The banner headline for the race says, "The greatest finish line in the world", I would maybe dispute that a little if you consider you can also run and finish inside London's Olympic Stadium, but nevertheless, it's still a buzz to be able to end a half marathon under the iconic arch of the famous stadium.

I had a place offered to me in the race through Fitness rewards/Vitality, and was also asked to pace the event by the race directors, entry fee was therefore not applicable to myself, the fee was £45 which seems a little steep for a half marathon.

Organisation was superb, as a pacer I had access to the behind the scenes activities that preceded the race, and was able to see the well thought out plans being put into place, the large number of volunteers being well briefed and prepared before being sent out to the posts.

A very early start, 08.30am, to allow the event to reopen the roads of the route early to avoid traffic problems, getting to Wembley by car was easy and parking was avaialble in the stadium car parks. Last years very impressive race village on the Wembley lawns, was greatly scalled down and moved inside the stadium concourse and was a little disappointing, The bag drop had also been moved inside as well, and seemed to operate well, runners given plastic kit bags with their number attached to, which was then stored in well marked drop areas.

Starting pens were clearly marked and well marshalled on Olympic way, formally Wembley way, and the pre race warm up kept the runners entertained before the start.

Started right on 08.30 with no problems, being the 2 hour 30 min pacer meant I was in the final pen, and it took about 10 mins to reach the start line.

The route is described as undulating by the race website, for that read mostly flat with some fairly big hills thrown in!, the final hill between 9 and 10 miles causing many grumbles amongst my pace group!

The route took runners away from Wembley through local suburbs and parks, passing the RAF Museum at Hendon on it's way to The Allianz park rugby ground. Excellent water stations and aid stations were frequent and manned with cheery volunteers, and the course was well marshalled throughout. Some bands and drumming groups on the route, made up for the lack of local supporters on the roads.

After a lap of the Rugby ground it was time to head back on the return leg, following the same out route back for most of the way.

My only complaint with the drinks stations would be concerning the 2 lucozade stations where drinks were poured from bottles into small paper cups for runners to drink from, I assume to cut down on waste and litter, but some around me found it hard to run and drink from the cups.

On arrival back at Wembley runners were directed into the stadium and did a half lap of the pitch before finishing on the touchline and crossing the chip timing mat.

A good medal, quality Tech finishers shirt and goodie bag were efficently handed to finishers and a designated "selfie zone" allowed runners to get that all important medal shot pitchside, without causing a blockage in the finishing straight.

A very well organised, and enjoyable race to sum up, despite the lack of big landmark areas out on the course, the uniqeness of the finish make it one that you should consider running at some point