Race Report: Lisbon Half Marathon 2025

Race day arrived with a glimmer of sunshine which was well received after 2 days of torrential rain. Our journey by train to Pragal station, was relatively easy considering the vast amount of people jostling for a seat, and apparently catching the train is the only way to get to the start. This highlights just how obnoxious and rude some people can be when they want to get a seat. However, then trying to disembark proved somewhat trickier, the platform rammed and train doors closing before people can get off. The exit of the station was narrow, with one stair down and an escalator and one stair to outside.

Following the droves, in the hope they knew where they were going. A couple of police lined the way but offered no direction, which complimented the complete lack of signage. Many runners stopping at the first bank of portaloos, due to the train journey but there was only about 20 to accommodate the hoards. Therefore, after 20 mins in a queue it was time we decided to use the open air facility of the nearby vegetation🌲.
We continue to follow the crowd because there are still no signs as to where you should be going, people were splitting in different directions with no clue as to where we should be going.
The race start time had been and gone (not that anyone around us knew), and we still weren't near the start🌉.. so we thought. We hadn't heard any official announcement that the race had started. People just headed along the road a few stopping off for the 2nd bank of portaloos, music was playing and then an announcement to move towards the bridge as the 10k race participants were now gathering. Ok, perhaps we should get moving and decided I was too warm, 🥵 so we stop to take off our base layers. At this point we realised runners were racing by, we were as it happens already across the start line, some 200m ago. 🤷🏼‍♀️. Nothing to really show how that occurred. So having wasted 5 mins we decided we had better pick up the pace.
The route after the bridge is very dull, dual carriageway with zero support. A welcome downhill and a further incline but make sure you don't crack an ankle on the tram lines. Other hazards include several hairpin turnaround points. So there are a few areas where you run out and back with runners separated by a few plastic bollards - this was a dangerous place to run and overtake with the oncoming runners doing the same. The road in places was strewn with banana 🍌 and orange peel which added to the water bottles just dropped anywhere with little attempt to throw to the side. Although shower tents were a welcome relief from the heat of the sun they left the road like a skatepark.

The final approach to the finish must be close, although there were no markers to say how far you were, so didn't get the final push quite right. However, for some quicker runners, the finish was a 2 minute queue to step across the chip timer, honestly, never known a queue to finish.
Shuffle on to retrieve a medal, water and ice-cream, then the heavens opened again to soak us through.
Observing the madness of runners trying to claim the baggage, some not receiving medals due to lack of supply, having to pay on 'free' transport...... it goes on. Many, many Facebook comments from participants complaining about the poor organisation on many levels and wondering how this is a 'Superhalf'.