“Nice event but organisation still below standards - Last year, I participated in the full marathon and it was really disastrous, so this year I decided to run for only the half and everything went fine for me. So, it looks that the event organisation for two hours is still acceptable, and then after 2 hours it simply becomes chaotic. The participation fee is very expensive if we compare it to the event medal (when available) which is very cheap and the giveaways for runners that are almost non existent.”

“please do not schedule on fraiday any more - Dears please we are happy to participate in Ooredoo marathon every year but wish to avoid Friday because of Jomaa pray better to race on Saturday this year the event closing cross the prayer time Also the staff was not well organized & cooperative like last year it was much better and there was enough medals for all runners, even this year medal is common for all distances that is not good I sent mail to [email protected] to correct my timing but no response at all Regards ”

“improvable - I travelled only for the marathon from Germany to Doha and so I was very very sad that there was no medal for me at the finish line after 3:50 hours. And the shirt was too small. In size L it was good only for my 8 years old daughter but not for me (187cm/67kg).”

“NO MEDAL!! Not received by post as you promised - Me an amateur, trained for 2 months, paid 250 QAR,painfully finished the grueling 42K run but felt greater pain to find there was NO MEDAL to take home, to show off,to post on the social media to encourage others to actively involve in sports..It was so cruel of you guys to deny me & many others that joyful movement. We were just pushed away saying the medal would be sent later on... WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL IN GIVING A MEDAL SECRETLY!?? it is just a trinket if not given at the right place &moment.”

“Year 2017 was better organized - 2018, there was no shoutout for the Marathon/Half Marathon to begin, everyone just started running. There was no water in one of the most critical stations, only unripe bananas, T-shirts should have been given with the bib the previous days as on the day they ran out of sizes (apparently no ticks were made on the bibs as was indicated), I got a large size instead of medium and the Tshirt was for full marathon while I took part in half marathon. Medals had no indication on category, ”

“Great fun but no medals left :( - Well signed and support stations were fantastic in the middle but finish line was terrrrrrible. And they ran out of medals. Also the tracker on the pack didn’t work. There was no big ceremony for the winners. The girl that read the numbers on stage looked like she was in pain and hearted every minute. Would have been a great buzz if Mo presented the winners. Maybe next time”

“Room for improvement - The pre-race communication was really bad. I tried to find out about race-pack collection through Twitter, Instagram and e-mail. No replies. And then less then 48 hours before the race the information finally came. Why have all the channels such as Twitter and Instagram when not replying there?! It would have been better to get the shirts at race-pack-collection as on the day I only got one for the wrong distance. I also missed the snack packs ... A nice course though!”

“not bad - A lot of mistakes during the ceremony awards and we have waited many hours.”

“Lap course -42k ( incomplete runner) - I couldn't complete my 42 k marathon because i injured my leg after running 21k . I don't know how the timing was even monitored . There were 2-3 people watching our timing I guess but i so confused faces when they were noting down my distance . For one lap the course in good. However, for a 42k running track ; it is very boring and the support station only had water, Gatorade and bananas?! A chocolate or musli bar could be sufficient to get it going . The crowd for cheer is poor . ”

“Enjoyable and a lot better organized. - I enjoyed this year's race. It started on time, the staggered start for the different races worked well. The crew were helpful. No complaints. It was a great idea to have participants pick up their race packets the days before race day. That also helped avoid delays on race day. And it was nice to receive texts regarding details of the race. Nice improvements from previous years. Keep it up. ”

“Communication company needs better communication - Firstly, the event was not badly organised. Majority of things were in place. However, communication prior to the event was non existant. It would have been nice to have been informed from the start were the packs would be collected from and when, not just via text the night before they were available. I also find it odd that, despite the fact we had to pay, many did not recieve medals or the correct t-shirt. Very poor show.”

“Good event, bad giveaways - The event was organized properly. The parking area was far from the event. The giveaway t-shirt was good especially as it now shows the distance you ran. The only bad thing is the medal, it looks good but feels cheap and there is no distance indicated unlike last years (2017) medal. Maybe we can have the kids event a little bit earlier as the 3k for kids is already hot.”

“needs lot of improvements! - Things that need improvement: 1) Medal - please provide customized medals for each category. It's unfair for people who ran 21K and receives the same medal with those who ran 3k and 5k! 2) Photographers - there were no visible event photographers in the race course! And no event photos shared by the organizers! 3) Support stations - please provide first aid supplies (e.g., pain reliever spray/creams) in the support stations. ”

“Good Event - Good Event. The medal should have been different for the different length of runs.”

