a bit confused. Getting to the event, checking in, storing my bag, all seamless and brilliant. As my second half marathon, without a GPS watch, once running I lost track of the distance covered given we were running in laps (also because we merged in with the 5km & 10km). Thankfully, we were told once we have passed the water station 7 times, we were to veer into the home stretch... but the first time I passed the water station nothing was laid out, so I wasn't sure if that was an official Pass Number 1! Anyway, I got there in the end, but I feel the laps or distances covered could have been better labelled!

First ever Half Marathon. I have never been to Victoria Park before and have never entered a Half Marathon before so I felt very nervous, but there was no need. The park, weather, organisers and other runners were perfect. It was a great day out and although I am still aching from it, I’m still smiling as it’s a reminder of the achievement I’ve made. Looking forward to the next one (not for a couple of months though 😊)!

Excellent experience. This was both my first experience with run-through and my first half marathon in England after living for many years in weird and wonderful places across Eastern Europe. I have to say I was delighted with everything. I had to change my date and location-no problem. I needed early information about check in times and storage for personal belongings-no problem. On the day? Everything was perfectly organised, and what a team of volunteers; they made sure that everything went well. Thank you, I'll be back!