I deferred from the 2017 race after it was snowed off and the revised date clashed with another race, which was a simple process. In terms of getting to the venue it was pretty straightforward. I had researched about parking costs before hand so knew to bring money with me. However, that caught quite a few people out though as we were coming into the car park leading to queues for those arriving closer to the start time. I overhead someone mention that it was not communicated that there would be people collecting money near the entrance so maybe that's something the organisers can mention next time. The event village was easy to find as it was very close to the car park. Given the size of the event more toilets should have been provided, as there was a big queue. The pacers were introduced to the runners but I feel there could have been start pens at the beginning. Unfortunately, I was nowhere near the pacers as it wasn't easy to spot them when we queued up and also out on the course. The narrow paths at the start didn't help with that so it took a while before I passed the 2:20 and 2:40 pacers. However, I can't fault the organisers and marshals for making sure we were safe on the course, especially at the start with the bollards near the start. The course is quite a technical one in terms of twists and turns and a mix of surfaces. There was a long up hill section around 9.5 miles and quite a few bridge crossings which aren't flat. It was a little slippery in places so you had to be careful crossing bridges and running alongside the canals. With regards to the route it measured short on my Garmin so not sure if that was to with the slight change in the course route because of works. The water stations were spaced about 3 miles apart which felt about right for this time of year. Loved the medal and technical long sleeve top. The queue for the bag drop wasn't too bad after the race so we weren't waiting too long.