Firstly I want to caveat this review by saying that it is solely based on my own race experience as every review should be. I have heard subsequently that there were issues with water on the course but as I finished in under 4hrs this did not massively affect me.
I have given it 2/5 for value for money for two reasons, firstly unless you sign up a year in advance the price of the race rises pretty quickly until it hits about £80. Now whilst I paid this much, I don't think any marathon is worth that kind of money. Secondly unless you live nearby you will almost undoubtably have to pay to stay somewhere nearby and the hoteliers and B&Bs know this so raise their prices also.
The Expo: this was my first time at Brighton so I hadn't experienced previous expos but I found the beach village a great little place but a little rain could have easily changed this. The queues for race packs were huge on Saturday afternoon but luckily for me as an AMEX card holder I was able to fast-track. Also once you got to the front of the queue you could literally pick any start zone as long as it wasn't full. I was in the Red zone and there were plenty of runners that shouldn't have been there.
The race starts in Preston Park unless you're elite then you start at Withdean. Again as I was in the first wave my start was pretty uneventful.
The course is quite good although a little undulating, but the local support is phenomenal! When you pass through some of the residential areas they have full on street parties and really get into the race. One downside of the route for me was the lack of crossing control in some places, I saw a chap on a mobilty scooter hare across the course without a care in the world almost taking out a few runners in the process.
The aid stations were close together and pretty well run but water was served in cups. Now I get the environmental impact of bottles but I cannot deal with cups in a race. It was by far the hottest day of the year so far hitting 21 degrees and I struggled to get enough water on board with half full cups. The organisers cannot control the weather but they can control the aid station set up.
The finish and bag drop are also well managed but getting out of the race village was a real struggle, in hindsight I'd have struggled along the shingle beach rather than slowly shuffle through the only entry/exit.
In summary:
AMAZING local support and great big race feel.
Cups at aid stations is a big negative for me.
Race pack collection and village exit could be managed much better.