This is the third time (I think, maybe 4) that I’ve done this race and I always enjoy the route. This year was a very wet one!
The pre-race material was helpful and clear and a slip for a free tshirt was provided. If you don’t remember your slip you won’t get a tshirt according to the pre race info. I’m not 100% sure why it has to be a slip system and can’t just be handed out to the finishers as they cross the line but maybe space is an issue.
This 10k is situated along Swansea Bay with the start line opposite St Helens cricket ground. It’s popular, so parking is a challenge but car parks are made available specifically for the event. We parked about a mile away and walked to the start line to avoid the queueing traffic.
There’s a small race village with some food stalls, tshirt pick up (don’t forget your tshirt slip or you’re unlikely to get one), bag drop and a podium for the winners to have some pictures on.
Although this race has been around for 30 years or so, the toilet queues are typically huge which is a shame. The portaloos hidden near the car park are normally okay though. The bag drop is also a bit of a shambles. My bag was put in a pile of others for our batch of race numbers but on collecting them they’d been moved and took about 5-10 minutes to find. Understandably the queues to pick bags up were huge as more finishers arrived. A couple of tables per section with odd on top and even underneath would help the bag team a lot I think.
The race itself starts by the cricket ground and makes its way past the original Swansea uni campus towards the mumbles on the main road. It’s generally flat with a few gentle uphill sections on the way. The 5k turn point is in the mumbles and a water station is just around the corner. The next 5k is largely along the beachfront on the cycle track and again Is flat. There’s a short sharp hill about 30m long between km 7 and 8 before a final km on the main road to the finish line.
The goodie bag was good! Some sweets, a banana and a lovely medal, so all good on that front!
Considering it was absolutely chucking it down with rain, the support was amazing! Thanks to everyone, especially the marshals who stayed out in the rain.
Being my home 10k I’ll always be back next year, but hopefully the bag drop and toilet situation be sorted out soon!