One of my favourite half marathons and a cracking route. Definitely one to do. The route starts right in the centre of Aberdeen on Union Street. The start was very well organised with enough toilets and room for spectators and runners. The route goes out by the harbour and then by the beach, this section is a net downhill giving a fast start to the race. The route then continues out to Bridge of Don giving some stunning sea views. After a short out and back section at Bridge of Don, the route then continues on my favourite section at Bridge of Balgownie, Seton Park and Old Aberdeen. Despite some up and downhills, in this section it is incredibly picturesque running through Old Aberdeen - almost making up for the cobbles! There's then a brief run through residential areas and back on to the beach. The route then heads back into town, with a few uphills as the road continues past Pittodrie Stadium - quite tough at this point! Once past this point the route continues right out to the West End of Aberdeen before doubling back to a net downhill giving a fast finish. The race was very well organised with regular friendly marshalls. There were regular water stops and SIS gels halfway through. At some quieter points there were limited spectators, but once you were in town it was extremely well supported with enthusiastic supporters. The goodybag at the end was good with discount vouchers for local restaurants. This race has a good varied route, with city centre, suburban and costal sections as well as a part through the historic Old Aberdeen. Well recommended (not just because I got a PB)!

Last year, I ran the 10k race as part of the Great Aberdeen run, so this year I decided to do the half marathon. As with all Great Run events that I have participated in, these are well organised with lots of information provided in advance about the route, the location of water stations on the course and road closures.

Starting and finishing on Aberdeen's main shopping street, Union Street, the course takes in the harbour area before heading out along the beachfront to the north of the city and then back in again. The first few miles are pretty flat before a steady climb to the city's Exhibition Centre where you then turn and run back towards the city. The route is then quite scenic goes over the historic Brig o' Balgownie then into Seaton Park before a loop around the Aberdeen University campus, though this does include a couple of sharp hils. 

After the university, you head back towards the beachfront then past Pittodrie Stadium up another hill and then back into the city centre. This includes another hill but the good thing from now until the finish was that there was quite a lot of support in this area. After running up to Queen's Cross you then turn and head downhill for the finish midway down Union Street with large crowds towards the finish.

One thing I found confusing was that, because parts of the course were shared with the 10K, some of the distance signs were in kilometres with others in miles. I found this slightly challenging in monitoring my pace.

At the end the goodie bag contained t-shirt and medal, bottle of water, energy bar, other snacks plus vouchers for local food places. Showing your race number also got you discounts at a range of places in the city over the race weekend.

One disappointment was that there were no pacers for the event.

Overall, a good course with a challenging second half so save some energy for those hills!!