Cardiff Half Marathon Review

Cardiff half marathon Sunday 16th October 2011

Sunday was my second Cardiff half marathon and I think I have to say that this year was not a very well organised race. I thought that with the mishap of the course being short last year, they would have been sure to make it a good one this year.

The start of the Cardiff half marathon was chaotic to say the least. When I got closer to the start there were queues of people for the toilet with 15 minutes to go to the start. There were not enough porta loos for the thousands of people that were there, so it caused a lot of rush and panic in my opinion. I was very lucky that I did not need the toilet at this point.

The panic for me was finding the start and my pen, as it was very poorly signposted. Everyone was frantically looking for the right pen, including myself. Some people were even jumping over the barriers to get into their right pen. It was so cramped looking for and getting into my pen with people rushing and pushing. Not only was it the runners that I was trying to get past to get through to my pen, but spectators as well. It is not very helpful having families with buggies which made it even more stressful. I think they should think of having a runner’s area only, to alleviate the congestion at the start. Luckily, I found a gap in the barrier and squeezed into the sub 2:00 pen. Even though it was not the pen I wanted to be in at that point, I was just happy to be in any pen. I would recommend that they have more open points where you can join the pen at your designated point. When we got going it was still very cramped as the start was very narrow for the number of people that were competing, but it did open up after a few miles.

I felt that the water stations could have been placed at better mileage points. I did not see the point in having a water station at mile 12. It would have been better having a water station at mile 10 or 11. Also the screw caps were a bit of a hazard as they were all over the road and I was just imaging the worst!

I don’t believe the course was flat (as advertised) as there were definitely steady inclines. The double back on the dual carriageway from mile 6-9 was pretty soul-destroying to be honest.

I have definitely had a better goody bag before too!!. It consisted of a cheap sports drink, cereal bar and the choice of a medium or extra-large t-shirt. I would not say that I am a medium, so I have a massive shirt that I will probably use as a pj top if at all!

On a more positive note, we were very lucky with the sunshine we had and the finish into the bay was just lovely and made it all worthwhile. The crowds were just fantastic and they made the atmosphere at the finish brilliant.

I will be back next year to do the Cardiff half marathon, so let’s hope the organisers take on board all the runner’s reviews and make the race more runner-friendly.