This weekend I raced my first ever marathon: Brighton Marathon 2015. I had a really good experience and finished in 160th place with a chip time of 3:05:19. Very happy with this for my first attempt at marathon distance. In this post I'm going to review the actual marathon itself. I'll make another post where I'll review my performance and training.
Registration and Pre-Race Information
When I was contemplating my first marathon I was looking at either London or Brighton. In the end I went for Brighton as there was no ballot process and I felt this was a better way to plan my race season. Registration was easy and I had my goal race for the following year planned in May. Nice feeling.
All through the following months the communication I received from Brighton Marathon was timely, clear and sufficient. At no point did I feel I was unprepared for the weekend. It's difficult to emphasis how important this is. There was enough on my mind about the actual run without having to worry about administration details or logistics.
Finally, the Brighton Marathon Weekend Guide appeared online which contained every piece of useful information that you could wish for. I'd list this as an essential read as there was loads of really useful material contained within. Top marks for quality of information and communication.
Exhibition
Having never done a marathon before I wasn't sure what to expect from the Exhibition. All I really knew was that I had to go there and collect my race number. As the kids were off school, we made a long weekend of the event, travelling down on the Friday and returning home on the Monday.
We visited the exhibition on the Friday afternoon. This seemed to be a very good plan as it was fairly quiet and I was able to collect my number in minutes. We probably only spent about 20 minutes looking round the rest of the exhibition as there wasn't much to appeal to my kids and non-running wife. It was funny watching my boy try a sample of beetroot juice though!
Exhibition was well organised and had just enough stalls to make it interesting, but not too big that it felt like a major effort to explore. I wonder how busy it got during the peak collection periods on the Saturday?
Before The Start
On the Sunday morning of the race I got up early in my hotel. Breakfast was two pots of just-add-boiling-water porridge as I wanted to eat way before the hotel's breakfast opened up. Not too much hassle really. I drove about half way from the hotel to Preston Park and left the car in a side road (fortunately in the same parking zone as my hotel permit) and walked the remaining mile to the park. The walk was an excellent leg stretch to start the day.
Preston Park was a nice venue to start the race. Everything seemed well organised and laid out. Bag drop-off was nice and easy. Two potential improvements I would suggest to the organisers:
- It would be good if the changing tents had some form of carpet on the floor or more chairs. I've been to other races where this has been the case and have always found this a good place to chill before the race, but I didn't want to sit on a plastic bag on the cold, damp grass.
- I'm not sure there were enough toilets for the number of people present. There were some really huge queues that didn't seem to move very fast. Reading Half Marathon is a similar sized race and that has probably double the number of porta-loos plus all the toilets in the football stadium available as well.
There was a very short walk to the start and the corrals seemed very spacious and well organised. The fact that the elite wave had a different start just down the road meant that I was able to get almost right to the front of the race as well, which made for a nice quick start.
The Course
The course takes a nice tour through both Brighton and Hove. You get to see plenty of the sights and spend a fair amount of time along the seafront, which was very enjoyable.
Here's my Strava activity from the marathon:
The race starts out with a lap around Preston Park. Unfortunately this encompasses both a fairly steep hill followed by an equivalent descent within the first mile. Not perhaps the best way to start a marathon. The elite wave starts down the road and doesn't have to do this loop, so if I ever did Brighton again I'd be targeting getting into that wave instead.
The first part of the race goes through the centre of Brighton round by the Pavilion. It's a nice flat area and it was great to see the elite leaders on one of the double-back sections. Support was also pretty good in this area.
After that the route heads up hill into the Kemp Town area and on towards the marina. There's quite a lot of uphill here and you are very exposed to the wind. I think it was this section that took a lot out of so many competitors. Good crowds at the turning point where you head back towards Brighton, but other than that, this section of the race is very quiet.
Next is a run right along Brighton seafront. Very enjoyable with huge crowds and lots of support. Easy to get carried away here and overdo the pace a bit.
After that there's another inland section as you head deep into Hove and then back out again. The support in this section is surprisingly good. I think the people of Hove make a big effort to support this section of the race.
Next up is probably the toughest part of the race as you head out into the industrial area of Hove, round the power station and then back again. This section encompasses miles 19 through to 24 and is pretty soul destroying this far into the race. There's a much lower number of supporters in this area, although the big band were a fantastic boost. If you can keep a focused mindset through this part then you have the race pretty much nailed.
The final section of the race is back along the seafront promenade, back through the seafront area and finishing just past the pier. The support in this area really carries you through to the end. I got some really motivating comments from supporters along the promenade part. Thank you people, you really helped a lot. By this time my left glute and hamstring were really starting to get tight. It was just a case of gritting the teeth and keeping going and the support really helped with that effort.
Finally it's through the finish line and a big sense of achievement at having completed a full marathon!
