This was the first time I had ran this event, the fourth staging of it, and I had heard so many good things about the past few years events. I was therefore delighted to be able to be compete it in as part of the Xempo Running RacePacing team for the day, pacing 2hr 20m.

As a team member, registration was handled by Xempo, so I am unable to comment on this aspect of the event, however the price for entry seems very fair considering the professional manner in which the race was conducted and for the after race "goodies" on offer.

I arrived in Swansea after a 2 hour drive from Swindon at around 07.30am, the first wave was due to set off at 09.00am, so I wanted to make sure I could get parked up and to the village to meet the Xempo team in plenty of time. I maganged to park in the Mariner Street Car Park, about a 10 minute walk from the race village, and found it was free parking on a Sunday. There were other car parks close by which also afforded free parking, and a Park and Ride service was in place for a fee of £5. I noticed a few queues post race for this service, and a few minor grumbles from a small section of social media commentators, but no more than is to be expected from a race of this size, you can't please everybody.

The race village in Castle Square was easy to find, with a small selection of sponsors tents and a large video screen, race announcements were being broadcast over speakers. Due to security measures being increased the bag drop service had been moved from here to a location a few minutes away, with a much stricter system in place. Toilets were on hand in the shape of portaloo's and were much in demand.

The start was seperated into two waves, one for sub 2 hour runners, and another for over 2 hour's and each start was also subdivided into small "pens". Xempo were supplying pacers from 1hr30 to 2hr30, so, after getting kitted up we all took our places, in the now heavy rain, within the pens to assist runners to find their ideal start position based on their predicited finish times. The race was chip timed and our job is to finish just under the alloted time shown on our pace flags running at a constant even pace.

Just before the start of wave 1 at 09.00am, the cold and rain stopped, and the sun shone through again, just as the hooter sounded for the off, I was in wave 2 and we were due to leave at 09.15am which we did on time and set off on the fast and flat course.

The first section of the course wound its way around Castle Square before heading out of the centre towards Mumbles, as we ran past the castle ruins the course become a cobbled road for a short distance, which in the rain had become a little slippy and did not feel comfortable under foot.

On closed roads the route headed out of Town towards St Helens RFC ground and followed the coastal road down to Mumbles. I missed seeing the first mile marker flag, not sure if it was there or not, but picked up the rest of the mile marker flags on route. The majority appeared to be in the right positions, although a couple, including the additional 10km maker flag and timing mat for the DB Max chip timing service, appeared to be slightly out by my GPS, but some allowance must be made for course deviations on my part whilst going through the other runners. 

At Verdi's Cafe just in the middle of the pretty town of Mumbles, the course took a sharp left turn back on itself, and headed back toward Swansea, now we were running on the purpose built cycle and footpath that hugged the coast line, and gave some stunning views across the bay.

The warm weather had continued since the start of the race, but frequent and well well positioned water stations meant that everybody kept well hydrated throughout, water was supplied in screw top bottles, which the volunteers had helpfully loosened for you, and there were 2 stations giving out SIS gels as well. My only concern on one of these stations was the disposel of the bottles by runners by Verdi's Cafe, as this was very close to the sea wall, and I was worried about bottles and gel wrappers finding their way over the wall and out to sea However after the race I returned for a bit of sightseeing to Mumbles and was happy to see bags of bottles and gel wrappers piled up ready for collection, big thumbs up to the volunteers here.

On the subject of marshalls and volunteers, a mention here of them, who appeared to be helpful and supportive all the way around the course and at the start/finish area. Local support was thin out on the road section and footpath back, but large and noisy at the start and finish and at the turn around point

As we neared Swansea again there was the only really noticable incline on the course, a short, sharp little hill which was over quite quickly, and then it was time for a short loop of the marina, over two footbridges before heading towards the finish straight. Once more over the cobbles, which were now dry and not so slippery and then the final push to the line. Commentators were name checking runners as they crossed the line, always a nice touch in my eyes.

As we were ushered down the finish funnel, cadets handed out bottles of water, a very chunky medal, a pink tech finishers tee shirt, fruit (all gone by the time I got there) and a goodie bag (again I heard that these ran out for later finishers). Runners who gained a new PB could return to the race village and ring the "PB Bell" to announce their achievement to all around them.

To sum up, a race worthy of it's previous years high praises and awards, slick organisation, well supported and marshalled, maybe a few issues to look at with the park and ride and goodie bag/fruit at the end, but a run which should be high up on anybodies "to do" list