I run this race every year and will keep coming back as it is my local, Shame it poured with rain this year but that can't be helped, reasonable start area to allow the crowds to spread out, routes takes you out of town and into the countryside before retuning back to the city centre and up a cheeky little cobbled slope to finish by the cathedral. Mainly uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back, except where it isn't.

A great half marathon, all up hill for the first 9-10 miles and then down all the way home apart from a little rise near the end.

The route quickly takes you out of the city and through some of the surrounding villages where everyone came out to cheer the runners on which was lovely.

A challenging half, not one to aim for PB's.

The conditions for the 2019 Coventry Half could not have been more perfect (or more different to 2018 when it was cancelled due to snow) as it was a gorgeous day, no wind, warm, but not hot, and dry. The race started early, a little too early for my liking, I see no reason why a half marathon needs to start at 8:30am in March! This meant that there were a few issues around parking as Coventry Council's day rate for car parks does not start until 8am, by which point we were due to be lining up in the pens. Although this was not a big issue, it was not one which I had factored into my pre-race prep. Working in Coventry, I was well aware of the location of the race start, and the University had opened the Student Union, so there was a nice indoor area to congregate and flushable loos to use pre-race, which was a win. Overall the organisation was good, however, the baggage drop-off area could have done with more organisation. The queues to drop-off bags were very long and despite joining it half an hour before the race start, I was left rushing to get to the start in time, and having to queue to get into the pen as the gun went. This wait, however, was nothing compared to the wait at the end of the race when the queue to retrieve our bags stretched from the baggage area, through the Student Union, out into University square and almost to the finish line itself. Sadly, I am not exaggerating. It is a good job that it was a nice day, otherwise, this could have been more of an issue than it appeared to be. Baggage woes aside, once on course, the race went well. Water stops were plentiful (once every 2.5 miles) and the support on-course was good. It is an undulating course, which culminates in a steep climb between miles 5&8, however, runners are rewarded with a phenomenal downhill almost to the end. The course is has changed slightly since I ran it in 2016, and the nasty out and back at mile 9 has been removed which has enhanced the overall running experience. HOWEVER, there is a special place in hell reserved for the masochist that thought it was a good idea to have the finish line at the top of a steep cobbled climb. The on-course support was excellent as in addition to the public support, each of the Coventry running clubs (Northbrook, Massey, Godiva) have cheering spots around the course and creates a fantastic race atmosphere. It might be a small race, but it has a big-race feel! The water stations were well manned and had water ready to hand out to runners. I am a mid-pack runner (I finished in 1:59), and I do find that sometimes water stations are not prepared for the onslaught of the mid-pack, but this was not the case at Coventry! (Yay!) One, not complaint, but gripe I have is that the organisers sent out an email before the race, that rather than handing out a goody bag at the finish, they were providing runners with a digital goody bag in order to save on waste/ plastic bags etc. Great, us runners do need to start thinking about our plastic footprint and I am all for this, but this "good feeling" left when they were handing out plastic water bottles every 2.5 miles. I felt some serious carbon-guilt tunning through what was essentially a river of plastic by the time I got to the water stations. The finish was well organised, and on completion (once I had got my breath back from that ghastly up-hill cobbled monstrosity of a finish), I was presented with a lovely technical T-shirt, a chunky medal and a cereal bar, which I devoured on my way to the aforementioned baggage queue. Overall, a good race and one that I will do again., but with slightly less plastic pollution and a more organised baggage set-up, this could be a great race!

This was my first time running the coventry half marathon. I thought is was a great race, well organised, plenty of support around the whole course. and the marshals were helpful. The hills around mile 8 were interesting but it was downhill from then on. I would definitely do this again.

After "the beast from the east" ruined my first attempt at this race (all last year's entrants got a discounted entry) I wanted to give it a go (I grew up 10 minutes down the road so know cov well). Arriving in the shadow of both cathedrals ready for the start there was a real buzz about. The inevitable start line warm up (pet hate) was swift but one of the better ones, and we were off, past some of the nicer bits of the city centre before heading out past some of the less salubrious bits, before we got out to allesley village and the North warks countryside (lovely!), the hill around 8 miles was a bit of an unexpected (by me at least!) Challenge, but then mostly downhill back into the city, by which point the support had swelled considerably (the 08:30 start meant it was reasonably quiet on the route for the first few miles). The ONLY negative for me was the bag drop, long queue to drop them in, much longer to pick them up. My wait for pick up was about 15 minutes, but the queue had lengthened about 20 fold by the time I finished. But that's a tiny point from an otherwise faultless day.

Quiet a hilly race with a long step climb at 7 miles, but still a quick race (achieved a PB). Good local support and well organised along with nice country scenery, little villages and all the landmarks of the city, with a great finish at the cathedral (even if the hill upto the finish line is not the nicest). All in all a great little half marathon which I will defiantly be running again.