After some gentle persuasion from some of my running friends I booked the UK Runchat package for Limassol. This appealed to me, as I hadn't ever run abroad before and wanted to remove the hassle of booking the accommodation, race entry and travel all separately. The organisers arranged travel to and from the airport on the days of our flights in and out of Paphos. It's definitely worth checking your pick up time when you head home, as a few of the group were given times that could have meant missing their flights. We stayed at the Mediterranean Beach Hotel, which had recently been refurbished. It's a lovely hotel but in relation to the Race Village is a good 6 miles away, which a group of us found out the hard way after the races on Sunday due to road closures until 1pm. Most of us went half board so we had breakfast and dinner there. Breakfast had to be put on by the organisers on Sunday morning due to the painfully early start. Our race packs were delivered to the hotel but there was a delay in them arriving so they weren't in our rooms when we checked in as expected.
The race village itself wasn't too bad, being located on the Cypriot coast. The wind chill did catch us out a bit when we weren't running but on the hotter days it was most welcome. The registration/information desk was easy enough to find, although finding our Race Check tshirts proved a bit tricky despite us being given instructions to find them there. The entertainment in the village was good with live music. It was definitely better on the Sunday night but I appreciate the local entertainment that was put on after the pasta party on Saturday evening.
Corporate 5K
A group of us ran the Corporate 5K on Saturday morning. It was definitely hot enough for a 9am start so earlier may be more preferable. We ended up somewhere near towards the back of the start due to having to wait ages for the bus to get to the race village. Bus services, despite what the locals said, were far from the regular service we have in the UK so we arrived with literally minutes to spare for the bag drop and queuing to start. It's definitely not an event for the faster runners if you are not at the front (you're better off doing the 5K on Sunday for that). There were an estimated 9000 people for this event, as it's mostly the local community taking part, which was more than the 4 events on Sunday combined. You definitely had to have your wits about you, as the majority of the participants walked in lines as many as 4-5 people in row. There were also children taking part so you had to be weary you weren't about to be cut up by someone. The start as well bottle necked so you really couldn't get going for some considerable time. A suggestion would be to have separate start pen for runners and walkers. A few of our group even noticed people stopping for coffees part way round. Definitely one of the busiest 5K runs I have been involved with.
Half Marathon
The organisers arranged transport to the race village so we didn't have to wait for a bus, especially as there were road closures for most of the day. Although the 7.30am race start was much earlier than what I am used to it really helped as the race progressed. It would have been extremely unbearable for the marathon runners if it was any later in the morning, as we experienced the day before for the Corporate 5K at around the same time I finished the half marathon. It was the first time the event used pacers, which I was grateful for, as I didn't want to succumb to exhaustion from pushing too hard in the heat. The course for the half leaves the Marina and then heads along the stretch heading towards the Amathus Ruins before coming back on itself at the turn point (we passed our hotel twice, which has got to be some kind of torture, right?). At points I didn't really know how far I had run, as there weren't many km/mile markers to be seen. Local crowd support was a bit hit and miss and some of the marshalls looked a bit bored. I was grateful for the groups of dancers and cheersquads that did drum up support along the way. I was somewhat baffled by the photographers on the course and a little disappointed with some of the photos from the event. The water and sponge stations were just about right for me, as I started off with my own Tailwind supply before picking up water. The bag drop and toilets could be improved for next time but not the worst I have experienced.
Overall, as a first race abroad I enjoyed it being able to go with the UK Runchat and Racecheck Visor community and also the ease of most things being sorted for you. A few tweaks would be great but I would definitely think about going back again next time.