Thames Meander Spring

Petersham & Ham Sea Scouts HQ, Douglas House Meadow, Richmond, TW10 7AH

Overall Rating

4.5/ 5

636 reviews
Would you recommend it to others? Yes
How did you rate the scenery? 4/5
How did you rate the atmosphere? 4/5
How did you rate the organisation? 4/5
Do you think this was friendly to beginners? Yes

Anonymous

Nice route but poor signalling

I’d have loved a bit more atmosphere, music and clearer route indications
Overall good

Reviewed using Eventrac, Nov 2019
Anonymous

Good flat half marathon

Enjoyable and well organised event. Only minor quibbles - the excessively long pre-race briefing that nobody could hear down-wind (it was windy), and a lack of promised jelly babies on the aid stations. I also thought the turnaround point was going to be nearer Kew Bridge and not need to pass the finish line with 1.6 miles to go, requiring a further out and back loop to complete.
The venue (YMCA Hawker) was really convenient for the race start, parking on street was achievable just meters from the perimeter, and there's a good selection of shops/cafes and coffee shops just a short walk from there in Ham.
I liked the 'eco' friendly wooden medal, but perhaps the sentiment was lost with the use of plastic cups on the water stations. People were generally courteous however and used the bins provided to collect them!

Would I do it again? Yes.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Perfect first half

The loud speakers at the start were not loud enough - you needed more further back. Perhaps facilitating an optional warm
Up before too would have been good.
Really liked the slightly different medal.
Perhaps some distance markers would have been good as well.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Flat and beginner friendly marathon

The turnaround for full marathon at canbury gardens was not marshalled and did not have a sign so no one knew where to run until or when to turn around to head back to YMCA. The new medal does not have a date or year, it will better to see a specific date on medal or least the ribbon.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

relaxed stroll with great scenery

disappointed that there wern’t any markers for distance. People at the back couldn’t here the organizer at start of race when he was giving information out. was not well planned with people in the path while runners were running past the 11 mile mark (finish line). The medals where wood and not metal like the year before which was disappointing. apart from that really enjoyed it and will do next year for sure.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Potentially fast, smallish friendly race, generally experienced field.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Quite a lonely run so probably not one for beginners.

I don’t think enough water stations were provided on the route, and it was hard to know how far you had done or had remaining because there were no markers for distance covered. It’s also incredibly demoralising to pass the finish line and have to do another 2km to complete the full race.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Great Marathon, well organised

One issue was that the drink points did run-out of food. Although bananas were mentioned at the start none were there.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

excellent friendly race

there was no cake this time :-(

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Really enjoyable event thank you!

Pre-event information was excellent, including a last-minute update on the weather conditions, advice on footwear etc., and the check-in and bag drop were really easy. Great facilities at the YMCA (café, water fountain, plenty of places to sit and wait). As always at this sort of thing, a few more portaloos might have been helpful. The only real problem was the first turn around: one small cadet mumbling "blues turn around now" wasn't particularly clear amongst the general scramble at the drinks table. Many thanks to the YMCA staff and (eventually) the event paramedic who patched me up at the end, as well as to the race director for coming over personally to check that I was ok. I would definitely consider entering again.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Nice pleasant event

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Very friendly event

On the positive side, this is a great very friendly event - the young marshals were all brilliant! It was nice to have squash at the water stations as well as water and tailwind. The route was very nice (windy at times but that's beyond your control!) andI absolutely love the wooden medal!
The one negative for me was the lack of toilets and this caused me significant issues on the return leg. I had made myself a map of toilets on the route from looking on https://www.toiletmap.org.uk/ but the problem is that many "public" toilets theses days are board up - e.g. the one at the top of Petersham Meadow was boarded up. There were toilets at The Ship but unfortunatley my upset stomach really kicked in at 17 miles, just after I had passed it on the way back. This made for a fairly challenging and miserable last part of the marathon, sadly. Although you had mentioned "Richmond/Kew Bridge/Barnes pubs" as a possible toilet stops, it might be an idea to agree with some particularl pub owners in advance that the runners could use their toilets en route and let the runners know where these are, so we could be confident about accessing their premises to use their facilities.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Very scenic route, I loved it!

One observation is that for slower runners that finish later between 5/5:45 hours, the finish line is much quieter so would help if the music and support continues until the cut off time

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Beautiful london run with a bad ending

Having to pass the finish line to complete a final loop was a bit soul destroying at the end. It wasnt that clear that you had to run passed with people stopping at the 'finish line' drink station thinking it was the end. Wrong. Completing that loop at the start would be so much better.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Great event for my first marathon

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Scenic and shaded half marathon !!

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Excellent, well organised race.

Flat!

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Very scenic and enjoyable

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

david ross always presents a well organised marathon

no complaints I would have no hesitation in entering it again.
I have run it a few times now.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019
Anonymous

Low key, friendly, could do better on facilities

We were lucky to arrive early, but later arrivals had a huge queue for race numbers. Start was a bit congested (narrow start funnel). Changing/shower facilities were limited (and non-existent for women that we could find). However, the event was well organised, communication was good, if a little close to race day, and there was a real feeling that this was someone's 'baby'. Would do it again; positive experience.

Reviewed using Eventrac, Aug 2019