What a unique event!! Not so much the route as what's on the route. A half marathon made up of two out and backs on public foot paths, so far not so inspiring? How about each leg has two tunnels to run through. Located in Bath, disused railway tunnels of the Somerset and Dorset line, closed in 1966 and then re-imagined as a shared walking/cycle route by Sustrans in 2013. Dimly lit, fairly narrow (think 5 or 6 people side by side), and coooool! the first tunnel is about 400m and the second about 1 mile. With the out and back nature you will be visiting each tunnel 4 times spending a good proportion of the race underground. This is what makes this race unique and awesome. 

The race organisation is Slick (with a capital S). Park and Ride a couple of miles from the start, frequent buses drop you right at registration. Grab race number - 1 minute, drop your bag - 30 seconds! easy. Races go off in waves 10mins apart and when you see the tunnels you realise why. Its a well organised tactic by Relish Running to reduce bunching. 

The route is easy to navigate, there are always people around, and the scenery out of the tunnels is mainly tree lined disused railway. 

The medal is one of a set which encourages you to come back and have a crack at other races. Other finish line goodies include energy bars, fruit, haribo etc. 

Its a fab race which will appeal to all. Word of warning though, the organisers bill this as fast and flat. Flat is relative, this is hilly Bath after all. I registered about 700ft of elevation so not really flat, but i'll agree it's not hilly as such!

This race is well worth a look 

Another wonderfully organised and hosted  Relish running event. We did both the 5k and 10k as part of a challenge series, which the wave organisation made very easy.

Very hot day but lots of good advice regarding how to handle it, plus plenty of shade on route and in the tunnels. Lovely friendly marshals and stocked feed stations as ever. Look forward to next time!

I have now entered this race 3 times and will complete my 4th at the August event. 

The event itself is very well organised and is a unique route due to the tunnels that you run through which provide much needed rest from the sun on hot race days. 

It is also great to be able to build a unique medal through completing the 4 race series as you don’t get that with many events.

This is a fantastically well organised event, the whole team is extremely helpful and efficient, from registration to bag drop, the snack/medal tent and the marshals on the course. The event organisors have to arrange about 1300 runners into the right groups at the right times for it to work. The event consists of several different distance runs set off in different timed waves along a shared cycle path. Hence the waves as you can't suddenly inject 400 1/2 marathon runners onto a fairly narrow path all at the same time, followed in short order by another 500 10k runners. Each wave has a different coloured bib and there is plenty of info issued both electronically and verbally on the day, to ensure runners know where to be at what time. On a hot day the cooling effect of running in the tunnels is a life saver, the tunnels themselves can be a bit daunting but they are what makes this run so special.The drinks station just before the turn around point is well manned and they certainly know what to do. They don't bunch up around a table as happens in other races but spread themselves well out, which gives optimum time not only to get 2 drinks in before you pass them all (definately needed on a very hot day) but also gives more space for runners to select a marshal and not get in each others way. Although the race is not completley flat it is a very fast course and you could very easily set a PB, for some reason going through the tunnels makes people speed up. Relish also do a series of interlocking medals, if you complete 3 or 4 runs in one calender year you can put the medals together to form a neat little pyramid, it is another great idea to go alongside their challenge series of runs. I have taken part in a lot of Relish runs and I have never had any reason to complain, they are really, really good at what they do, give them a go.

There's good points to this race and some not so great.  First off the good (makes a change from negative first).
It is  a unique race that has two long underground tunnel sections which are a true experience to go through.   The route is gently undulating with no serious hills but enough to make it interesing and potentially a PB course.   The setting is great, the organisation is mostly very good - an enjoyable experience can be had.

Not so good things:
Near to the starting point there is a 'bottleneck' where it is pretty much single file down a small gnarly decline towards the main path.   If you are PB chasing you really want to be near the front of the pack as it's easy to lose 30+ seconds at this point.
From this point you are on the path, this is all good.  True you will encounter the general public and cyclists but the path here is wide enough not to be that much of a problem - that is until you hit the tunnels.  At this point it gets narrower and you have runners going in both directions, as well as pedestrians with children and cyclists determined not to be slowed just because people are running through there.   It keeps you focussed to say the very least.   Passing another runner can be interesting when it's like this.

Getting out to the only water stop, it's only 10k so pretty much the norm BUT did they have to have the water in the direct sunlight when 20 yards further on it would have been in the shade and been a lot cooler.  When you are taking on some water to help cool it doesn't help that it was at a similar temperature that you would expect from water in a hot tub.   At this point I was not the only one that was melting from the heat.

Near to the turning point now and then you again run past the water stop to be offered more warm water if you really wanted it and then back into the cool of the tunnels.  No other dramas really from here. apart from near the end you go through a gap in the fence which was marshalled but people were still running past it.
On to the grass and across the line then through the longest 'funnel' in history, it was more like being sent through a maze.  Understandable when you have a lot of runners you need to keep in the order they come over the line.
Here's an idea for the organisers though, how about CHIP TIMING then all this messing about with funnels and multiple stop watches could be avoided and you'd also get a much more accurate time for your runners.    At the cost of the race I would expect it but alas no.   (it's a league race as well so would have been handy)

Medal and an ice pole (that was welcomed)  and some more warm water at the tent.

Something that does have to be said, I know a partially sighted runner that has to have a guide, she was informed that as the guide does not pay for their entry they would be refused a medal (fair enough) but would also be refused water during and after the race.  SERIOUSLY, that is just dangerous.   I don't know if the guide did get water but that sort of attitude from the organiser is plain mean spirited.

As I said all in all a good race but there are things that could be improved.

It was a really hot day so running through the two tunnels was a pleasant and cooling experience. A great race to be held in the heat of summer! The martials were supportive and freindly encouraging us to stay safe by taking onboard the water at the feed stations and listening to our bodies and slow down if we needed to.

The medal was a bit odd as a stand alone medal. The idea being that you also did the 5k and 10k ones as they all linked together. 

I would recommend this race to anyone wanting to do a half marathon during the hotter months, again if it rained, that wouldn't be so bad either!