Anybody do the London Marathon 2021, any thoughts?
Discussion
I did the London Marathon yesterday and thought there were some pros and cons to the new format. As a general observation, the Start set-up did not feel as well organised or as "special" as previous ones I have done (1989, 2013, 2015, 2019). This may just be because I have done it a few times but, in the past, the sheer volume of people milling around and all waiting to start at the same time seemed to create a bit of a buzz and a positive atmosphere.
Prior to this, the number pick-up at the London Expo Centre was very quiet with few stands and no freebies, all felt a bit down key.
The new starting system, where you have a time for your wave, actually worked much more efficiently that I expected and I missed my wave as I was messing around and assumed all the timings would slip. This was not a problem though as I just went through and joined the next one heading for the start, I was over the line and under way in a couple of minutes. While this efficiency is good in many ways and spreads the runners out to avoid bunching up for the first mile, I sort of missed the camaraderie of everyone massed together then starting to move forward and eventually over the line and off.
The major and quite serious negative, was the toilets. There seemed to be far less that usual, possibly some bright spark thought that with the runners arriving for staggered start times, they could get away with less loos as there would be less people at any given time. This clearly was not the case, also they were not chemical flush look but presumably some more environmentally friendly type which were completely unsuitable to a mass event like the marathon. Without going into details, I would guestimate that at least half of them were out of action leading to huge queues. Then the loo paper ran out.....
As a veteran of these events I always carry some loo paper and also, by pure luck, a passing runner also handed me the remains of his loo roll so I was able to hand some out to those near me in the queue. Again by pure luck I found a half used tub of vaseline (I had forgotten to pack mine) in the portaloo so was able to grease up, sounds weird but these are the things that help on a marathon!
This year for some reason (covid was the excuse obviously but seemed to be no rational link) you dropped your bag off at the Expo then binned any extra layers you wore prior to the run. This helped the organisers as not having to ship everyone's bag to the finish but was a lot less convenient as a runner.
On the course, the mile markers seemed less decorated than previously and with less (and smaller) clocks although I may have been imagining this.
At the finish, the medal was already in your bag so it removed the bit of fun of somebody hanging it round your neck. Also no goody bag, just a water & a lucozade which was a bit disappointing given previous years.
All in all, a great experience as always but it did feel like costs had been cut in some areas. Anybody else do the marathon, any thoughts?
Prior to this, the number pick-up at the London Expo Centre was very quiet with few stands and no freebies, all felt a bit down key.
The new starting system, where you have a time for your wave, actually worked much more efficiently that I expected and I missed my wave as I was messing around and assumed all the timings would slip. This was not a problem though as I just went through and joined the next one heading for the start, I was over the line and under way in a couple of minutes. While this efficiency is good in many ways and spreads the runners out to avoid bunching up for the first mile, I sort of missed the camaraderie of everyone massed together then starting to move forward and eventually over the line and off.
The major and quite serious negative, was the toilets. There seemed to be far less that usual, possibly some bright spark thought that with the runners arriving for staggered start times, they could get away with less loos as there would be less people at any given time. This clearly was not the case, also they were not chemical flush look but presumably some more environmentally friendly type which were completely unsuitable to a mass event like the marathon. Without going into details, I would guestimate that at least half of them were out of action leading to huge queues. Then the loo paper ran out.....
As a veteran of these events I always carry some loo paper and also, by pure luck, a passing runner also handed me the remains of his loo roll so I was able to hand some out to those near me in the queue. Again by pure luck I found a half used tub of vaseline (I had forgotten to pack mine) in the portaloo so was able to grease up, sounds weird but these are the things that help on a marathon!
This year for some reason (covid was the excuse obviously but seemed to be no rational link) you dropped your bag off at the Expo then binned any extra layers you wore prior to the run. This helped the organisers as not having to ship everyone's bag to the finish but was a lot less convenient as a runner.
On the course, the mile markers seemed less decorated than previously and with less (and smaller) clocks although I may have been imagining this.
At the finish, the medal was already in your bag so it removed the bit of fun of somebody hanging it round your neck. Also no goody bag, just a water & a lucozade which was a bit disappointing given previous years.
All in all, a great experience as always but it did feel like costs had been cut in some areas. Anybody else do the marathon, any thoughts?
Didn't manage to do the VLM this year, but as a Race Organiser for various (much smaller scale) races and events, i can tell you that sorting out any goodie bags/refreshments etc is ten times harder than it was pre-Covid.
