This race goes down as one of my favourites in the running calendar- a real community feel and great family day out. I’ve done the race 5 years on the bounce and will definitely sign up for next year. 

A race with such great support , atmosphere & brilliant goody bags. However, I do feel when such high standards are set there were little cracks beginning to show today. These will be acknowledged by the race director and he took them on the chin today- however they were minor and Market Drayton 10k is still a brilliant race and little disappointments are only tiny and im surely will be rectified next year.

One reason i love this event is the kids fun run. Both my boys love it as they receive a brilliant medal. In recent years a gingerbread man also was given however for some reason these were not there this year.

Despite there being plenty of marshals around nobody seemed to know what was going on. No course was even sorted and with 100+ kids waiting , it was disappointing. However, one man took it upon himself to sort and was quickly underway. 

Normally this is well organised so I’m sure it was a blip in organisation. 

The adult race started promptly at 11 and the route took us off out into the housing around Grove High School and into the town. There was amazing local support with extra water, sweets and a steel band. 

The course is mostly flat with some nice downs before a small but sharp hill at 8km. 

Upon finishing you are presented with a tray of yogurts, a pork pie, medal & tshirt. A great bag however there were murmurs of disappointment from slower runners as pork pies and beer vouchers had run out. 

My wife also ran and said water had ran out at the station at mile 3 and some runners were forced to pick up used bottles due to the temperatures. 

As mentioned above, this event is one of my favourites and will continue to be. There were small problems however the race director acknowledged them and I’m sure will seek to sort them for next year.