“I am still expecting my time... - 48 hours after the race I still haven’t receiceived my time. Is it normal ? My race number was 2031.”

“Great - Unfortunately GPS tracker & Code written on the envelop not working ”

“Organise the start of the different races better - The organization at the start of the different races running on the same course needs some attention. It was chaos trying to get through the 10km & then again 5 km starters whilst trying to complete my 21km. Also not having T-Shirts at the end spoilt everything.”

“Poorly designed start area - The beginning of the race started on a corner which leant a lot of people lost valuable race time if caught up behind the bottleneck at the start of the race. Start the race on a straight road to ensure this doesnt happen. Also you asked people to specify their T shirt size online and yet when I arrived at 7am there were only small T-Shirts available? The T shirts should have been handed out with the Bib numbers to avoid disappointment. 75% if the people I ran with has no t shirt. Disappointing.”

“Poorly organized - There was no warning that the race was starting. Only one medal for all distances cheats the longer distances. Unacceptable that they ran out of medals for the marathoners and did not have enough t-shirts/sizes for all distances. No race corrals allowed many slow people to be in the front causing people to run on side walk to get around them right away. Towards the end the aid station workers were sitting down and runners had to get their own water out of the packages. ”

“No result recorded despite finishing the Marathon! - If you are thinking of running the full 42km marathon I would urge you DO NOT ENTER IT. Seems a lot of runners also did not get the finish medal. Even worse, I had no result recorded and no responses to my emails (no phone no. to call). Dear family and friends: "Yes-I really did finish!" I think many volunteers did a great job on the day and thanks for all the Gatorade... My main goal of the Marathon was to finish but all I have the bib I started with to show for it! VERY DISAPPOINTED. ”

“Everything was okay only the most important It ran - Each year I'm running 6 marathons in the world we ran out of the pendant Supposedly I will get some time this would have been the most important to me it would have been a gift for my little daughter”

“Disappointing - I thought this Marathon would be better organized than the last few years, assuming, there is enough experience to learn and improve the organization, but unfortunately, it was the worth marathon since I start running with Ooredo in 2013 ( QTel). The organizer failed to provide : 1) the T-shirt to the runner - they ran-out of T-Shirts 2) Water and energy drinks 3) put the running track in a scientific way ”

“beautiful but needs alot of improvements - Thanks for arranging the event, love it over all. it really helps and encourage the society to test their fitness levels. keep the challenge and help motivate people. I would really love to see more events like this happening through the year. thank you very much ”

“Fun filled run - Fun filled run”

“Perfect experience & will participate again - GPS tracker & Code written on the envelop not working ”

“Good 10 km - I don't have anything to say more than the organization of thisevent was good, the route is very nice along the corniche, with a very nice weather and temperature at this time of the year.”

“Generally good but room for improvement - 2 suggestions - firstly, leaving a space at the front of the start line for the elite athletes to converge as they were having to push through all the runners to get to the start line. Secondly, making the turnaround points more gentle so as to have less impact on the momentum of the runners. Please make the turnaround points more of an arc so runners do not have to stop and start again.”

“very good event - Enjoyed alot”

“Average - Announcements very poor. Came 1st in my category (Male, master), not sure if I should have received a prize! Apart from the 21km, other distances could have started earlier as the sun and heat were building up around 0800hrs”

“It would have been better. - I think it is a big mistake to trust the organizer to enter a marathon distance this year as we heard some negative feedback from last year (i.e. no water/energy drinks at the aid station left, etc.). It is confirmed to is this year that you shouldn’t enter a marathon distance for this event if you cannot finish within the same time with the crowd of people (under 2.5hrs) as non of the marathon runners have got the medal due to it ran out!”

“Could be better organized - The ooreedoo marathon has the potential to be great but as per the last years the organisation let's it down. Two issues I had are no medals at the finish line, which should have been easy to get right and releasing the 10k, 5k and kids run onto the course just as I was coming through on my second and third loop. I has to stop running to let the kids go through, which impacted my time, couldn't they have kept the shorter distance runners on one side of the course? Room for improvement ”

“The marathon was pathetic - The organizer should participate to any marathon and should learn. here was two problems today indeed. The first is no medals for marathon finishers which is disappointing, but can be tolerated. The severe one is lack of water at the 2.5k station in the second two laps. This means marathon runners have to run whole 5k without hydration. I warned the ppl at the station to bring water, it seems they didn’t see this a problem as banana seems for them a good way to hydrate! ... a joke ”

“SNACKS AND SPECTATOR'S TENTS - There should be a tent or somewhere to wait for the runner's supporters while waiting. The after run snack should be improved. Thank you.”

