The Alderley Edge Bypass event was originally organised and advertised as a one-off event immediately before it opened to traffic a few years ago. Since then it's been run again in 2016 as a 5 miler, but this is the first time the seemingly annual (yet one-off) event has been scaled up to 10k.

One obstacle as a 10k event in the out and back race is that the bypass itself is only 3 miles long. As such, the start was a couple of hundred metres back onto the Wilmslow road to make up the distance.

Race numbers were posted out a couple of weeks before the event. Parking was arranged - for free - at the Royal London hospital just next to the start.

Organisation and marshaling throughout was excellent.

The start area, being 1 side of the main road, was crowded. As a faster runner I was near the front with the relevant pace group and we got off reasonably freely although  there were a few collisions. I do wonder how the people starting further back fared.

That said, once onto the bypass we had a lot more room. My pace group were running at the agreed pace (thankfully, after my Liverpool marathon experience!)

The race was billed as having lots of things going on the way along the bypass. This was perhaps an exaggeration; there were a few food stands near the finish and a steel drum band at 4km and water stations at 5k & 6.5k (opposite the 5k point).

Scenery-wise, it's a bypass. So if you have an obsession with tarmac and grassy banks, it's wonderful. If not, it's a bypass!

The event was chip timed and by hte time I reached my phone I had a text and an email with my timings.

At the end there was a goodie bag; t-shirt & medal, flapjack bar, a small packet of haribo cola minis and some bits of paper.

Overall; I did this event because I wanted a course with PB potential, which this definitely is (I got a PB). It was decent value for money. Would I do it again? Probably not, I prefer courses which are a little more interesting. But as a PB course or one for a first-timer, it's worth an entry.