Enjoyed the event, despite it being two loops. The volunteers were fantastic as always, water stations were great and the support in the areas that there was support was great. The medal... not great, the having to pay for the finisher top... not great, the lack of toilets and chaos of everyone starting the race at the same time... not great. Still overall, I thought it was a good event!

First time running Southampton Marathon and probably the last. Great support from the locals and bands etc.. however course has a lot more hills that advertised, quoted as 1000ft of elevation, I clocked 1500ft. The start was very congested, I was in pen B but yet met very slow runners early on the race. Then at the finish I was given a power bar that went out of date on the month of the race I.e. May 2026. Organisers could do better.

I think the idea of having everyone start at the same time was a bad one. There was a huge amount of congestion — people were stepping on each other’s feet, and many runners clearly chose the wrong pace group, which made it very difficult to pass others along the route. The course also seemed longer than expected. At the finish line, when I tried to take a banana, a woman started shouting that it was only for selected participants, which was quite frustrating. On top of that, there was no air show, which was one of the main reasons I came and took part in the run. Overall, I feel that the event is getting worse year by year.

The **Southampton Half Marathon** has a really enjoyable course, but unfortunately, **queuing was the theme of the day**. I arrived with plenty of spare time, only to spend **an hour** in lines—first to drop off my bag, then for the toilets, and finally to get into my starting pen. By the time I made it through, I had just **5 minutes** to spare before the race began. Once running, things didn’t improve much—within **30 minutes**, there were **two major bottlenecks** entering and exiting a park, causing unnecessary congestion. After finishing, there was yet another **queue (or scrum!)** to collect my pre-ordered finisher’s T-shirt, followed by another wait to get my bag back. Having run this race **pre-Covid**, I don’t remember it being this chaotic. The event feels **massively oversubscribed** now, with **too many runners** for the infrastructure. The course itself is great, but the overcrowding and poor organisation really took away from the experience.

The bag drop area was a nightmare. No clear queue or organisation. It took me over 20 minutes. The start was very congested as the half marathon and marathon runners started at the same time! Luckily I managed to get through nearer to the start line as there was a bottleneck just after we got running, everything ground to a halt as we first entered a narrow gateway into a park and 150m later stopped again to exit it. Madness! Despite being No Parking, unbelievably there were cars parked on the closed roads causing obstructions. Second lap was better as there were fewer runners and much less public support until nearer the end. Main pint to note is this is a very hilly marathon. My Strava elevation gain was 335m! The worst part being a hill in the north part which was too steep to run and at least 800m long. This is not a marathon for a PB! Itchin bridge is also steep for about 250m. It could get windy, but the breeze we had was cooling. Next year it is on 6 May 26 a month later with the potential to be hot. I liked the level park and coastal path sections. Most of the time the public tried to give way to those running which was nice. Great Medal. Free photos were also welcome, but they were only low resolution. Marshals were great and the aid stations had proper plastic bottles, not the silly cups. It was a pity that most of those running chose to throw their bottles all over the place.

Fantastic day running the Southampton Half. Gorgeous weather and a great route. Brilliant atmosphere at the start line and fabulous support all the way round from the Southampton locals. My second time running this and would thoroughly recommend. A couple of epic fails though on the organisation which need to be looked at: a) A couple of bottlenecks in the first 1k where we had to slow down to walking pace - entering and leaving the park - surely the route could be changed slightly to avoid this or starters could be released in smaller chunks. b) Huge unstructured crowds around the Guildhall for people either queueing for bags, t-shirts or loos. Unclear which queue was which and lines move way too slowly for something of this size. Maybe move bag-drop somewhere else (park?) and speed up t-shirt process.

Unfortunately this event has got too big. Long queues for the bag drop at the start. The run itself started ok but after a few minutes of running had to stop for a sharp right turn and then stop again to get out the park the other side, stopped for 20 seconds which is really frustrating when just getting started. Rest of the course ok, however the end was so disorganised. After crossing the finish line there were no signs where to get bags/Tshirts. After queuing for half an hour for bags the queue for the T-shirts was even longer so just gave up and left. Enjoyed this event previously but unfortunately will not be back.

The best part about this was the energy around it in town - especially all the spectators that come out to cheer you on. As far as the actual organisation/event experience goes, it left a lot to be desired. 1. Race number pick up. I signed up after 9th march so needed to pick my race number up in person - no problem. When I arrived to do it I was told that despite signing up late, they had sent my pack out in the post - and that this was too late to say it hadn't arrived. I wasn't expecting it to arrive given the communications stating expressly that anyone who signed up after 9th March would have to pick it up. 2. Impossible to find the pacers at the start - there was no indication of where to stand for certain pacers, and I spent the entire race looking for the 2 hour pacer. Given that I finished in under just two hours, and definitely didn't overtake them , i genuinely have no idea where they were. Pacers only wearing yellow bibs which did blend in with everyone else's yellow running tops. 3. Ran briefly with the 2.05 pacer, who was doing 8 minute miles and told me he was trying to 'get time in the bank'. Was pleased i asked, as was very concerned to see him so far ahead of me! 4. In 2018 the water bottles given were made of biodegradable plastic. Sad to see ABP have gone back to single use plastic bottles. 5. Only one available stand to collect the T shirt that we pre paid for - all other events I have done have handed these out along with medals etc, after quickly checking that a T shirt was paid for. This obviously led to a very large queue right at the end.

This event gets better and better every year. It's great value, well supported, the SWAG is brilliant and it's got a real festival atmosphere. It brings the city together and it's great to be a part of it. A regular part of my running calendar, I look forward to doing it again in 2025!

The first lap (half marathon) was good - lots of support & pacers. The one thing that let it down was the start - no clear separation between different paced people so everyone was very congested! Made worse by running through a park with a narrow gate about 500m in so everyone had to stop. The second lap was what let this race down - no pacers, no mile/km markers, a lot of the support had gone home and some parts had no staff or barriers so there were a lot of public walking across/along the track. The worst part for me though was the last 5-10km of each lap didn’t have any water stations - when you need it most?! My tracker had the course as 3km too long too. All staff around the track were so lovely & supportive though!