Organisation this year was a big improvement on last year with race numbers being posted out ahead of the event. Access to the Arboretum and parking were fine. Event would benefit from having additional ladies loos as the queues were quite long.

Race briefing difficult to hear but as the route is entirely within the arboretum not too much to worry about. 

Entries reduced this year but still over crowding on the narrow paths to start with but it does get easier if you're at the back of the pack. 

A lovely route with plenty of water at the half way point and at the end this year. 

Organisers had accurately measured the course this year which was appreciated.

I took part in this race this year (2019) however the option wasn’t on the drop down. I had heard this event was poorly organised last year and was hoping a lot of the matters had been addressed and I wasn’t wrong. The race bibs were sent out a few weeks beforehand meaning you didn’t need to queue and register on the day. The route had also been amended slightly so that it measured spot on 10k as a lot of poeple had commented  that it was longer last year. 

There was a bag drop on-site however I only saw this on the way out at the end, it wasn’t very well signposted and hadn’t been mentioned in the pre-race letter or email. I wish this had been mentioned as I was shivering beforehand and could have worn layers to put in a bag instead of leaving everything in the car.

Parking was free and plentiful, there wasn’t enough ladies toilets (there never is at races) however there were plenty of places to get food and drink afterwards and lots of places for spectators to support.

The course itself is absolutely stunning! Running around the arboretum is beautiful, it’s not wholly flat, there are a few inclines and however you do then get declines so it’s a very fair course. The marshals were fantastic and overall the organisation was excellent. I’m looking forward to running this again in 2020 however you need to be quick as entries sell out in a few hours. 

WESTONBIRT ARBORETUM 10K – Race Review – 23 May 2018

After reviewing this race in 2017, my intention is to keep this as brief as possible and, being honest, highlight the issued that I encountered on race day in the hope that they will be addressed prior to the 2019 event.

Although not as warm as last year - still a sunny, cloudless 18 degrees an hour before the race – the shade of the trees would offer a welcome relief to the runners who were beginning to gather in the car park.

The first challenge I faced encountered was the size of the queue to pick up my race number at 6pm. It was enormous and snaked seemingly forever along the path that led towards the starting area. Most people work on a week day and would have had to travel straight from work (as I did), so arriving an hour before the start time didn’t appear to be unreasonable to me. As I chatted to other runners in the queue, I assured them that this wasn’t the norm and hadn’t happened at the previous races I’d participated in at the Arboretum. In years gone by, it had been a relatively straightforward and painless procedure.  

I eventually reached the front of the queue that finished at series of tables inside the Welcome Centre 45 minutes later, when I finally picked up my race number. After pinning it onto my race top and nipping into the gents (thankfully no queue, although the ladies were having a fairly lengthy wait), it was 6.50pm. Whilst I’d got my pre-race tasks sorted out, I was conscious that there was still around an hour long queue of people who had yet to pick up with race numbers…and it was due to start in 10 minutes.

When I reached the starting area, it came as no surprise to me to hear that the race had been delayed by 10 minutes to accommodate the backlog of runners who still hadn’t picked up their race numbers. I quickly nipped to the toilets that were situated conveniently close to the start line, as I notice, did many others, and lined up again close to the starting pens to begin my pre-race stretching ritual and generally get into ‘the zone’, as they say in professional circles!

We were shortly then informed that the race was being delayed for another 10 minutes, which was actually nearer 20. At this point I’d got to the stage where I just wanted to run the race and go home as I’d begun to lose a fair amount of motivation and desire to actually compete…I don’t think I was the only person getting irritated either.

The race finally started around 7.35 and we were finally on our way. The biggest change to previous years was that, despite it being an almost identical course, we ran it in reverse. Whilst this made a nice change, it meant that the tougher half of the race came in the latter part.

I ran a strong first couple of miles and whilst the warm evening and lack of food in my belly was making me feel slightly uncomfortable, I began to accelerate going into mile 3. This was the split in the course between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ sections of the arboretum. This was probably my favourite part of the race although after the protective shade of trees over the first fee miles, the terrain became more exposed to the evening sun. The course had remained fairly flat up to this stage and as we reached what was probably the highest point of the course, we were greeted by an enthusiastic and vocal crowd of spectators cheering the runners on. They were situated close to the water station, which was a welcome sight on a warm and sticky May evening.

The crowd really lifted my spirits and gave me the motivation I needed to pick up the pace and charge down the hill (that I’d had to amble up in previous years!) as I posted a 7 minute mile.

After this brief moment of euphoria, the course became more undulating in places with a couple of short, steep climbs which were hard on the lets after a lung busting 3^rd mile. It began to flatten out again and at around four and a half miles a running friend, who’d paced the Stroud Half amazingly back in October, came alongside me. I chatted and ran with her for about a mile which helped me pick up the pace again and run a decent mile 5 of around 7.30.

