Fast Events
Next Race: 16/08/2025
The Fast Stadium, Long Road, AS19 300
Next Race: 16/08/2025
The Fast Stadium, Long Road, AS19 300
Brilliant, challenging half with a great atmosphere
I've run/jogged/crawled this event a few times now, tough but fun route and I enjoyed the additional loop at the start this year. The organisers did an amazing job, marshalls were cheerful and encouraging throughout. Really friendly atmosphere and the post race goodies were great. Thank you!
Fun but challenging with beautiful scenery
Hard work, great trails, and a brutal finish!
A great event, well presented. My only issues were a couple of navigational wobbles in the woods in the final few kms, but fortunately I made the right choices.
Great friendly scenic race. Prefer the wooden medal.
Prefer earlier start time. Even an hour earlier. Thanks.
Fab Event
Well organised, great course - challenging, well marked - friendly, lovely to have the post-run breakfast etc. Thank you to the organisers and all the marshalls.
Beautiful scenary lovely weather and great terrain
5 stars from me. Lovely weather, challenging but runnable course well marked out (there was just one place where an extra marker would have helped) and good selection of snacks at the end. Was is a pack of about 5 or so competitors which made for some great racing (and enjoyed overtaking the triathletes on the climbs). Personally would ditch the medals and add chip timing with some splits, maybe a separate KOM time for the main climb up to Leith Hill from the 2nd aid station.
Some interesting ideas there, thanks. Glad you had a great time in the Surrey Hills. See you next year!
Tough
Very well organised local event. Handy to have the school for parking, registration, toilets and cooked food at the end. I loved the medal! Although metal medals are far superior, nowadays most trail events have switched to wooden medals that are usually pretty boring, this one is my favourite wooden one.
An idea for next year could be to charge for additional breakfasts. My little boy, as many other kids in the cafeteria, were "stealing" food from their parents, I think it would be nice if there was an option to buy additional sausages/etc. as the prize giving is over lunchtime anyway.
Brilliant experience
First timer and haven't run a half marathon since 2021 but absolutely loved the challenge. Organisation was faultless, all helpers and marshalls were super supportive. Other runners generous in their support as they are running slopes and you are struggling up them. Weather conditions were perfect and the breakfast afterwards a nice touch and very welcoming. Highly recommend but unless you are an experienced trail runner then wet conditions would make it a lot less enjoyable.
Excellent
Super well organised. Challenging trail but the view was so worth it. Very friendly and helpful staff and marshals. I am so glad I've chosen this event to be my first-ever half marathon. I for one loved the wooden medals - nature-y and sustainable, plus the carving of the tower is beautiful!
Fantastic Event - Well Organised
This is a very challenging route, but the organisation before and after makes it a great day - you get incredible value for money, with the breakfast and goody bag included.
My general feedback for improvement next year is to bring back proper medals. I understand the cost and environmental decisions behind the wooden ones. However, I believe the route is deserving of a proper medal providing memorabilia for participants embarking on the challenge.
The briefing was near on impossible to hear even at the front. Louder PA system, and perhaps asking runners to respect the briefing by being quiet for a couple of minutes.
Lastly, the question in the feedback - is this friendly for beginners. I’m not sure if you’re referring to the general event (people involved) or the route. It’s a yes for the event and people, a no for the route.
Very good point about the 'friendly for beginners' question. We should be more specific on it being a question about the warmth of the welcome, rather than the route itself, which is not a beginner's course, that's for sure!
It's definitely tough enough - not sure that I was!
A really enjoyable race, with a new team organising things this year for the first time. I liked the extra loop at the start to get it over the 21.1km half marathon distance.
I see some complaints about the reusable medal - none from me. I have way too many old medals kicking around to store yet another chunk of the world's resources in a drawer. It's nice to have a memento, but it doesn't need to be The Stanley Cup.
Another vote for more decibels for the PA at the start, please. I know the route well, but I had no idea what on-the-day announcements were.
The water stations could use more helpers to get water into runners hands, and to stand "downstream" to collect cups.
In all, a great event in new, safe, hands.
Thanks Matt. Totally agree with you about the medals but I realise that our decision to switch to something more sustainable (and made in the UK) isn't to everyone's liking. But it does give UK craftsmen the chance to show what they can do and it also keeps the cost and the air miles down. I will definitely invest in a more powerful PA system though!
Enjoyment and pain in equal measure!
Fantastic event. If only the sun shined like that all the time. Agree with the comments re microphone - although as I ran last year it wasn’t an issue; find the nearest hill and run up it! Last years medal was great but I think this years medal was also very nice - sustainable materials and still big enough to make it feel like we’d done something very important :) Great organisation again. Lots of smiley faces, good vibes and boosting cheers from the volunteers on route. Will be in the diary as a yearly repeat. Brought along a friend who also said the same thing. #fivestars #recommend
Great race under the new organisers
It’s now a half marathon distance, so good route changes with the warm up lap and also avoiding the chicken run.
Tons of Marshalls - where did they all come from? And so friendly.
Great weather, nice goodie bag with beer, bananas and nibbles and a nice breakfast to finish with.
Couple of very minor niggles - No tea or coffee with breakfast - that was a major blow after 13 miles….
Also quite a long queue for registration- might be better to organise numbers by name order plus have a separate queue for swap of places/queries etc.
All in all a great race under new organisers.
Good points. We are going to throw more resources at Registration between 10am and 10.30am (the peak) and also make sure the tea and coffee urns make their way up from the Registration area (for sign-on) to the Canteen (for lunch). Glad you love the event and see you next year!
Awesome route, great atmosphere...but tough!
My first organised half marathon and loved it. The route & scenery superb, the marshalls great, the other runners very supportive...and the post run snacks and cooked breakfast hit the spot.
My main point of feedback - I'd like the Leith Hill tower at the top to be the top and the turning point. I'd rather have run a loop or two more at the start to avoid that.
Thank you, I'll hopefully be back another year.
Trauma bonding in the Surrey hills
I'd bring back the old style medals and turn up the volume on the microphone.
But fantastic overall thanks to all involved!
Also maybe bring back the singing.
Hi Gareth. Definitely with you in turning up the PA system next year! As for the medals, we took the decision to move to a more sustainable material, sourced ethically, with the wooden medals cut and etched in the UK, so very low transport mileage. They double as reusable coasters as well. Glad you found the trauma bonding session enjoyable!
Very hard but great route. Well organised and welcoming
stunning route, friendly atmosphere
Challenging but beautiful out and back race in the Surrey Hills. Everything you want in a trail race.
Excellent marshals and delicious cooked breakfast at the end.
Excellent in every respect
Better signage for the food hall please
Totally agree about the signage, Graham. Next year we will definitely have large signs saying 'Get Your Delicious Cooked Breakfast Here'. Although I think the smell of sizzling bacon helped people find their way this year. Thanks for the hug at the end, by the way!
Tough
Ditch the wooden medal, no one wants them. Bring back the fantastic metal ones!
Breakfast was fantastic.
Brilliant event!