2. Fortunate enough to have lesser humidity this year :)

3. One honest suggestion as a runner who cannot afford to stop and drink, PLEASE avoid this re-usable PLASTIC tumblers, The practical difficulty being, i cannot crush the tumbler to drink, so it gets into nasal and literally blocks your breathing pattern, or i can only stop and drink

4. Some way to setting up conveyance to main land would be of great help, people visiting from outstation or whoever doesnt have conveyance back, its super hard to find any conveyance to get out the island. That would be of great help given that runners would be crazy tired after the run

5. There were few stretches along the full marathon route where its confusing as to which way to go, instead of just placing the cone in the middle of the cross roads, it would be great if we have the ribbons tied, so that we have it clear.

I wish more people will join the races next year.

1. Hydration was not available between 14km to 18 km.this part is usually tough on runners.

2. There was no energy drink/salt at finish line.

Loved the event and looking forward for next year.

Thanks

Vishal

2641

One suggestion for improvement would be route the final 5-8 kms of the marathon finish along with the half marathoners, so as to have more fellow runners alongside in that difficult phase of the run - sometimes you do not see anyone alongside.

Thanks and grow bigger SCM.

Best wishes.

Chandru

Areas of Improvements: (1) The route was great, however, the roads were little uneven at specific places - so there is always a chance for the runners to tumble inadvertently. (2)One more tent / food camp could have helped the runners to eat their breakfast under shade comfortably.(3) Doing prize money would probably bring in some more top athletes to the event and make it truly an international race.

The Good (What you want to continue doing):

1. Early start time to beat the heat and reasonably good lighting where required to enable this

2. Aid stations seemed pretty well stocked and spaced

3. Flat course :)

The Bad (Feedback to improve of course):

1. Not sure if the HM course was also IATA certified as my Garmin showed 20.7 and not 21.097 when I finished.

2. The warm up and pre race announcements etc. seemed very amateurish and did not have the class of say a RFL organized run. You need to get a qualified person to conduct the warm up session and a good anchor to MC the whole event

3. No announcements on when to expect the prize distribution ceremony etc. even after 4 - 4:30 hours into the event (No announcements on whats next even at 8 30). This made the crowd leave and restless.

4. No cool down sessions. No areas with shade to relax after the run. It was hot and stuffy and runners were tired of looking for places to park their backsides after a marathon!

5. No real prizes to the winners. Come on guys, you are Boston qualifier race with so many sponsors yet the prize distribution ceremony in both the content of what was said and what was handed out to winners was worse than even a casual local park 5k run. I know you are sending some trophies to winners later and stuff but at least half the reward for a winner is to take something back home that morning!

6. Get some crowd to cheer people. The onlookers were largely locals who were least interested in the event. May be even slightly mocking at the crazy guys running nowhere :).

7. Have like a Pasta party (At extra charge) or something the previous day. Lends the event more seriousness and class and surely probably a revenue generating event for the organizers as well.

Overall, had a good time in Cochin and look forward to you guys taking this feedback and making it a world class run.

I will see you guys at the 2016 edition, hoping to do a full marathon. :-)

POSITIVE: early start time, pre-run music, route, volunteers and drums along the route to cheer us on, water stations, post-run breakfast

TO IMPROVE: Pre-run warm up wasn't much of a warm up, Medal could have been less dull and dark and more bright and photogenic, maybe with a metallic finish in gold or silver. I get it that its locally sourced coir but aesthetically it was wanting in shine :)

Some people here are complaining about the sorry state of the roads, but as a local let me tell you: Only God can get smoothen out the potholes in god's own country. You can't expect the marathon organizers to fix them. :)

All in all, great experience...looking forward to running the Full Marathon next...

But felt that crowd participation was less than last year somehow, all the route rather looked empty apart from volunteers and guides..

Hydration points were at convenient locations and so no case getting dehydrated. Then, sumptuous breakfast ! What more? Photographers were clicking at every runner and we runners got amazed; Steve Boons?

