Horrendous rain before the race meant giant puddles, wet trainers and a muddy start. The race village was adequate but not particularly well signed.  The baggage area were unmanned horse stalls where you could dump your belongings so didn't feel particularly secure.  The t-shirt collection was pre-race which also isn't particularly idea.  The tshirts were also generic British Heart Foundation ones, and while they were at least technical, I wouldn't bother picking one up next time as why wear it if it doesn't say what the race was?!

Other than a loud speaker annnouncement saying the race was due to start, there was nothing to mark the beginning of the race for anyone not at the front of the pack.  The large numbers meant that the runners were snaked back from the road back into the racecourse itself, and people were still running to join the starting area at the back  while other runners could be seen already heading off in the distance.  So the start felt like a bit of a shambles.  

The course itself was fab - hillier than I'd expected and mainly quiet country lanes. When I say hilly, nothing major, but definitely not a flat course. More support than expected along the way from locals given the quiet lanes and villages which was nice.  

Thoroughly enjoyed the route and will do again purely for this.   Extremely disappointing medal though. It doesn't cost much to get a decent medal - BHF need to ditch the generic tshirts and put that money towards some decent bling! They would attract more participants and raise more money that way!