“disappointing . not enough water - Not enough water station for the marathon. no medals”

“It was a good and can get better - Generally well organized. Kudos to the organizers as they kept up the enthusiasm of the participants throughout. It was organized well.”

“Disastrous Finish Line Experience - My daughter made 2nd in here Race, we waited for hours with our kids for a podium ceremony that never took place. Unacceptable for a race of this size!!! ”

“good event - Prefer race pack to include T shirt and other goodies. Collecting T shirt after race is a challenge with no size available and may end up with t shirt gone.”

“A World class event - Defenitly a world class event!! Few small but, important points for the runners: 1) timing was not accurate (runners at the back struggled for 10-15 mins to get to the start point. 2) many runners were disappointed (including me) that we didn’t get that Ooredoo T-shirt, which is an important collectibles. It was not given at HQ2 and at the event counter they ran out of supply. Event was organized very well otherwise, hats off to Ooredoo and all other sponsors, partners and crews. thank you!!”

“The day of the race it was perfect. Before it was - More advertising needed Informations more in advance than 2 days before (start place, bib pick up...) ”

“Great pre-event Organisation... disapointment end - After my second lap, there was NO WATER at the 2.5k station which means no water for a whole 5k run in high temperature. This is definitely dangerous and unacceptable especially I clearly asked the station crew to get water for us, in vain! It got worse when i got to the finish line after breaking my PB and found no medal, no finisher tshirt!! So many disappointments Pre-event organization went great, event and post were stain on the face. ”

“More attention should be given to marathon runners - The event has so much potential,but overall event management was disappointing.More attention should be given to the marathon runners! Pre event communication was sent very late,no event rules published.No response on email sent to organisers. Water ran out at 1 of the stations which was crucial for marathon runners.Reported it,no action was taken. No medals left when marathon participants finished. Online registration, Toilet facilities at venue & meal pack is only only positive comments”

“No proper organization and communication - Till the last 2 days we know nothing about the start time, collection bib... etc My name wasn’t printed on the bib. They gave me 42k marathon while I participated in 21k. Better arrangement should take place in the future.”

“Great rac but only results are not posted promptly - Where are the race time/Results? at least send us email promptly. After one day and still do not know my timing.”

“no consideration - I did the full Marathon with 3:40... No medals, nothing at the final line, some water stations there was no water only banans and only one medical support.”

“Please make this event at 10:00, not at 06:00, Bal - Kindly, - Make this event at a late timing, 11:00, 10:00 or 09:00, not 06:30 !!!! - more juicy drinks are needed at the finishing line, Thanks Salah”

“I hope they will have better organization in 2019. - This is the 6th year of Ooredoo marathon and it seems until now thee organizers haven't learned from their experience in the past. 1. Water was immediately given 50 meters after the gun start of 21/42km. 2. There's no more water at the 2.5km station on the 3rd lap of 42km runner. 3. Finisher Medal run's out because even bandit's runner was able to get a medal so nothing left for Marathon finisher. 4. Aid station should have other nutrition aside from banana which is half ripe.=( ”

“It’s great to start the year and the weekend runn. - In general it was a nice day. But personally i would prefer a different route. An inner city run would be amazing.”

“Ok, but lots of improvements should be made - Great idea and clearly a lot of people participated. Thought the course was good, but the first drink station was so close to the beginning that it caused everyone further back to have to walk for a short time, it should be better placed further on in the course. I think the timings are wrong, Looking at the timings provided there was a 30 second difference between your and my timing, also a friend had said their GPS had calculated they had run a lot further than the advertised race distance! ”

“boring course/cheap medal - This could be an amazing event with a few changes. The shirt was improved this year which was better than last. Good to see it it was advertised earlier but still more notice wouldbe better for people to be well prepared for the event. The course needs to be improved nobody wants to run loops please take the course through west bay and then have a finish line at the pearl. The medal is nice however it would be nice if it wasn't double sided instead make it flat on one side to allow for engraving”

“Very Disappointed this Year.... - I ran this race (42KM) in memory of a deceased military veteran & friend who was killed in action. I'd planned to surprise gift my finishers medal & shirt to his widow & daughter. This was personally very important to me. Despite finishing SECOND in my age division and going DIRECTLY to the medal station I was told there were no medals or shirts remaining. This outcome is very disappointing & I expected better!”