Half the competitors want it "back to normal", while the other half expect all the marshals to be in hazmat suits and to have no contact with anything
Half the competitors want it "back to normal", while the other half expect all the marshals to be in hazmat suits and to have no contact with anything
I was volunteering on Yellow (Fast good for age) / Red (Mass) start. The odd thing with the Yellow loos was there were no urinals this year - they save loads of time and reduce queues for the traps.
For the masses, I think the wave starts were better - 17 waves being led up to the start rather than 17000 in one go, agree that it would have reduced the atmosphere but must have made it easier to get going once over the start line. I suspect they'll keep it like this post-covid.
Medals - nicer for runner to have someone put it round your neck but with covid they couldn't ask volunteers to be face to face with 100s of gasping runners! The risk of transmission is probably low but they have to be seen to be minimising risk as much as actually making any difference.
Bag drop is an interesting one, saves a lot of chaos at start when runners are throwing bags to (at!!) people loading the lorries but a pain having to drop your kit in advance. I don't know what the covid advantage is? Bags still have to be handled to get them from the Expo to finish.
Filling goody bags takes a load of effort, from an organisation point of view they are more effort than they are worth, but I can see that they are nice for runners (unless they incude a cup-a-soup!)
For the masses, I think the wave starts were better - 17 waves being led up to the start rather than 17000 in one go, agree that it would have reduced the atmosphere but must have made it easier to get going once over the start line. I suspect they'll keep it like this post-covid.
Medals - nicer for runner to have someone put it round your neck but with covid they couldn't ask volunteers to be face to face with 100s of gasping runners! The risk of transmission is probably low but they have to be seen to be minimising risk as much as actually making any difference.
Bag drop is an interesting one, saves a lot of chaos at start when runners are throwing bags to (at!!) people loading the lorries but a pain having to drop your kit in advance. I don't know what the covid advantage is? Bags still have to be handled to get them from the Expo to finish.
Filling goody bags takes a load of effort, from an organisation point of view they are more effort than they are worth, but I can see that they are nice for runners (unless they incude a cup-a-soup!)
My first ever London, done Brighton a few times before, including the 'ultra' this year :-)
> Bag drop/bib pickup took me well over 90 minutes. Living outside London, it's not like I could pop in easily, I got there around 3pm on Saturday, I believe a bit after the peak rush (a friend was there over 2 hours).
> Having to show lateral flow test result on Sunday morning was a issue, as I didn't take my phone and don't have printer at home. Don't know why they couldn't have recorded something when I showed it on Saturday?
> On the day itself I got there slightly before my advised time, so was waiting for ages. Got quite cold. Thankfully went to the loos by the start waves while the queues were small just before they announced on the mic they were quieter and queues grew x10 in a few mins.
> Was held in start pen for 15+ mins with no access to loos.
> Wave start meant there was no real congestion, I certainly didn't get held up at all.
> Water bottles much easier to grab and drink. I was bone dry at end of the race, not a drop spilt. In Brighton I was drenched, I think 75% water from a cup gets spilt down my chest. I did have a couple of hairy moments treading on full bottles a fair way from the water stations (hence not paying complete attention to every footstep).
> Loos on course very frequent, I had a quick pee at a urinal and lost very little time.
> Crowd was amazing, seemed every single meter was covered, unlike Brighton where some stretches can be quite sparse (especially miles 20-23 by the power station).
> The volunteers were amazing too, really friendly, loud & supportive.
Overall it was an amazing experience, I came away with a real buzz (despite my performance and slow final 12k). Having done Brighton a few weeks before I thought I was done with marathons for a long time, but now starting to reconsider. Find it hard to think I'll ever do another marathon that comes even close.
> Bag drop/bib pickup took me well over 90 minutes. Living outside London, it's not like I could pop in easily, I got there around 3pm on Saturday, I believe a bit after the peak rush (a friend was there over 2 hours).
> Having to show lateral flow test result on Sunday morning was a issue, as I didn't take my phone and don't have printer at home. Don't know why they couldn't have recorded something when I showed it on Saturday?
> On the day itself I got there slightly before my advised time, so was waiting for ages. Got quite cold. Thankfully went to the loos by the start waves while the queues were small just before they announced on the mic they were quieter and queues grew x10 in a few mins.
> Was held in start pen for 15+ mins with no access to loos.
