This was the worst experience of my life I have run two previous marathons I have a visable disability when I went to pick my number up he said my name wasn't on the list I said I wanted to make a complaint he checked again and found my name. When I started running the marathon staff were grabbing me and telling me I was going the wrong way and were sending me with the half marathon runners it was self explanatory the full marathon runners had blue numbers half marathon runners had yellow all the staff in the Ford jackets refused to help me again you just need to look at the colour of my number and point in the way I was suppose to run. Another runner helped me but I had taken the wrong turn as we were running with traffic i had fallen behind the other runners due to the staff telling me i was going the wrong way when I wasn't and there was no staff to guide you when I got to the water station all the water and fruit had gone as the people on the stalls were either giving or selling the water and fruit to the locals so there was nothing left it should not have been allowed to be called a marathon 

I was obviously excited to take part in this - my first race outside of the UK or France. I'm not one for road races any more really but thought I'd make the exception for the romance and interest that Marrakech would throw at me.

Online sign up was ok, although it seems there were a couple of different websites that me and my club colleagues found we could use. 50 euros is about the going rate for an international event these days I suppose, not great value but it's all about the experience I guess.

Packet pick up (T-shirt and number) was pretty straightforward once we'd established that there were different stalls to go to depending on which website you'd signed up with. It also transpired that the T-shirts (technical) were different too!

The "expo" itself was pretty small and included a market of local artisan producers peddling the usual Moroccan wares (silver, rugs, leather etc).

Race day and pre-race was pretty disorganised, no instructions, announcements or signage that I was aware of. Also, no toilets to be seen - not so disastrous for us fellas (plenty of bushes for that) but not great for the females in our group. 

The marathon set off half an hour before the half but the crowds didn't seem to thin out - very busy and lots of pushing and shoving to get in to the start. Once we started, again with no announcement, it was a slow cramped shuffle for the first mile or so, with a few people stumbling and taking a tumble on the raised cats eyes in the middle of the road.

Water stations were plenty and well stocked with capped bottles and oranges (unpeeled and whole). I'm not sure of the benefit of a water station at the 20km mark in a half though! There were 3 sponge stations too although one of our party did say they had seen the volunteers picking them up off the ground and re-using them!

Crowd support was pretty good, lots of vociferous locals and lots of children high fiving - always a good thing if you ask me.

In such a disorganised busy city (traffic wise), the authorities did a great job of keeping the course clear of traffic, with cars, mopeds and trucks all kept back safely.

Course signage was ok for the half (follow the crowd!) but I know of a few marathon competitors who were misdirected or just went the wrong way, especially when the 2 courses merged for a while. There also seemed a lot fewer of them so they had less guidance from fellow competitors.

The finish line was ok, a nice long straight and a couple of funnels to take you down to your medal - quite a nice one with either a red or green ribbon and a goody bag containing 2 oranges and a banana.

Now we get into the real issue. The results were announced as published on Facebook and a link posted. Unfortunately (and this is the case for all 25 or so of our party) our numbers were wrong. Even worse, the times posted against both our names or our numbers were wrong too. Looking on Facebook this seems to be the case throughout the whole field. There was also no difference to published gun times and chip times. I'm not overly bothered with this personally - my watch time is good enough for me and this was about all the experience but if I had been bothered or wanted an official time I would be fuming!

It's a massive shame, this race has the potential to be a top event. It is very fast and very flat - elites and top club runners could really be attracted to this if they got it right. It just need someone who knows what they are doing to grab it and sort it out!

So, am I glad I did it? Absolutely, it was a great weekend with friends and a fantastic experience!

Would I run it again? Probably not - there's plenty more overseas fun to be had elsewhere that will give me better value for money.