I was a last minute addition to the Xempo Race Pacing team for this event, and it would be the first time that I had ran the St. Albans Half.
As well as the Half Marathon, there was a walking only Half Marathon and a 5k and 1.5m run option as well.
As I was such a late addition to the race, I did not complete a registartion process for it, so can not comment on that side of things, it also meant that I had no official chip timed race bib, so my name and result was not on the official list of finishers.
The race started and finished within St. Albans Verulamium park, which saw a very impressive race village set up. Plenty of food and drink stands, retailers, and fun things for the family to do whilst the running took place. Car parking was well arranged, with some free parking available at a local office block, and some set up in a local school grounds.
The half marathon runners were lined up in finish time order pens at the start of the race, and there were pacers from 1.40 up to 2.30 dotted along the length of the well laid out strat funnel. The race started promptly at 10am, and the final runners at the back of the chute crossed the line about 8 or 9 minutes later.
The course description stated that the route was "undulating", read VERY HILLY for that a lot of climbing involved troughout, my GPS date showed a total altitude difference of some 800 feet, and with it being a very warm day, around 23 degrees, the effort took it's toll on some runners who found it very tough. There were a few who dropped out en route and needed medical attention, which seemed to be on hand in good time.
On closed roads the route followed mostly country roads, and was easily wide enough to take the numbers that had entered, there were no pinch points or bunching and marshalls were plentiful and on the whole helpful and cheery. Mile markers were present and apart from a few being slighly out of position (we were informed of this at the race briefing due to a slight course change) they were accurate
Water stations were very frequent, which on the warm day was welcomed, but had a few problems with supply of water. Plastic cups were being filled up by willing volunteers from a large supply of 2 litre bottles and at time they struggled to meet the demands of the numbers of runners arriving at them. I know some runners either missed getting a cup, or had trouble drinking from them and this may have been a factor in the afore mentioned medical cases, dehydration in the heat causing a few to faint. One station was also giving out High 5 gels as well.
Not a large local support, due to being mostly on out of town roads, but some small pockets of supporters made plenty of noisy where they gathered, and at the final big hill of the day, some folk were on hand with a good supply of chocolate mini eggs to provide a little surge of energy to make the climb.
On finishing the run, runners were handed a bottle of water, good quality medal, a well stocked goodie bag with a very nice tech tee shirt, and the famous Ice Lolly from which the race gets it's tagline #IceLollyRun.
A really enjoyable, if tough event, and one to consider if you want a challenge, don't expect a PB on it due to the nature of the hills, but you would be hard pressed to find a better organised and friendly event for the price. Worth adding to the "to do" list