Reviewing the River Trail Half Marathon. (a 10km run was also taking place)

The Beautiful surroundings of Royal Windsor, with the added backdrop of the famous Windsor Castle served as the setting for the F3 Events Royal Windsor River Trail Run. The race was met with a lovely sunny day, which added to the enjoyment of running a trail race along the banks of the Thames.

I was asked to pace the event by the organisors.

Registration online was simple, and race bibs were collected from the race village on the day, although there was an option to collect on the Saturday as well. Entry fee was resonable for an event of this size, although there were added extras on the day to factor in.

An official car park had been set up in a nearby Boys School (about a 13 minute walk from the race hub) for a cost of £5, this allowed you to park until 3pm so gave time to enjoy the sights after the race. The race hub had a large marque for collection of bibs and information and also served as a bag drop area, for which there was an additional charge of £5. Tea/coffee, food and trade stands were on hand, as well as a pre and post race massage service. Regular announcements from a good PA system kept all informed. A few portaloos were also here, and toilets were available in a shopping area just behind the info tent

The race start area was seperate from the race hub, about a 10 min walk over a bridge spanning the Thames, to a field on the Eton School side of the River. The race was split into 6 waves, with a pacer in each wave with estimated times from 1hr 30m to 2 hr 45m and each wave was set off in 15 minutes intervals.

Race start was advertised for 8.30am and actually started quite close to this, perhaps a few minutes late, each wave was moved up to the start line and given a quick briefing before being let loose. With around 1500 runners in the race, being set off in waves with such a distinct time gap ensured that there was not too much congestion on the course, especially as in some places in was down to single file.

the first 10km or so faithfully followed the twists and turns of the Thames, passing by Ascot Racecourse and Dorney Lake, home to the rowing at the London 2012 Olympics. Despite heavy rain the day before the course, mostly grass and troden paths was dry, a few tricky muddy areas and puddles but not enough to break your stride, At points the path would narrow to single file, and overhead branches from trees and bushes made things awkward but still a nice route. A fallen tree over the path at around 8kms added an interesting dilema, climb over or run off route to bypass, most opted for the former.

The second 10kms or so saw the route turn and head back towards Windsor, crossing to the other side of the river and this time on mostly gravel or tarmac paths. It included a few main road crossings where marshalls were on hand to warn runners, but were not stopping traffic to allow runners to cross, most of the road users however seemed happy to slow and let us cross.

The first water station was not until 7kms, the pre race notes had mentioned a station at 3kms but we did not see this, water was handed out in cups, never a big fan of that, and there were High 5 gels also if needed. The next station was not until 14kms and then again at 19kms, on a hot day like it was a few more stations earlier would have been better. The course was marshalled well, with efficient and well identified marshalls. With the nature of the course being trail, there was not a lot of support en route other than the odd walkers, cyclists or riverside house owners

My main grumble on the day was over the accuracy of the measurement of the course, as a pacer we pride ourselves at bringing home runners bang on time, this was impossible today as the course measured so long, a known issue apparently from previous years but which we were not informed of. My GPS read 21.76 Kms (13.5miles) with the main discrepency being the final "mile" which was long. As a result all pacers finished a few minutes outside of the goal times, which is always dissapointing for us.

The race finish was back in the race hub, and after crossing the line you were handed a bottle of water, banana, and a good quality medal. A finisher bag was also given out with just a couple of leaflets inside. Chip timing tags on the bib meant that you could get an instant print out of your time straight after the race.

Despite the issues with the course length, and the lack of a water station or two, the race was well organised and a pleasure to run, especially on such a lovely day in nice scenery. Hopefully the organisors will address the measurement problem, simply move the finish to the other end of the park perhaps, for next year and I would gladly come back to pace again if required.