I won a place in this race via a competition on the RunSac Staffordshire and Cheshire podcast and as EHM had been cancelled it was good to be able to a race this weekend.
This race is part of the NSRRA series of races (if you're a member) but is open to anyone.
It starts 5 minutes away from St Thomas Primary school in Upper Tean. Registeration was quick and easy. Long sleeve technical t-shirts could be taken before the race and worn if you liked. This is the first race I've done where I've got a long sleeve t-shirt as a prize and a good one it is too.
The start was on a country lane 5 mins from the school. It was a little tight if I'm honest but after about a km people started to space out.
The course is one of hills, hills and more hills. For every up though there is a down. Some of the downhill sections were really fast so a bit of care was needed.
The course was not on closed roads but for the amount of traffic I encountered (4 cars) that wasn't an issue. There were plenty of encouraging marshalls out on the course which was also well signposted.
From mile 6 it's all downhill to the school, or so you think! One final hill to negoiate right at the very end which takes you back up to the school and on to the schools playing field where the finish line was situated.
For finishing, there was a decent medal, very good technical long sleeve t-shirt, a pack of Staffordshire oak cakes and a bottle of water. There was also plenty of tea, coffee and cakes insode the school on sale too.
This is a hard course, maybe not as hard as the Newcastle Under Lyme 10k but still hard. I completed it in just under the hour so I was really pleased.
Thanks to everyone involved for a great local race which was definately worth the entry fee. One of the cheapest I've seen especially for what you received at the end.
Recommended.