Had heard good things about this race, as well as being advised that it was not one to try for a PB due to the numbers at the start.  This being Oxford (notoriously traffic unfriendly), participants were advised to use the park and ride service, which I understand worked smoothly for our friends who used it; dropping them off close to the race village.  

The race village is in the same location as that used for the Oxford Half, and a lot of the route is the same - the advantage of this event is that it is smaller, and it has the nicest parts of the Half route.  It takes in some of the sites such as the Bodlean Library, the Natural History Museum and some of the University colleges, before running down the middle of the  High Street which probably annoyed a lot of shoppers but was good fun for us.  It ended up with a rather strange windy route through the park back to the finish, which was very pretty.

There are no real segregation based on time at the start - there was a sign directing sub 50 runners one way and everyone else another; but essentially everyone just congregated on the road and noone really took any notice.  Worth bearing in mind if you are a quicker runner, as you probably won't want to get stuck dodging people at the start.  

The atmosphere among the runners was good fun; support around the route was a little lacking really - maybe the heat was taking it's toll on the supporters as they weren't particulary enthusiastic or vocal until right near the finish.  The weather was roasting hot so the two water stations on the route were welcome.  T-shirt and goody bag were good, and we recieved a text with our chip time within minutes of finishing.  

Really enjoyable race; good chance to run test out the route for an idea of Oxford Half later in the year, and a chance to wear bright orange clothing in support of Muscular Dystrophy UK. Splendid!