“Okay - Price should be reduce. ”

“Getting better but improvements still needed - Please provide a more central location for pre-race kit pick-up. Al Sadd area maybe? Give prizes for age group divisions. Have a reserved spot at the front for people who expect to go under a certain time. Send out pre-race info earlier. I think this year was only 2 days before. Most of the course was very open. However, at the first turn , it was very tight and narrow. Great to have both water and Gatorade at the support stations. Professional looking start / finish area. Good snack”

“2018 was an improvement over 2017. - Pre-race packet pick was a plus this year, but you should have given the t shirt at packet pick up. After the race I was told they don't have my size, even though I specified my size during sign up. The 10k start was same time as came through lap 1. I had to fight through the people. Also coming into the finish, there were spectators on the course. Please control this next year. 2018 race was better 2017. Keep improving as it is a good race. Would love to see another race in 2 months. ”

“Good event, not enough water/ medals - I really enjoyed the event, but after finishing the marathon we didn't receive a medal and our time wasn't recorded. Not even in the DNF category. Water ran out during the race (as did the medals apparently!)”

“No medals for kids - Kids got excited to have their own race and they trained and prepared themselves very hard to do it, but once they reached the finish with big smile on their faces expecting to receive the medal, the marshalls at the finish line told them that medals have run out. They got nothing although parents have paid for their participation already and organizers knew the number of participants ahead of time. 14 days to get it, Ooredoo said. How ridiculous. It is the most important medal of them all”

“Ooredoo to flying - I asked the help desk to go she told me yes I ran 5k with 21/42k. After that the 5k start 8:00 am i ran with them. Now who's given wrong advice She give.”

“where's my t-shirt - Most people did not get a t-shirt. the food after the race was horrid. and why is the first water station so close to the start of the route? pretty useless station. other than that all pretty good. ”

“Things to improve - T-shirts should be given with pack collection, and why ask t-shirt size on registration if the t-shirt size not available on collection? Route signage should have signal 1KM to finish. On finish line Marshalling should be more restricted , moving runners and general public away from there (I finish my run with a sprint and was blocked at finish line) It was too crowed there! Please do more sport events in Doha, for family, kids and sportsman !!”

“post race support and organisation was poor - Ran out of medals and t shirts. Not what you want to hear after running 42km!! 3”

“Awful organisation - No timing for me, no medals for many and no t-shirts for many. Why wait to send the 10k race out so I have to walk behind the 10k walkers???? Send them out 10mins after the half/full race so the lapped course is clear... You think it’s a great event because you invite Mo. But i pay (too much) for a well organised race and you failed to deliver that. ”

“Great atmosphere - Ensure you have enough medals and t-shirts for each competitor. As I didn’t even receive a t-shirt after the event. Review of timings for each event when setting off the competitors. I was dodging the slower runners. As a result I was unable to achieve a time that I wanted. As an observation the turn around point requires to be bigger. The prize giving was a joke. No medals or trophy for winners etc. Didn’t even announce their time, name, country. Anti climax to the event. No rewards for kids. ”

“Amazing experience! - Registration fees can be reduced to 100 QAR.”

“21 K geeting more popular than ever - Problems begins with start line ,the race start earlier 2 minutes which confused every one , the Music from early morning hours too loudy ,no countdown befor start gun , they start without stopping the music (at least reduct the volume), I was searching for water at MIA after i completed the race. All race stations were perfect U turns too ,with proffisonal helper except the green Banana . T shirt size ,color and prints need development and should be given with Race number pack.No Photos, and”

“Ok but can improve - Overall it was OK. My comments: 1. The water station was good just maybe can give smallest bottle to avoid waste as we dont normally drink all. Could not do much with gatorade because there is no small bottle available. 2. The medal station- no one mark my bib when i took the medal and the volunteers at the station seems busy among themselves and incidentally wanted to give another mdeal to my husband who already had his. 3. Food station was good - marked the bib 4. Shirt - not enough shirt”

“Good event - More signage for directions at the parking areas. ”

“A fantastic morning out. - I enjoyed the event. I’d have liked to collect my race pack the weekend before or have had the option of it being delivered. The t/shirts were great and I enjoyed the snack pack. Thanks for a great morning!”

“A lot of improvement required - I did the marathon. In the third loop the 2.5 km support station was out of water and with only raw bananas. Upon completion medal was not given due to our of stock. Results are not updated in the web. A lot of annoying things happened. Rating would be 5/10”

“Better organised - A longer course without a straight up down route would be better”

“Event was okay but could be better - Course should be extended instead of it just being on the corniche. Get's boring repeating the same route. No distance markers either which one would expect in a marathon event.”

