On The Day – Richmond Park Half Marathon 2018

The Richmond Park Half Marathon –  Sunday 25th February 2018 – Race start time 10.00am

Please read the following information as it will ensure you have a safe and enjoyable race.
The half Marathon course is held entirely within the boundaries of Richmond Park, starting and finishing
at Sheen Gate.

Race HQ is situated just outside Sheen Gate Car Park, you will notice a gathering of marquees and
gazebo’s in the area underneath a clutch of trees. The link below shows the location of the start area –
look at the top for SHEEN GATE.

We recommend you stretch and warm up before race to avoid or prevent any injuries. We will be calling
all runners into position between 9.45-9.50 so we can count down to the race start!

The marathon will start promptly at 10.00am – setting off from Sheen Gate heading down on the grass
towards to Sheen Crossroads, then turning right up towards Sawyers Hill. This will allow the runners to
spread out, by the time they return back down through Sheen Gate at the HQ, and then onwards down
towards Roehampton Gate……….and around park to complete the 13.1m distance.

There will be plenty of car parking spaces at Sheen Gate and Roehampton Gate Car Parks – the earlier
you arrive for the race, the more chance you will have of getting a space at the Sheen CP which is where
the race HQ and start is. We recommend you do not park on verges outside Sheen Car Park.

Runners will be able to collect their race numbers at registration HQ on the morning of event. There
will be a help desk for those who have any queries re numbers, timing chips and require any information
or support. Race packs will include your running number (which has chip timing attached) and safety
pins.

Please click here to view our Course Map – we will have print outs of race map for
you so you can see where the route takes you. We will also have a large scale maps at HQ so you can see
the area, route and terrain of the 13.1 miles.
We would urge all runners to familiarise themselves with the route in general, so no wrong turns are
made and official timings will be not be affected. There are obviously certain key points of the route
where runners will need to be careful and ensure they follow directions or instructions from marshals or
race officials. Organisers cannot be held responsible for any incorrect times where runners have not
followed or completed the official course. If you can get a trial run before the event to familiarise
yourself with certain parts of the route that would be ideal, but appreciate it will obviously not be
possible for many runners.

We will provide a changing tent at the HQ Sheen Gate, please use these as quickly as you can to avoid
any delays. We will also provide a gazebo for bag drops – and your race number will be the same as your
bag drop tag. This will be near the changing tents area. We recommend you do not leave any valuables
in these bags to be extra safe. We will have someone looking after baggage throughout the race day.
Note: Organisers cannot be held responsible for any belongings or items that may go missing which are
stored in the baggage area, however we are aiming to secure this area and have our officials supervise
bag drop off and collection.

We will provide water aid stations after approximately every 3 miles – so every time you pass Sheen
Gate, Broomfield Hill and Ham Gate, you can take on water and nourishments on offer. We recommend
you bring your own gels, but may have some on offer at Sheen Gate, during the second half of the race.
If you have a special drink you want to leave at Sheen Gate (passing at mile 3) we will leave a special
drinks table – please flag and mark up your own drink bottle so you can easily identify.
A bottle of water will also be provided to all runners at the finish line.

St Johns Ambulance are the very best medical support you can have at these marathon events , and we
will have once again a significant presence of support medics, both at HQ and mobile cycle response
team to assist runners with any injuries or illnesses that may occur.
Raynet Communications will have vehicles situated around Richmond Park on race day, They provide a
vital link via portable devices that connect them to both HQ St Johns Ambulance Teams and the Race
Directors and help with any urgent support issues (short water supplies, injuries etc…..)

There are toilets situated at all major entrances of Richmond Park – they can be found at Sheen Gate,
then clockwise around the park at Roehampton Gate CP, Kingston Gate, Ham Gate and Richmond Gate.
We will have three additional portable toilets situated in Sheen Gate CP for runners to use free of
charge. We would encourage all marathon runners to use temporary toilets we have provided, as the
parks WC located at the entrance of Sheen Gate can get generally busy and sometimes struggle to cope
with increased numbers. The Royals parks also charge 20p…….so bring a few coins just in case!!

There will be individual mile markers or markings along the course – as a basic rule, Start/Sheen HQ =
13.1 miles.

Please drop all your litter in the bins or area situated next to the water Stations or the many various bins
within the park. It’s important we leave the park with only our footprints of the running and nothing
else, to ensure the beauty and well-being of the park is maintained.

There will a number of race marshals and supporters who will be situated at key road junctions, water
stations and the HQ start and finish area. Please do bear in mind they are all giving up their time to
support you on race day, and make sure it’s both fun and successful – without these people we would
not be able to put on the Richmond Park Half Marathon. I would encourage you, to give your thanks to
our wonderful support team right throughout the day – they will be cheering you on!!
We would also urge all runners to use caution when crossing busy junctions, as marshals do not have
rights to stop traffic, but will obviously help runners at certain key points. It is the responsibility of each
entrant to ensure care and caution is exercised when crossing roads and junctions within the park to
ensure there are no accidents or injuries.

Upon completion, all marathon runners can collect the following;
A new Richmond Park Half Marathon medal, commemorative RPHM mug, a unique RPHM t-shirt plus
other goodies. The Sweat Shop goody bag with Running magazine, various vouchers and snacks to help
you rehydrate.
The new incoming Mayor of Richmond will be presenting medals and prizes to the first 3 finishers in the
male/female category. The race directors will also be awarding spot prizes to various runners that have
been kindly donated by our sponsors – we hope you approve of this extra special gesture we provide!

A race cut off time of 3.0 hours (1pm) will be strictly adhered to. Any runners who appear to be unable
to complete the distance by then may we be asked to stop and return directly to Sheen Gate HQ. A race
sweeper will monitor the slowest runner(s) to communicate this with the race directors. We hope as in
previous years, all of our runners will safely and successfully complete the distance!
Race HQ will start to be be dissembled from 1.30pm onwards.

Maurice Raynor and his wonderful chip-timing team will be looking after all times and race data from
the finishing runners, and no doubt will be working frantically through the night so we can publish the
finisher’s results on Monday. We hope to get the FREE OF CHARGE runners photographs from Richard
(R&R Photos) loaded onto our website for everyone to review and download. Please look out for this on
our website.

We are hoping Gabriella Corsini will be at the finish with massage table(s) to ease any runners pains at
finish and offer useful specific advice on any niggles or aches. This will be your ideal opportunity to get
first hand contact with these fitness and health specialists. We would also like to state that we do not
charge for treatments, but would recommend you make a small donation at your discretion of…say £5 –
£10 for their help and time.

We look forward to seeing you all on race weekend – Sunday 25th Feb 2018
If you have any queries in the meantime, please contact Race Directors either 1m2go3@gmail.com –
Contacts Gareth 07967 729922 or Ray 07540 984707.