Marathon organisers did a fantastic job

✒ I WOULD like to say thank you for the excellent coverage in the Echo for Angie Sadler’s 200th marathon at Gloucester (January 20).

It helped her feel the occasion was a special one.

The organisers Anne and Norman Wilson and their many helpers put on a very well-organised race and pulled out all the stops to help Angie celebrate memorably, allocating her with number 200 and making a presentation.

There were hundreds of runners in the half and full marathon and they did an excellent job overall, especially in ensuring that on a multi-lap course the complications of managing different finishing laps for the two events was managed very efficiently.

There were plenty of helpful marshals and adequate drink stations around the flat and fast course, the HQ with showers in the Severn Vale Sports Centre with lots of extra portable loos (always the big pre-start issue for runners.) provided for competitors was also ideal for the event.

The finish, being a couple of hundred yards away from the HQ, meant it was easy for finishers to get into a warm and dry area to recover and change.

I’m keen to put in a good word for them because they put on a lot of events and without them Gloucestershire clubs would have far fewer races to compete in locally.

As with any organisation and with the best-laid plans, things can occasionally go wrong, but I am always aware of how much attention they put into the detail - such as course marking and warning signs for other road users - so what they do is really appreciated by us runners.

I did the half marathon and was very satisfied with the whole experience.