I was finding the pace hard to handle as I entered the mile 6 and began to feel quite sick. This may have been a combination of the heat, lack of water and food, so I tried to keep my momentum going in the knowledge that I wasn’t too far from home now. As I urged myself not to be sick I actually heard someone stop and throw-up behind me!

As we ran beneath the tree-lined walkway for visitors to the arboretum and then up the final steep incline, my watch indicated that we were not too far from the finish and probably had about a quarter of a mile to go. However, as I frantically looked for the finish line, it wasn’t to be seen? We proceeded to run what appeared to be a large loop that would take us to the finish line and as my watch hit the 10K point I realized that we still had a reasonable distance still to run.

At this point I eased off, frustrated that the course was clearly long and due to that fact that I really wasn’t feeling too clever. It was completely out of character for me to go through the motions in the home straight as I usually relish the buzz the crowd gives me and the sense of almost completing a tough race. However, as I crossed the finish line I simply took my medal and headed straight back to the car park…not in the best of moods!

My time of 48.43 was a million miles off my PB, but when factoring-in a long course (6.51 miles, it would have been much more respectable over 6.22 miles. I was, however, pleased with my official finishing placing of 60^th out of 962 finishers, so that made me feel a little happier and lighted my mood (God, I sound like such a misery!).

It was interesting to see that there were 350 more runners than in 2017, so maybe the ambitions of growing the event could not be supported fully by the infrastructure and support available on the night.

I think the organisers need to give some serious thought to the issues they clearly experienced in advance of the 2019 event or many runners, like myself, will simply look at running other local spring races that are better organised in future.

I had wanted to do this race for a few years, but this was the first time I'd been able to. Unfortaunately I was very disappointed. The main probalem seemed to be a lack of organisation at registration. I queued for ann hour to register, and the start had to be delayed by half an hour.

This also meant we did not have time to organise ourselves at the start, so all speeds were muddled up, whoich meant the first few miles were a scramble of people trying to get past slower runners or being passed by faster ones. This was all on narrow tracks.

Also the course was longer than 10k (by about 400m) and the km markers were very inaccurate.

Lack of water at the finish too.

The setting is stunning, and this should be an amazing race, unfortunately this time around the organisation did not do it justice.

This is a popular event which sells out quickly I pressume due to it's location. I managed to secure a fundraising spot for Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum so collecting my bib was easy and straight forward. Unfortunately that can't be said for the majority of the other 900+ runners.

With a start time of 7pm, this was delayed significantly due to general bib collection chaos, with people still waiting for their bibs at 7:20. Why the organisers chose to hold everyone else up is beyond me. They could have easily staggered the start and there was very little communication as to what was happening.

At 7:25 the start klaxon went and we were on our way but this too was met with issues as the sheer volume of people on the narrow tracks was proving to be a issue with runners being forced of the track and into low hanging branches. Once people could find their pace the going got easier but the kilometre markers were out.

The route itself was beautiful and Westonbirt was definitely putting on a good display of natural colour. A solid 5 for course uniqueness.

There was a water station at roughly the mid way point which was struggling to cope and crowded so no water for me at this point. Not a huge problem but it was still a warm evening so could have been needed by some.

After coming up the hill from the Silk Wood my Garmin had recorded 10k and flashed up a 10k PB but the finish line was not in sight, we had to loop back down to the entrance and then back up to the finish line. Meaning I'd actually recorded 6.5 miles and a significant difference between my new 10k PB and my official chip time. Many others have complained of this to the organisers this monring.

So having completed the slightly longer course without managing to get water mid way through I was in need of water at the end and was not offered any. Friends later told me that there wasn't enough for the 900+ runners and people were being asked to share! I think Westonbirt may have increased the number of runners to their own detriment and it has back fired as organisation seems to have completely dissolved.

What could have and should have been a lovely evening certainly left many dissapointed.

After the jubilation of running a PB at the very fast ad flat Bristol 10K a couple of weeks ago, the Westonbirt Arboretum 10K is about as far removed from a large, city road race as you can get. Situated just outside of the well-heeled Cotswold village of Tetbury (Think Highgrove/Prince Charles country), Westonbirt is a stunning arboretum (a vast area of natural and cultured habitat, comprising of hundreds of different species of trees and plants in well-kept grounds that are open to the public) that holds an annual 10K race. The strap-line ‘Run for the Trees’ is essentially the charitable side of the event, supported by the Forestry Commission, who maintain and upkeep the arboretum.  