“There was a lack of giveaways and medals - I think this year was not much better than last year. First, the start of the 21km and 42km was not announced clearly and everyone realised that it had began as a big group of people began to move and run. Station aids gave green bananas. How come?? And most finishers of the half marathon ( me) and marathon did not receive a finisher medal. How can this happen if we all pay for this event? You knew exactly the number of participants and therefore you should not have run of out medals. ”

“Good event but room for improvement - It was sad to see that for the marathon runners you ran out of medals and t-shirts. The aid stations ran out of water and only green bananas. I would have appreciated an email with last minute information regarding aid stations (where and how many) and what they would supply. Course layout and bib collection was improved compared to last year. A good event but room for improvement”

“Could have been better - First of all, when I collected my bib, I found out that the name on the bib is not my name. I somehow got new number rightaway, though it was no longer personalized, which was upsetting for my first run ever. Secondly, when I went to collect my tshirt after the run, the tshirt for my category was out of stock. Ridiculous and unacceptable at all! ”

“My name not in results - I won the 10k master and 6th overall but my name isn t in the result. This is a big mistake.”

“Disappointing event - No medals given at race completion, no guidance or direction given as to where to go at the finish line.... Limited water stations aswell...”

“Hoping next year would be much much more better... - Last year is a superb occasion and event with much refreshments and organized directions to follow. Medals are not classified as to designate which category oneself belong. I wish the event today would be same as last year.....”

“Race Summary - The event started off without a count down giving runners in the back a surprise. The medals should be marked with the distance each rubber completed. A marathoner should receive a medal with their distance on it. People that ran the 5k should have medal that says 5k on it. Break down the age groups. 20-24/25-29, 30-34/35-39, etc... Have the course run through the skline. You have. Beautiful city, let them see it with all its glory. I was a little disappointed that we didn't run in the city.”

“No medals or water - No medals left for the marathon runners, no water in the middle of the course or at the finish, no sign of anyone like a race director anywhere.”

“Not Happy this Year - Good points: t-shirt print is much better than earlier versions. No paint/print getting removed. Bad points: shirt given to me was for a different race category (5km) The shirts team did not have a system of marking which ones have collected their shirts, so most of the players did not get their sizes and correct category. for Improvement: we hope to have more sponsors who would present more freebies/discounts for participants. this helps in marketing both their product and the race.”

“Nice and Good race event - Would like to request of more extra medals supplies and extra t-shirts just in-case. There are some athletes specially 42km who does not have there medals supply is done. ”

“Poor management at the end - Although the start of the race was much better organized this year the end was a shambles. It’s really unforgivable to charge money and not have sufficient medals or water for participants. Those finishing the 21km after 3 hours, the marathon runners and the 1km kids race didn’t get a medal. Absolutely dreadful. And no information was available. Just an empty booth and disappointed runner. Even worse is to run out of water when you still have runners on the course completing their races. ”

“Badly Organized - Very badly organized post race. The T-shirt’s were all mixed up. Very few people got their size and the race they ran for. Kids who ran 1K did not get any medals and they were left very disappointed. There was no responsible person at the finish line to even bother about the medals for kids. ”

“Fantastic event, thoroughly enjoyed the run. - Well done to the organisers for sorting out the race bib number delivery, 2 days prior to the run. Looking forward to 2019. Would be good to look for a more exciting route though in future, maybe run through city center towards Aspire and back for example.”

“My Ratings - All is went well except for the goodies, its not enough unlike last year. No free bags and caps. The food is not enough.”

“Excellent event by all means - Keep up this outstading work!!”

“Well organized, number collection could be better - Like”

“better than before, rooms for improvements - Organizers are doing much better job, however some of the points you need to take into considerations for future: - Communication: You should work better on all social media comms. Idea to Facebook event for example, way prior to the race. Send messages/emails way ahead of time, not leaving it to the last days. especially to come and collect the bibs a day before the race. - Safety: There was one guy speeding on the buggy very and very close to the runner - Food was missing from stations”

“best marathon in doha, would participate again - Amazing challenges”

“Proud to run Qatar half marathon - Sad not to get the correct size t-shirt for my race. The sandwich provided was delicious. The start was organized well but the finish was forgotten about. Please ensure that your team keep the course clear of public and not racing. Thanks Kathleen ”

“Great. The course is too simple - Good”

“Well organized event! - Well done, good organization, congrats!”