3200 marathon runners along with 18000 relay runners. No sports drink on route other than that picked up off the ground half drank and handed to me by a policeman. It appeared to me the relay guys took all the drink and anyone coming behind was forgotten. Route could do with some improvements. People who run this should be sent to Dublin to see how to arrange a race. I finished got a medal and within 10 meters I was into a crowd of people waiting for the loo...no space for runners to relax.

This was my second Belfast marathon not my best but volunteers at the aid stations were brilliant a good crowd of supporters looking forward for next year

My first marathon. Water was plentiful, and served in cups (not a problem to me). Energy drinks given out in bottles around mile 20, which was nice. Gels given out at various other points, but had my own. The relay didn't cause me any problems, in fact made for a great crowd! Support was superb from spectators. Course itself was hilly with about 700' of climbing according to my Garmin data on Strava. And I felt it. That said, I've finished my first marathon in a great city with excellent cheap flights from the UK and quality inexpensive hotels - which is why I chose it over Edinburgh. Oh, and weather was great too!

First time I have ran this marathon but I loved it despite the terrible weather. First 12 miles is through city and lots of support from people helped. From miles 16-21 was a slog due to wet, windy cold weather, congested narrow footpaths by the lough and lonelinesss of running through an Industrial estate. Once back in the city centre again crowd support carried me through the last stretch. Like most people, couldn't find friends at finish line for 40mins so ended freezing in the rain. Weather was awful, but saw the weather forecast beforehand and prepared myself to 'enjoy' the new experience of running a wet marathon :-). Life is what you make it eh?

Positives first, and there are a few, this is no write off despite all the negativity on here - the expo was excellent, centrally located in the beautiful City Hall, no queues, no hassle. T-shirt and medal were good quality. Crowds were excellent considering the hellish weather on the day. Although the course has some really dull stretches, it also has a lot of downhill parts and there is definitely PB potential. Results were quick and accurate and I prefer a disposible chip.
Negatives for me are all about the finish - it was chaotic, no designated meeting areas, no decent refreshments on offer. The pouring rain made it all the worse. There's a huge park area to utilise - how about a marquee, some facilities to make it a bit more welcoming? I would also add that some more energy drinks and bananas at the water stations would be appreciated. The cups issue doesn't bother me too much - I hate seeing mostly full water bottles thrown away.
Overall a decent effort, just a few adjustments needed.

OK, weather was terrible. Heavy rain for a lot of the race with a stiff wind in places. Course was also more hilly than I expected, all of which may have coloured my perceptions. However the organisation was not good to say the least. The event was poorly signed at start and finish. No maps were availible to get you and your supporters orientated at start and finish. The finish was disorganised with insufficent marshalls directing runners through the finish area. This resulted in the later marathon runners not being given space blankets or the limited food that was availible. This is inexcusable given the conditions. It seems the poor segregation of relay runners from marathon runners caused significant problems with marathon runners having to fight their way through the scrums at the relay change over points. The course could also do with a bit of tweaking with the run through the industrial estate at approx mile 18, with its smell from the meat processing plant being almost soul destroying. On the plus side support was excellent in places considering the weather. DJs, Cheerleaders together with members of the public offering food, drink and use of their toilets. In conclusion a race with potential ruined by poor organisation. Looking at previous years comments lessons have not been learned.

The pack pick-up is in the very grand City Hall. The course is a bit hilly but the runners are well marshalled and kept away from the traffic (I never felt unsafe, even at traffic crossing points), the medal is nicely detailed and a smart tech T-shirt in the pack. It was a nice touch to list all runners in the race brochure too. But the stand-out memory for me were the hundreds of spectators who came out and encouraged us on a horribly wet and windy day -Well Done to them! I kept thinking to myself, 'If they can stand out in this then I can finish the race'. I would recommend this race and I will do it again.

I have done this one 3 times and the same problems keep coming up. The main ones being the change over points for the relay runners, on a couple of occasions this lead to road being narrowed so much that I injured myself while tryiing to get out of the way of those darting back and forth waiting for runners coming in I almost didnt get round so months of training wasted. Still get water out of standpipes for a race sponsorerd by a bottled water company and the start is still chaotic as alot of the walkers are still going off with the main body of runners and walk arm in arm down the middle of the road in the early stages. This could be a really good race if there were some changes like a couple of barriers to make sure the relay runners stay to one side the walkers are started earlier even 10 minutes so they are spread out alittle more. The potential is there the volunteers do their best especially when the condition were so bad like yesterday.

Seriously, water from standpipes and buckets! Every other race I've run in managed at least clean water. As for the powerade stations, far and few between. If you plan to do this I would recommend that you provide your own water and nutrition supplies. Crowd support was average at best and brilliant idea to have the race pass the local meat processing plant, then for fun make you finish with lots of traffic for the last few miles!! Finish area needs work, how about an area to reunite with family, all it needs are a few boards with alphabetical groups to help us find each other. Post race food...a bottle of water and a bag of crisps! Bus drivers rude, don't yell at me to hurry up when I've just run 26.2 miles, then have me go upstairs on the double decker. If you want to run a relay then it's probably fun, for a full it's pathetic. Never again.

I loved this race - admittedly we got lucky with perfect blue skies which meant there were lots of spectators handing out water, candy, chocolate, biscuits, oranges, even icy poles ! Also the upcoming elections meant that the unionist and nationalist neighbourhoods were very clearly demarcated which was interesting, especially after we passed all the murals and crossed the peace line. There's a fairly long stretch next to the water with no aid stations which a lot of people struggled with on a comparatively hot day, followed by a section through an industrial estate : not the most inspiring scenery. There were a few DJs along the way but no bands or cheerleaders as it seems there were in other years.

I enjoyed having the relay runners there for company, but some of the changeover points were messy - team members crowding the course and forcing a bottleneck or relay runners taking the wrong fork and having to double back later to change.

The aid stations also had only very limited food (oranges mostly) which the marathoners needed more than the relay runners who sometimes took far more than their fair share. Perhaps they either enough food for everyone, or separate the marathoner and relay aid stations. I don't think it's a particularly hilly course, just a few undulations here and there and a nice downhill last mile or so. No complaints about the technical shirt or medal, but food other than potato crisps at the finish line would have been nice.