SCM 2016 will be the most sought after marathon event and I wish every bit of luck to the organizers & volunteers.

Good : Volunteers, Medical Support, Organizers,

Bad : Road Condition

Route area need to improve

Really enjoyed the run, was able to do my PB which was even more overwhelming. Kudos to the organizers, you guys were amazing. Keep it up Soles Of Kochi, if all is well per plan, will be back in Kochi with a bigger contingent from Chennai next year.

3) Hydration Support, Cheers, THE DHOLS everything was amazingly superb.

4) Food and refreshment arrangement was also exceeding expectations

5) route was very scenic and very well chosen

6) some many more actually

Suggestion: Next time should announce before hand if the route is barefoot friendly

But considering the effort put in and the pain taken (which was very evident in every places), it was a blast!! Hats off. :)

My sincere thanks to each & every body .70% organised.

Area needs improvement are

1) garbage collection

2) food shelter, energy drink distribution

3) issuing of certificates to all finishers. Through online at least .

Very friendly, community oriented event. Did not have a commercial feel to the event which many marathons have these days.

Lots of support, aid stations were good, and the food was great too.

The medical tent was friendly and provided good support after the run.

Areas of improvement:

1. The local population could have been more engaged. I did not find the local folks encouraging, or cheering the runners. Felt this part was better in the 2014 marathon.

2. The food distribution could have been more organised. E.g. a special line for Full and HM runners and another for 5k. There was lot of waiting and hustling for food especially for eggs. The food was very good though.

3. Some areas of the route were very dark, and some lighting arrangements could have been made even if it is portable lights. The darkness combined with potholes could cause potential harm to runners. If the pothole ridden parts can be avoided during the dark hours, that is an option too

.

Next year if you can pls provide extra lighting at darker areas.

+ ves:

(1) Great ambiance for runners at starting point

(2) Presence of physically challenged group is a great initiative and motivation for others

- ves:

(1) Not enough sign boards, there was a bit of confusion between different category towards finishing line.

(2) Better use of Social media to make it more popular.

See you next year...

And cool medal too...

"THANK YOU SOLES OF COCHIN"

Hydration points were there all along the route and well maintained.

We enjoyed the run and scenic beauty. City as a whole is very clean. The post run breakfast was tasty and sumptuous.

We find the response for the run and from the public was less.

Even I find that the HM course was slightly lesser.

The other aspect is that of the Results. You have announced that there will be Finishers Medal and Certificate for all finishers. Apart from this the winners in each category will get Awards and trophies from IDBI Federal Life Insurance, but we did not find any trophies. All the winners got was a certificate AND THAT TOO IT WAS NOT SIGNED.

Hope to come back next year for a bigger participation. Thanks

After race experience not so good, no energy drink, food stalls were there but we did'nt know it was complimentary. Immediate receipt of medal was great but felt a bit lost after race , no guidance .

It was a fantastic trail. Loved the aid stations that was provided. I will surely

Improvements

Warm up was utter boring. Also

Cheers to all members.

by Mr Mathew, Kumarji , Ramesh Karta & all friends of Soles of Cochin of which I am a member since I started running on the 23 Aug 15. I completed my run in 2;35;14. the event was organised extremely well no confusion all laid out straight and simple . I enjoyed the run and intend to continue into the future as well .

Thanks.

Would like to highlight some of the positives:

1) The medal - definitely worth the run and felt good holding it.

2) The physio stretches - awesome and helped in recovery

Some suggestions to spike up the proceedings next year:

1) The BIB collection and Expo should be kept closer to Willington Island (or) hotels recommended for staying. Didnt feel the BIB collection venue had anything to offer or was worth the time spent braving the traffic.

2) The road conditions were quite choppy in some areas which required the runners to be extra vigilant especially given the dim/poor lighting (guess, this is something outside your control)

3) Given that the USP of this run is the route which covers the best of Kochi, why not start it a bit late so that runners can have a glimpse of the treats during part day-light.

Here's wishing you all the best and looking fwd to running SCM over the coming years.