The joy of the scenery completely wiped out by the shocking incompetence and terrible, unsafe organisation of this race. Gates and barriers you need to run through are closed on the path, there is no route guidance for miles as you run in forest/wooded area unsure whether you are still on the course, no-one present - and no directions offered - at various junctions/path divergence points, resulting in people getting lost (I spoke to two, witnessed four) and going in the wrong direction, having to come back. No marshals apart from one or two during the entire race, putting people's health and safety at risk by not being aware what's going on on the course: you often run on your own, secluded, in wooded areas, with no concern for your safety by the organisers. Two distance markers over 13.1 miles, you have no idea how far you are/you have come most of the time. I decided I would sooner forget that I ever had the misfortune to enter so decided not to finish, even though I was running in second place up until 10 miles. Unless you are a local and know the course, don't bother. Worst race I've ever been to. Complained to organiser, got back a dismissive email. No care for runners here. Avoid.

Sadly the Bewl Water 10k was let down by a serious malfunction at the finish line.

When you had done the out and back route and run across the top of the dam wall, back down a slope to the finish, you were meant to go straight through the finish (not cross the timing mat) and back along the dam wall for another lap of around 1.6k.

I did the full 10k - only because my wife was at the finish line and pointed out I had to keep going - but I'd been instructed by a marshal to go over the timing mat first time round – which resulted in a false time in the results.

I was not alone. There were other runners who did exactly the same as me and so had a recorded time which was a lot faster than it should have been.

Other runners – puzzled or annoyed at why they had only run 8.4k on what they thought was coming up as a short course – did not do that last final loop.

Three female runners who were picking up their medals said to me in no uncertain terms that they weren’t going to do the extra distance.

I saw a number of other runners ‘finish’ when in reality they had done just over 8k.

A number of other runners, including me, did not get our bibs in advance (despite the organisers saying well over a week earlier, and after I had entered, that they were being posted).

The only thing in our envelopes on the day was the number, no instructions. There was no race briefing – except what was on line, which did not clearly show the extra leg of the race.

Sadly the above escapades did let down what was otherwise a nice race (which also included ultra, marathon and half marathon distances).

When we made our way to the start we were held back to let the longer distance runners through, which was good, and even better every competitor had their temperatures checked as part of anti-Covid measures.

A rolling start made total sense in the current conditions and the out and back run was well signposted along mostly hard tracks. A bit testing in places but still enjoyable.

Obviously on a sunny day there were other users such as walkers and bikes but I saw no hassles… in fact most other visitors were keen to cheer and clap.

With plenty of room at grass spaces and along the dam wall there were also enough spots for spectators.

A café and toilets at the water sports centre made this all very civilised and there were Portaloos just before the start of the race too.

I have never taken part in an Ultra Marathon before and always wanted to do one, so when th chance to enter the Bewl Water Ultra Marathon (considering its the same cost as a number of other marathons) was an offer I could not say no to.

I never necessarily trained for the 37.5 miles, but continued my Brighton Marathon training from a few weeks previous, so arrived at the gorgeous Bewl Water lake on the day of the race feeling confident.  I had taken some good advice from my friend, Darren 'Runners Knees' Smith about the nutrition I needed to take on and after picking up my race number and going to the start, I felt ready to go.

The pre-race briefing for the Ultra runners was superb and although I had never did a race of that distance before, I was feeling really confident I would complete the distance and the race.  After the loud horn and the music blared, we were away and around the trails that surrounded the lake.  As mentioned, I had never done anything like this distance-wise before and just decided to run at a pace that I didn't feel that was overdoing it and was just comfortable.  Twisting and turning around the uneven underfoot and ducking under tree branches added another little bit of character to this race and after a few miles, I found myself in second place.  I was starting to feel anxious that I set off too quick, but did a few breathing techniques and just kept going as I felt comfortable.  After visiting a few aid stations and stocking up, I kept going and finished my first lap still comfortably just behind the leader.  I quickly had a pit stop and grabbed a few bits off of the Avery fan club who had come to support me and then started the second lap.

I was still feeling good, although the legs were feeling slightly happy, but the second lap was slightly different as we were now joined by the half and full marathon runners.  Although this made the race busier, the support was amazing from these guys and girls and they cleared pathways and was shouting ahead that the ultra marathon runners were coming through which was lovely.  The one thing we did not expect was the huge downpour halfway through the second lap which left me feeling absolutely soaked to the bone and miserable.  I crossed the line to signify the start of the third lap and still found myelf in the top three, I was feeling really good and although some who would have been in this position and dropped out of the places would have been disappointed, to be in with the shout of a prize on my final lap is something I would have bit you hand off for at the start of the day.

This final lap was really tough and I really had to dig deep on that last 12 mile lap to finish the race.  My legs were like concrete and my rucksack had rubbed to a point that the skin on my shoulder had started to bleed.  With around seven miles to go, the chap in third place had caught me up and after him overtaking me and then me overtaking him, we agreed to run the last seven miles together and push each other as much as we can.

We made our way to the last few hundred yards and although he willed me to run up the hill with him, I simply couldn't do it so let him go on ahead.  I ran/walked to the top and after turning the final corner, I finished my first ever Ultra Marathon in 3rd place!  After collapsing to the floor and recomposing myself, I got my medal and trophy and posed for the photo for the website.  I had never got a trophy before for a race and was over the moon.

This was a great race and one I would do again, but lets hope it doesn't rain next year!

Bewl water is a fantastic place to run around and the organisers put on four different runs, ultra (3 laps), Marathon (2 laps which I did), half marathon (1 lap) and a 10k. Event well organised and there is an area to leave bags. Good to car share as there is a car parking charge. This was the secon time I had completed this course and I managed a quicker time than 2018. Would recommend these distances to runners

This was my 3rd year at this race and every time I seem to forget how hard this course is, mostly on hard track with a few road sections with nasty hills at around 10k and then again towards the end.

Registration process much clicker than last year with no queues at bib collection and the race started on time so lessons were learnt from last year.

Food stations were ok but not enough of them for my liking.

I will def be entering again next year but I do have one suggestion, new bling for next year please! I now have 3 of these medals and whilst they are great it would be nice to see a diff design for next years race.

Note - I only did two laps of the three lap ultra because I was too slow and got timed out... but still saw the course (twice!)

Bewl Water is a stunning venue and a lovely place to run.  Undulating, maybe even hilly, but nonetheless a real treat of a place.  As I was doing the ultra, the numbers were not huge and I got registered without any trouble.  All very simple, parked within 300m of the centre, toilets in there and then a 5 minute walk to the start.  Simple race briefing and we were off.

The route was quite muddy and my decision to use road shoes wasn't a good one but hey ho (NB wear trail shoes).  The rote basically goes around the lake but diverts away at times and includes some pretty steep inclines.  Not a PB course at all but a lovely trail run.

Four aid stations per lap (including the one at the start) so we were well looked after by the Cadets who were looking after them.

One note - I've suggested to the RD that he considers making this a cupless race.  Not that there were a lot of cups dropped but it is worth considering to avoid that litter.  Maybe also a marshal after each aid station collecting gel wrappers etc?

I saw the medal but didn't get one, they looked good.

It's a good event, with 10km, half marathon, marathon and ultra options that should suit everyone.