Entries for the race are made available in mid-February and it is far from well-publicised, so knowledge of this race tends to be kept within the running fraternity of Gloucestershire and given that there are only about 800 places, it sells out quicker than a Take That concert!

I ran this race a couple of years ago and was instantly attracted to the picturesque surroundings, friendly atmosphere and stunning, but challenging course. More of that later.

The race is held on a Wednesday evening (usually in late May/early June) with a start time of 7pm, so working in Bristol, it’s easy to make the 30 minute drive to the arboretum after work, with plenty of time to spare.

In 2015 it was a fairly mild, breezy evening, which was great for running a fairly decent time. However, when I arrived at the car park this year, I was greeted with cloudless blue skies, warm sunshine and a temperature of 26 degrees, which made me think that it might be a slightly tougher gig this year. Getting out of the car was akin to getting off a plane when you reach a hot holiday destination, so I instantly realized that not having drunk much that afternoon and having no liquid supplies with me was not great preparation. It’s not like there’s a Tesco Metro around the corner, so I was stuck with having to deal with a dry mouth before I’d even started running.

The check-in/race number collection area had moved since I last ran this race to the main entrance, which was a big improvement and administered slickly. There were ample toilet facilities so no real queues; even for the ladies!

The temperature had cooled to about 23 degrees by the time us runners made the short walk to the starting pens, which were staggered into predicted finish time sections. Given that the paths are narrow and that the first few miles can bunch up, I purposely made my way to the front, but not too near the start, as I’d have stuck out like a sore thumb, in comparison to the ‘elite’ runners in their vests with barely an ounce of fat covering their bodies!

The ‘hooter’ sounded at 7 sharp, and I was off. The first mile was fairly flat and after a circuit of the starting area, the course took a nice downhill route into a more wooded area of the arboretum, where the stony track became a more palatable path, minus the rocks, unevenness and loose stones.

I hadn’t really set a target time as such, but had run 47.19 two years ago in far cooler conditions, so the aim was to run a sub-47 if all went to plan. There was no way I’d get close to my Bristol time, given that this was largely a trail race on a lumpy, undulating course with 20+ degree heat to content with.

So, back to the race. I ran through mile 1 in 7.10 and all felt good in the world. However, the next couple of miles comprised of fairly long gradual inclines, with the odd flat section, and I found myself working quite hard to keep to what I thought was a decent pace. I was panting by mile2 and could feel the heat taking its toll. I knew it was going to be tough when I registered a 7.33 and a 7.26 for 2 and 3, which actually felt like 7‘s flat, given the effort I was putting in. Eeek! With each mile feeling like a mile and a half, we were greeted with a fairly tricky hill at around 3.5/4 miles that completely knocked the stuffing out of me. As you would expect in a race like this, there was very little support/spectators along the course, so it was nice to see a decent crowd at the top of the hill along with a much needed water station. The said water station didn’t do me any favours, since I crushed the plastic cup upon grabbing it from the marshal (which meant most spilled out) and the remaining contents managed to completely miss mouth when I launched it in the intended direction. Great. I’ve still got a dry mouth!

After the hill came a welcome ascent into more woods for the remaining 2.5 miles, but I was shot to bits by this stage, desperately willing the km markers to appear at greater regularity than they were. Miles 4 and 5 were significantly slower – at around 8.15’s – and I was beginning to go nowhere fairly slowly. One of my running buddies went past me at around 5 miles and this gave me the kick up the backside I needed, so I tried to up the pace and get going again, which I started to do as the course began to flattened out somewhat. I knew a course PB was possibly out of the question now, so I set a goal of not getting over taken in the last mile and a half. (I think 3 people did, but they’d clearly run more sensibly, knowing the second half of the course was flatter, so had probably run a negative split as they appeared to be speeding up).

Despite the pain and suffering I endured, the course was stunning. Probably the best 10K I’ve run in that respect, as this time of year brings out bright, vibrant colours and a myriad of different smells and scents from the plants and flowers. I just wish that I could have appreciated it all more!

At 6 miles, I got a ‘mini-second wind’ (a bit late now!), but put my foot down and ran as hard as I could to the finish line, even putting-in an impressive sprint down the finishing straight that Mo Farah would have been proud of!

My time was 47.32, which was 13 seconds slower than two years ago, but I placed 69^thout of around 800 (compared to 133^rd in 2015) so I was pleased with the performance, given the conditions that were not conducive to a quick time.

The medal was great…a wooden leaf. Wooden bling!

This is a great, friendly event which takes place among some of the most stunning scenery in England, so I’m lucky that we have an event like this so close to home. It’s not your conventional road-routed 10K, and a PB is probably not up for consideration, but I’d highly recommend this as fantastic event to participate in if you like something a bit different to the norm. I’ll be back.