As you may know from previous reviews of races from DB Max, I rate their events very highly. For no other reason than they deserve them, and this Easter offering around the grounds or surrounding villages of Westonbirt House is no exception.

Using the same route as their popular Christmas 10k and Autumn 10 races, the #finishinthebar Easter 10k was another slick, well oganised and enjoyable event, despite the Bank Holiday liquid weather tring to put a dampner on proceddings.

As a member of the #DBmaxpaceteam, registration was taken care of for me by the team, however I did enter my wife into the event using the online entry form and it was a straight forward process to do so. Entry fee was on par with other events of the same size. A nice touch with DB Max events is the chance to have your name on your race bib, which is either sent out to you in the post, or in the case of late entries, can be picked up on the day.

Social media posts kept runners informed of events, and a race letter giving all the logistics for the day, was available prior to the race.

Getting to the event was very simple, Westonbirt House is easily accessed from all directions and signposts directed you off the main road into the car park in the grounds of the property. A field of around 800 (sell out) assembled in a hall of the house which served as the registration/bib pick up centre and bag drop area. A seperate room in the building had a number of stalls and retailers as well as hot drinks and snacks.

Race briefing and pre race warm up took place on the lawns, before runners were led in time finishing order by the pacers (I was on 60 minute duty) to the start line which was about 5 mins walk back up the main drive. Start was prompt and on time, and runners set off on a two lap course exiting the grounds, following a route around the villages that border the house. 

The course was on partially closed roads, marshalls were on hand to keep one side of the road clear for runners and to allow cars to pass on the other side. Due to the rain it was a bit wet and slippy in some parts and one section of narrow road was very potted with large pot holes. These filled up with water and was therefore hard to judge how deep they were. Safety however was never an issue.

One lap of the route brought us back into the lower grounds of the house, and through a narrow gate way (single file) and into some off road sections through the trees and on grassy banks, these were a little hard to cover due to the rain, but runners were quickly back onto tarmac and out onto the second lap.

The one water station was positioned as you began the 2nd lap offering water in cups..

There was not a lot of local support on the route, being mostly open country roads it was hardly surprising and where the route did pass houses, homeowners had wisely spent their Good Friday mornings in the warm and dry, however what the locals lacked the marshalls made up for and were superb throughout.

One final push up the grassy banks at the end of lap 2 took runners back up to the house and a final trot up 5 steps to the finish line and across the chip timing mat to finish. Water, quality medal (another regular feature of DB Max events) and sweets and flapjacks were on hand. A print off giving your gun and chip finishing time was available, as were instant results on the DB Max website. 

For some runners they had paid a little extra on their entry fee to purchase a fish and chop meal in the hall afterwards, which was most welcome.

A great, if wet, event once more, I would recommend anybody to look into taking part in future DB Max events, you will not find many better around.