> Wave start meant there was no real congestion, I certainly didn't get held up at all.
> Water bottles much easier to grab and drink. I was bone dry at end of the race, not a drop spilt. In Brighton I was drenched, I think 75% water from a cup gets spilt down my chest. I did have a couple of hairy moments treading on full bottles a fair way from the water stations (hence not paying complete attention to every footstep).
> Loos on course very frequent, I had a quick pee at a urinal and lost very little time.
> Crowd was amazing, seemed every single meter was covered, unlike Brighton where some stretches can be quite sparse (especially miles 20-23 by the power station).
> The volunteers were amazing too, really friendly, loud & supportive.
Overall it was an amazing experience, I came away with a real buzz (despite my performance and slow final 12k). Having done Brighton a few weeks before I thought I was done with marathons for a long time, but now starting to reconsider. Find it hard to think I'll ever do another marathon that comes even close.
The technique with paper cups is (allegedly!) to pinch the lip in the middle to make a figure of 8 so you don't splash it everywhere. When Brighton used plastic bottles they had a lot of complaints about the amount of plastic bottles, hence paper cups filled from stand pipes at the water stations.
Agree that London looked busy with spectators most of the way, I heard people on the DLR who were going to multiple places to see their runners, fairly easy to do with Tube and DLR, more difficult in Brighton.
Brighton had less spectators this year than normal, but it's always busy in the city centre and dead on the eastern section and Shoreham Harbour.
Agree that London looked busy with spectators most of the way, I heard people on the DLR who were going to multiple places to see their runners, fairly easy to do with Tube and DLR, more difficult in Brighton.
Brighton had less spectators this year than normal, but it's always busy in the city centre and dead on the eastern section and Shoreham Harbour.
smn159 said:
I did London in 2018 and the mass start was a nightmare - cooped up in the start pen for what must have been an hour, bursting for a piss 
I did Brighton this year and the wave start was a huge improvement IMO. Not a fan of the water station paper cups, mind.
See, that's the opposite of my experience.I did Brighton this year and the wave start was a huge improvement IMO. Not a fan of the water station paper cups, mind.
I did my first marathon (local one) in 2016 and spent ages cooped up at start, needing the loo.
But for London 2018, I just joined the mass start around 10-15 mins before the off. No problems - considering there was probably 20 times more runners than my local 'debut'
Some of the cups that I was grabbing at Brighton only had about half an inch of water in them so I'll probably try and take my own if I do it again. I do get the point about plastic waste though - when I did London the bottles were everywhere as people were grabbing them, drinking a few gulps and then chucking them
Muzzer79 said:
smn159 said:
I did London in 2018 and the mass start was a nightmare - cooped up in the start pen for what must have been an hour, bursting for a piss
I did Brighton this year and the wave start was a huge improvement IMO. Not a fan of the water station paper cups, mind.
See, that's the opposite of my experience.I did Brighton this year and the wave start was a huge improvement IMO. Not a fan of the water station paper cups, mind.
I did my first marathon (local one) in 2016 and spent ages cooped up at start, needing the loo.
But for London 2018, I just joined the mass start around 10-15 mins before the off. No problems - considering there was probably 20 times more runners than my local 'debut'
smn159 said:
Some of the cups that I was grabbing at Brighton only had about half an inch of water in them so I'll probably try and take my own if I do it again. I do get the point about plastic waste though - when I did London the bottles were everywhere as people were grabbing them, drinking a few gulps and then chucking them
Surely they all get recycled though, so not a drama? eg its not like they are going to land fill.smn159 said:
Muzzer79 said:
smn159 said:
I did London in 2018 and the mass start was a nightmare - cooped up in the start pen for what must have been an hour, bursting for a piss
I did Brighton this year and the wave start was a huge improvement IMO. Not a fan of the water station paper cups, mind.
See, that's the opposite of my experience.I did Brighton this year and the wave start was a huge improvement IMO. Not a fan of the water station paper cups, mind.
I did my first marathon (local one) in 2016 and spent ages cooped up at start, needing the loo.
But for London 2018, I just joined the mass start around 10-15 mins before the off. No problems - considering there was probably 20 times more runners than my local 'debut'
john2443 said:
Filling goody bags takes a load of effort, from an organisation point of view they are more effort than they are worth, but I can see that they are nice for runners (unless they incude a cup-a-soup!)
Not one but two soups in the goodybag at the Baxters Loch Ness marathon… 
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