1. Runners need to line up at the start near their projected finishing time (or use corrals). The first mile was too crowded at the front with slower runners. Ordinarily that would be fine but the first mile of the course had many turns.
2. Where was the water station before St Mary's stadium??? It's on the map sent with the race packet.
3. The Itchen bridge was too crowded. The 10k and slower marathon runners need to be encouraged to keep to the left so the front of the half marathon doesn't have to weave through the crowd.

Absolutely love the Southampton Half Marathon. So well supported and structured. The whole community comes out and cheers you on (memorable thanks go to: to the church who very early on opened their toilets up to all runners, and had created a huge 'ladies and gents' toilet sign to indicate they had opened their doors to the runners! and to the sea scout marching band playing just before the first bridge - a real boost). The warm up squad was brilliant and the route was very well signed. Good frequency of water stops too. Improvements for next year: Make the water stops wider - became a real issue when the half marathon had the front of the marathon pass at the same time as the water stop (half marathon being told to keep left, while both half and full marathon people wanted to get water at the same time, creating a bottle neck and potential crash risk between runners). I will definitely be looking at running again next year

A hilly course but great way to see the city with great crowd support and organisation!!

The race itself was great; a good route, fantastic support, fun warm up activity, and we were lucky with the weather. The Nuffield Health massage tent and alcohol free **** were also a great addition to the finishing area. However, most of the 'organisation' in the lead up to the race was very poor and disappointing.

Incorrect race packs were posted, forcing collection on the day. The information in the packs was incorrect or incomplete (two 7 km markers on the route, no legend to explain what the pink pentagons were, little information for those who had to collect their packs and where to go). Then on queueing up for 15 minutes outside the ReesLeisure tent to pick up my pack, they did not have my number and I was told I'd have to queue up outside the DBMax tent who had numbers starting 18**- the lack of empathy from the staff there was infuriating considering there was no indication that other numbers were required from a different tent, and I was clearly not the only one in the same position. So rather than help me to get the other pack from a box in the adjacent tent, I was expected to queue up for another 10 minutes.

I paid to take part in the race to help raise money, and I didn't expect to be stressed before taking part in it.

Great event, great atmosphere and well organised. Just one small criticism though, no water station for 10k runners until the 8k mark! On a day as warm as Sunday it would have been better to have one earlier, such as at 5k.

Excellent day

Very well organized event!

Very well organized event!

Organisation was great, it gets better every year. Though it would have been good to have the warm up area by the start and not in separate places.
Nice changes to the course - making it challenging especially with the Itchen Bridge near the end.
Great support everyone as always.

Very well organized event!

Excellent course (better than the last 2 years half marathons) , I was a bit concerned about the 2 lap idea but actually was better knowing what was to come second time round, although the bridge really was a nightmare 2nd time (remove it on 2nd lap...pretty please!!!! that's the only reason I cannot give a 5 out of 5). Support around route was really good and water stations almost perfectly placed. This was my first ever marathon and completed it in 4 hours 1 min.

Great course, superbly marshalled and a wonderful atmosphere. A must do race for runners of any level.

I absolutely loved my first 10k! It was a lovely atmosphere, brilliant support from all the volunteers and spectators which really helped. Only 3 things I would change. In the 10k the first water I saw was as we came off Itchen bridge, about 7k in, and we would really have appreciated some before, especially as it was a hot day. Secondly most people just took a swig and dropped the bottle-that's a huge waste-perhaps little cones/plastic cups would be better? 3rd thing-I finished in 1.13 and there were plenty of people behind me, and the smallest t shirt left was medium (fine for me!) but I had the last one! A skinny friend finished 3 mins later and had to have an XL, do that could have been better. Other than that, a great event, thank you.

Very well organised and enjoyable

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Enjoyed the previous year more. Tough start and too narrow and too many turns. The previous year running through the city was better as it was easier to overtake.
Doing the itches bridge late was very difficult.

Thoroughly enjoyed the day fro start to finish, very good organisation in the setting up of the event, the administration team girls were very helpful in switching my event for me quickly with no bother at all. I've managed to persuade at least 5/6 people to enter next years events as they were inspired as to how well I'd done after suffering injury, and only having 4 weeks to fully and train and prepare. Great day as the family came dwon and cheered me through the final straight and the atmosphere was really vibrant throughout, so thanks to all the people who made the day what it was and cheered al the runners though their challenges.
Back Next Year? Absolutely!!!

I loved every minute of my race , well organised , brilliant atmosphere , marshalls on hand cheering you on , couldn't have asked for anything better for my first time

I did not enjoy the race as much as last year for 2 reasons. There did not appear to be a marker at every mile and so it was difficult to gauge my progress. Also there were not enough water stations, it may be because it was a hot day but I was very dehydrated. I also preferred the itchen bridge being near the start as it was last year. Other than that I did enjoy it and will do it again next year as it is local, but can we please have more water?
Regards
Dan

Excellent organisation, from baggage drop to finish pint! Lots of great additional things going on around the venue. Even managed lovely weather.