Weather
It was a lovely day: clear skies and warm sun, but coupled with a fairly brisk sea breeze. This did seem to present some challenges to marathon running. It was actually a lot hotter than it felt and the breeze was enough to dry sweat fairly quickly. A lot of runners, myself included, therefore underestimated just how much fluid we were loosing and probably didn't take enough back on to compensate. This led lot of runners experiencing muscle cramp and reduced performance due to dehydration in the final stages of the race. Definitely something I will be more aware of for the future and an important consideration for anyone doing coast based marathons.
Drink Stations
There were plenty of drink stations around the course, pretty much one every mile. Some were water only, others were both water and gatorade. All drinks were supplied in paper cups rather than the more traditional bottles or pouches. Cups were certainly much more challenging to drink from and I ended up spilling quite a lot of water at each station - probably didn't help me in getting enough fluid on board. I'd certainly recommend extensive practice at drinking from cups while running, especially as I think future races will continue to follow this trend.
One minor complaint that I did have over the drink stations was with those offering both water and gatorade. Pretty much the only way to differentiate drinks was the colour of the cup: light blue for water, light brown for gatorade. This made selecting the right drink yet another thing to think about when approaching the drink station. On a couple of occasions I went for a water only to realise that it was gatorade and then having to adjust my positioning or stride while avoiding other runners also trying to use the station. For future races I'd strongly suggest to the organisers that they separate the water and gatorade stations from each other to reduce the chance of confusion.
I'd also recommend that if you have a supporter with you that you provide them with a disposable drink bottle and get them to pass it to you at an agreed point during the race (about half way would be good). That way you are guaranteed to have a good chance to take on enough fluids before the latter part of the race if you haven't got on well with the cups.
Finish Area
The finish area seemed pretty well organised. After crossing the line there was a smooth transition to collect foil blanket, water, food and medal. Bag pick-up was very smooth, but then I was an early collector of my bag. I expect the back collect got very busy once more runners started to finish.
After bag collect it was a short walk to the family/friends meeting point. This was nicely rearranged alphabetically which made finding them very easy - just make sure you agree a letter in advance. I then went for a stand in the sea, as suggested by my physio, as a convenient alternative to an ice bath. I think this greatly reduced the amount of muscle soreness I experienced over the following couple of days.
Atmosphere
Brighton is a really well supported race. It has a nice atmosphere and lots of cheering crowds. This especially true through the main seafront area of Brighton. However, the whole town seems to make a real effort for the event and there was even some support at the most remote parts of the course.
Some great bands along the way also helped with the atmosphere, as did the big screen and commentary around the power station part of the course. I'd also strongly recommend getting your name on your race top (something I didn't do) as the supporters along the way made a real effort to call out racers by name whenever possible.
Brighton Marathon App
Brighton Marathon publish their own supporting App to accompany the race. You can add runners and track them round the course based on their split times and predicted pace. My wife certainly found this really useful in making sure she got in place to cheer me on. In fact, she found it so useful, that I got to see my family at four separate points during the race - a great motivator.
Being able to track other runners was also great as I had made a few good friends through our Brighton Marathon Strava Club. It was really good to get to the end of the race and be able to instantly see how they were all getting on. Having access to immediate results of your finish time and position was also a great feature of the app.
For the race I'd been raising sponsorship for Wolfram Syndrome UK and apparently the founders of the charity were also using the App to follow my progress.
If you are doing Brighton Marathon in the future then I'd recommend the App as a must have item for both you and your supporters.
Medal, T-Shirt and Goody Bag
The medal I received is very nice, a decent size and quite heavy. Feels good quality, which is always nice. The finisher's t-shirt is also pretty good and something that I will end up wearing regularly. However, I do regret not purchasing a technical top at the expo and it would be nice if these were offered online as well.
The goody bag was pretty basic: a banana, seed bar and some chocolate. All most welcome, but I've certainly had much better bags at much lesser events. But hey, we do it for the challenge and the result, not the prizes!
Hotel and Transport
We stayed at the Langfords Hotel in Hove. This is a fairly cheap, but quite comfortable and very friendly hotel. Perhaps a bit far from the centre of Brighton, but in a perfect position for the race. The course goes past both ends of the road where the hotel is situated, so my family were able to come out and support me without having to go on a massive trek. (Although they did walk down to meet me at the finish.)
Transport from the hotel to the start at Preston Park was always going to be an issue. According to google maps it's a 1.8 mile walk, slightly further than I want to cover on the morning of a marathon. Fortunately, the Brighton and Hove parking permit system is quite good and I was able to get a permit from the hotel and then drive about half way to Preston Park and leave the car in a side road in the same parking zone.
It would be nice if the bus company would put some earlier buses from Hove up to the park for marathon morning.
Conclusions
Overall, I'd have to say that Brighton Marathon 2015 was an excellent event. The course is good and the organisation pretty much perfect. Atmosphere and support round the course was amazing.
Do however be aware of the challenges of hydration using cups and the effect of the sea breeze. Go prepared either by practising with cups or by having your own additional drink supplies on hand.
I'd definitely make this a must-do event, especially if you want a big marathon feel without taking the risk of the London Marathon ballot system.
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