We ran this race on the recommendation of fellow club members and were pleased that we did. About 20 of our club travelled from Scarborough to run, and we all had a wonderful time.
The run was the weekend after the Manchester bombing, so understandably security was extra specially tight for the occasion - bags were checked each time you needed to enter the Echo arena for either the expo on Saturday or the race on Sunday. Because of this, the queues for the bag drop at 8am on Saturday were snaked all around the arena, so we had a quick 30 min round trip back to the hotel to leave ours there, as the queue wouldn't (and didn't) go down in time for the 9am start. That's no criticism on the organisers whatsoever, we'd all rather be held up a little and be safe I'm sure.
The race was impeccably organised, with corrals relating to your number and predicted finish times. After a 15 min start time delay (due to bagdrop), the corrals were set off one at a time with a countdown for each one.
The course was great, a nice mix of music bands and quiet parks. There were more than enough water stations, some offering Lucozade and gels - although I didn't see any notices to say that you were approaching a water station, I didn't miss out. Plenty of portaloos on the way too, I noticed.
My favourite part was running up to Penny Lane and hearing the song, there's quite a bit of support on this part of the course too, so it gives you added impetus.
Once you have finished, the R&R machine kicks in again with another seamless transition to get you through the finish line, medals, bag collection, water point etc... and on to the concert.
Would I do it again? Certainly would, I will be signing up for next year. Has to go down as probably my favourite race to date, and I got a PB! The expensive price tag was certainly worth it for me.