Neil Edwards's Staging Area

This was a first marathon race for me so I have nothing to compare it to, so for me it was a great experience an unreal atmosphere and incredible amount of support. The streets were lined on both sides with people shoulder to shoulder, people outside their houses with boom boxes and dj-ing, also people singing karaoke outside pubs and live bands. As this was run in October this year I got lucky with the weather, normally it would be cold and wet for this time of year but it was very mild and dry on the day, the sun even came out in the afternoon. The event was well organised, there was 4 assembly points blue, red, green and yellow so you know beforehand which one you are in. There was plenty of porta loos in the assembly area but large queues formed quite quickly once people started arriving. The course is a fairly flat course with a fair few bends, I somehow accumulated 27.35 miles on it and after speaking to a couple that evening they said it could have been from me taking the bends wide so accumulating more distance overall, if only I knew this. There was plenty of water stations but only 4 stations where they gave cups of Lucozade Sport energy drink out starting at mile 9 and only 2 stations where they handed out Lucozade energy gels in miles 19 and 22, so I would advise you take your own gels if you plan to start fuelling earlier in the race. There is some great landmarks to see on the route such as the Cutty Sark Ship, the run over Tower Bridge and also seeing the London Eye and Big Ben before the final stretch to the finish line with Buckingham Palace behind you. At the finish you are presented with your finishers t-shirt and medal and a bag with some drinks and a snack in. The medal was very nice and had good weight to it. Overall I’m very happy with the experience and would definitely run it again.

A nice 10k with some lovely views, I don’t live to far away from this great location so I know the area very well. Both the 10k and HM start on the world’s first major suspension bridge, Menai Bridge built by Thomas Telford in 1826. You run over the bridge to the first roundabout which then takes you under the bridge along the Menai straits there’s not a great deal of scenery on this one you are better off running the HM for that which also takes place on the same day. I have done both and they are both very popular and very enjoyable runs.

This is an iconic Half Marathon already being regarded as a classic, it has been voted in the top 5 most scenic half marathons in the UK by readers of runners world magazine!! You start and finish in front of 700+ year old castle with about 3000 runners taking part. This was my first ever run at this distance and I aimed to do it in under 2hrs. The course takes you alongside a river where you then head out to the local town and past the Llandudno pier, then the fun begins as you start the ascent up the great orme this is quite a climb but as you climb the views are breathtaking. As you look out you will see the Isle of Anglesey, Puffin Island and the surrounding North Wales coastline before the fast descent down to the bottom and back to the finish. Considering this was my first run at this distance and having only raced before at the 5k and 10k distances I had not trained for this so was very happy at my effort and surprised at my result as I came in in 1:50:23.