Raced this twice before but not last year. We found a place to park in a street about 400 metre walk away from the sports centre. Big new looking hall packed with runners. Collecting race pack was quick & easy. Bag drop was a shambles. A large area but only one table to take bag too. NO bag tag in race pack so everyone had to queue for a tag to have your number put on it, then attach it. Caused long, confusing queues, needs sorting. Everything else went well.

Only 1c with sleet later on so we left the hall a few minutes before the start. the various hills soon warmed you up, with the last nasty kicker being around mile 8 just after crossing a road. The marshalls were good and plentiful so no trouble finding your way. The route is call engine but very enjoyable and includes some hard,muddy track, early and late on. Drink stations were minimally stocked but adequate. The finishing straight is much better than the last year I ran it, as it was straight about 300 metres so perfect for a sprint finish. I got an unexpected PB & 2nd in age group so happy. Photo shows my wife Jacqui & I wearing our racecheck visors at the start.

Saw excellent trophies for winners, overall well organised (apart from the bag drop) & a good feeling to complete a course that can't be called easy

Drove to race, Bright signage to car parks with Marshall to guide us. Big warm sports hall with plenty of loo’s and good drinks facilities. Safe bag drop within the sports hall. Race route was outstanding when used to pounding pavement in SE London! Beautiful countryside. Safe clear route. Plenty of Marshall’s. Several locals on route  cheering. Would have liked bottled water at the water stations as drinking from a plastic cup is difficult when running! Coming back into a warm hall after it had been snowing on route was great and being able to change after a run in the warm is a bonus. I would definitely recommend this run to anyone. 

Great course with a mixture of terrain and elevation so it was kept interesting. Some of the roads were open but there wasn’t too much traffic.As this is a January event you can’t be surprised at the lack of local support but the Marshals were very encouraging. I would definitely do this one again . 

The new HQ was ideal and perfect and the race looked like it had improved.

However the mist was really bad, making it hard to see more than a few metres in front, which cant be helped. However Marshals did not stop the traffic and I had many cars drive past me and other runners, they were speeding down the road. I also found that at one point when I came to a junction a marshal had no idea how to hold the traffic which was dangerous while runners where turning. I know a fellow runner who was watching had to jump in and help. Hopefully this will be sorted for next year.

 I was still happy with my PB as I enjoy this local race