Bucket list race... kinda disappointing. When you strip everything down, you’ve basically got a dual carriageway half Mara in the middle of an apocalypse with logistics designed by the devil himself. You simply cannot successfully organise and implement a run of that size with the infrastructure available. I parked at fellgate, (free parking) and caught the metro. Missed one train because you couldn’t fit on it, then waited ten mins for the next when a fellow race checker helped me squeeze on (and only I got on). THEN the train stopped and wouldn’t move because it was overcrowded, requesting people get off. Toilet queues 50 minutes. Apparently like this every year. Runners lifting up barriers to get people underneath so they could get into already crowded pens. Utter carnage. Lovely views at Gateshead, then tarmac and roundabouts with too many runners in the way. 4 hour wait for the metro to get back to where you left your car. However: The CROWDS make this race. The support is second to none. In addition to this, the red arrows were IMPRESSIVE. First aiders were doing an excellent job. The info guys were brilliant at the finish line (even if rude people kept pouncing on them out of turn). I’m glad I did it, but the amount of stress the logistics caused me just weren’t worth it. If you’re a patient person who is happy to hang around for hours and hours after a race, then fair enough. Personally I felt completely overwhelmed with the sheer amount of people there and that I couldn’t get back easily at the end.