Heard so much about this race and the fact that it's won best 10k for 3 years running so was really grateful when I was given a place by a running friend.

Arrived at 9.30am to a long queue to get the car parked. A park and ride scheme was in operation and to be honest it worked really well. Just had to be patient while they tried to fit all the cars into the liverstock market grounds used for parking the cars. Plenty of buses available.

Got to the school grounds and the place was buzzing with lots of stalls, tents and activities already going on. First priority toilets! These were split between Ladies and Gents, that was a first. I'm sure the Ladies appreciated that though. Initially the queues were small but when the warm up session was on they were really long!

Talking of warm up sessions they did a really great session, three ladies on the main stage getting pretty much most of those in front of them motivated and working up an early sweat.

The start. Oh dear .. no funnel .. pacer flags just stuck in the ground at what seemed like random places. No flag for 45 mins pacer neither. It was a kind of stand anywhere and once the race gets going just head for the start line. I'd call that very disorganised.

However, once the race got underway this disorganised mass of runners seemed to politely, in most cases, walk\jog to the start line and we were off! Once around the school playing field and on to the roads.

Must say that the people of Market Drayton really take this race to their hearts. They really were out in force offering unscheduled water stations, showers and jelly babies to everyone. One row of bungalows even had bunting and flags out as the owners sat out in the sunshine cheering everyone on. Termendous! Never had this in any other 10k I've run. The people of Market Drayton were so generous.

The course you think is flat and up to about 7km it pretty much is, howver after that it gets a little undulating! Some pretty steep downhill sections followed by uphill too. The last hill up to the town was a bit of a killer but after that its all on the flat to the school grounds.

Once in the school grounds it was pretty much a straight line to the finish where you were presented with a bottle of water, goodie bag with medal, a tray of Muller yogurt and a pork pie. T-shirts were collected before the race. Pork pie was VERY tasty.

The weather was kind, the people of Market Drayton oh so kind and the race was very good. Definately one to try but be quick as it sells out oh so quickly. Think it has something to do with yogurts maybe!