My Event Ratings

Overall score		100%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		100%
PB potential		40%
Atmosphere		100%
Organisation		100%
Value		100%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: excellent race, with challenging hills
In full: absolutely loved every minute of the race!

great organisation, superb and very enthusiastic marshals and a very scenic, varied and challenging course. ashamed to say i had to walk part of the 2 climbs, but with the HR going 180+ on the 2nd one, it was probs for the best ;-)

the course itself starts off in the expanse of the country park before skirting the pitch and putt golf course, then heading off into the trees for the first climb into the caravan park. there is then a short road (keeping to the pavement) section before dropping down a steepish tarmac lane back towards the park. the run into the park sees you pass underneath the impressive 19th century railway viaduct before heading back along the wide open grass of the main park. then it's under another railway bridge before piling back into the trees for the 2nd climb (i hadn't realised how steep this bit was, which is weird as i ride the MTB down it regularly) leading into some fields. these are skirted around and then it's pretty much all downhill or flat from here. the final mile is spent on one of the feeder paths back into the park before the sprint finish close to the newly created ponds by the main park carpark.
in all, about 1 mile is tarmac with the rest being grassland and forest trails. ovetaking can be tricky on the trails as they are fairly narrow, however this is where the good old voice box mk1 gets used, and given that it's an MP3 free event, people have no problem hearing you ;-)
hazards were helpfully spray painted orange, so the chance of accidentally running into / across these was lessened, and the course well marked out with no chance of going wrong.

goody bag at the end consisted of an event dated t-shirt, apple, mars bar, bottle of water and some flyers, which given the low cost of entry is no mean feat.

all in all, an excellent value event, set amongst some quality scenery and organised and run by a great bunch of people.

another event that will become a permanent fixture on my calendar.

Date of review: May 12, 2013

Report this rating to the moderator

Overall score		100%
Would you do it again?		Yes
Details:
Scenery		80%
PB potential		60%
Atmosphere		80%
Organisation		80%
Value		100%
Beginner-friendliness		80%

In short: great first 10k and will be on my annual to-do list in future
In full: this was my first non parkrun event and absolutely loved it! vicky & the team did a great job as, from my perspective, everything went smooth-as. nice course, that runs along farmland minor roads, with elevation changes. police kept most of the course traffic free with road blocks at junctions (and returned friendly waves), with only the last k back to the college being the exception for the slower runners. marshals were great and extremely enthusiastic - no mean feat given how cold it was to be stood around.
given that i'm new to running, the goody bag of tech shirt, water bottle and alpen bar was more than welcome and served as a decent memento for the event.
i can easily see me coming back to the AC10k year after year, especially as it's virtually on my doorstep ;-)

Date of review: March 25, 2013

Report this rating to the moderator