Reviews

From Runners World

By Ivan Lyons  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
   
Details    
Scenery   100%
PB potential   40%
Atmosphere   80%
Organisation   60%
Value   80%
Beginner friendliness   80%
In short Great Jaunt Across West Sussex countryside  
In full Second time for this marathon. There were ample drink stations & the bottle that I took round the course barely had to touch. There were a few erratic mile markers from mile 7. Either have them every mile or other mile or don't bother. Medal at the end was a bit lame. Same as previous & no year on the ribbon.

Marshalls were brill & the course was well signpost.

The rain wasn't too bad. More showers than rain & better than a hot day. Loved the clouds sweeping up the Downs on the high-points.
 
Date of review May 2, 2010  

 

By Thong Man  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   100%
PB potential   40%
Atmosphere   100%
Organisation   100%
Value   100%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short Excellent event despite the atrocious wheather conditions  
In full Great event but very tough, especially with the weather conditions this year. All the marshals & volunteers deserve praise for this support & getting soaked themselves. My thanks should also go to numerous people (one was a Horsham runner) I ran with but especially to Lucy (Sandhurst Runners), the leading lady, who I ran with for a number of miles towards the finish (overtaking 4 other ladies in the process) & who kept me going with our interesting & distracting conversations along the way...a great performance after her 3:19 pb at London. The camaraderie at these events is what makes taking part so enjoyable & full marks to the organisers who perhaps next year may introduce jelly babies at the drinks stations as well the hard to digest biscuits....a glass of cider wouldn't have gone amiss as well!!!!  
Date of review May 2, 2010  

 

By Marc Thatcher  
Overall score   80%
Would you do it again?   Maybe
     
Details    
Scenery   100%
PB potential   20%
Atmosphere   60%
Organisation   80%
Value   80%
Beginner friendliness   20%
In short The tough one!  
In full Do you know what 3450ft of climb means? It means 12% of the way to the top of Mt Everest! And the weather this year was AWFUL. But fantastic organisation, lovely biscuits etc on the way round. And for once I was even thinking about doing it next year before I finished....  
Date of review May 2, 2010  

 

By Dino I  
Overall score   80%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   80%
PB potential   40%
Atmosphere   60%
Organisation   80%
Value   80%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short Wet, well organised and excellent value.  
In full    
Date of review May 2, 2010  

 

By Liz Wilkinson 3  
Overall score    
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   80%
PB potential   40%
Atmosphere   60%
Organisation   60%
Value   60%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short Great day out despite the pouring rain  
In full I opted for the half marathon, and even though I found the hills hard, really enjoyed it. Plenty of water stops, several marshals and reassuring that at about mile 7 they were checking your race number to see if you had made it that far.

Would love to do it again, though I hope next time there will be more toilets. The ladies were quite a long way from the start and there were only 2 that soon got blocked.........

And hopefully next time I won't take a tumble. Thanks to the ladies who helped me up though - just after I'd overtaken them and was on a roll (literally) going down hill.
 
Date of review May 2, 2010  

 

By Big Philly G  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   80%
PB potential   20%
Atmosphere   80%
Organisation   100%
Value   100%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short Pretty and horrendous  
In full Every time I come to the South Downs for these sort of events I'm always won over by the glorious scenery that you get from the high points round the course and yesterday despite the rain, wind and even sleet at one point found the whole experience totally uplifting. This was my first time on the 3 Forts marathon and I was very happy overall with the organisation and found all the marshals to be encouraging even though they all had to stand out in what was awful weather. The drink stations were plentiful and as one other reviewer has already mentioned I hardly hard to use my drinks bottle all the way round. I also would like to see more in the way of jelly babies or something similar as opposed to biscuits, which don't go down so well. Also a nice cup of hot tea at the end would have been welcoming to finish with. Overall brilliant race and I for one will be back again next year.  
Date of review May 3, 2010  

 

By Kent Plodder  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   80%
PB potential   20%
Atmosphere   60%
Organisation   100%
Value   100%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short An exceptionally well organised event  
In full Thanks to all the organisers and marshals for your contribution to a great event.  
Date of review May 3, 2010  

 

By Pete Sherri  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   100%
PB potential   20%
Atmosphere   60%
Organisation   60%
Value   80%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short Tough it is  
In full Well I knew what to expect, and wasn't let down.

Must first say a big thank you to the marshals. It was a horrible day to be standing out there like they were, so thumbs up.

Very much a low key event, certainly compared to big city marathon, but to me, thats part of the attraction. Was fantastic to be up on the Down with almost no one else around .I felt the weather added something else to the event. Certainly meant we had the Downs to ourselves.

Good amount of water station, though don't expect too many mile markers. They did seem to have them at significant parts of the course though.

Didn't seem to be much going on when I finished, though perhaps the weather and my slow time didn't help.

I was just happy to get back to my car and get the heaters on :)
 
Date of review May 4, 2010  

 

By Discodeb  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   80%
PB potential   40%
Atmosphere   80%
Organisation   100%
Value   100%
Beginner friendliness   40%
In short Despite the rain and the mud this was a fantastic run!  
In full The rain was relentless, the tracks were muddy, but it was such a joy being up on the Downs. An added bonus was the great selection of cakes at the end. The marshals really do deserve medals though, especially those out on the full marathon route.  
Date of review May 4, 2010  

 

By LHWMG  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   100%
PB potential   20%
Atmosphere   80%
Organisation   80%
Value   100%
Beginner friendliness   80%
In short superb - all the marshalls deserve medals !  
In full Well organised "Tough One", despite the weather the organisation was very good and coped well, with a well marshalled route/plenty of drink stations - the rain stayed all event - the clouds were very low at times which made it very different - even had an odd glimpse of some of the great scenery !  
Date of review May 4, 2010  

 

By Jennifer B  
Overall score   80%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   80%
PB potential   40%
Atmosphere   60%
Organisation   60%
Value   60%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short Super race in pretty tough weather  
In full Thanks to all the Marshals who stood out in the cold and rain and were quite cheery!

Some places (esp in the last few miles)could have been better marked - luckily most forks came to the same point but would have been nice to know which we were taking.

Agree with others that biscuits aren't always ideal - though good amount of water stations, could have done with something salty towards the end.

Good atmosphere - on the double back the support from other runners was really encouraging.

Decent course and apparently good views which I'll be back for next year.
 
Date of review May 4, 2010  

 

By Sov  
Overall score   100%
Would you do it again?   Yes
     
Details    
Scenery   80%
PB potential   40%
Atmosphere   60%
Organisation   80%
Value   80%
Beginner friendliness   60%
In short Bad Weather but usual great event  
In full This is a tough event but made more difficult by the weather. Organisation and Marshalls were great.

Thoroughly recommend this to those that want to take the next step from road marathons.
 
Date of review May 5, 2010