Introduction:
I entered this event the day before the run was due to take place, Saturday 1st September 2018, and had to pay an extra £5 for the privilege (£21 entry, would have been £16 if I had registered before August 31st). I wasn’t planning on running this race, hence the late entry, however my cousin has recently taken up running and she had registered for this as her first 10k, so I decided to enter alongside her (plus I hadn’t ran an event since the London Marathon!).
I arrived at West Park at around 9:15am to give me time to use the toilet, warm up and enjoy the music before the race started. I like arriving early as it gives me time to find the starting line! The 10k started at 10:15am, after the half marathon and 20k cycle event.
Pacers:
There were no official pacers for the event.
The Course:
The course was relatively flat until around the 2.5 mile mark, where there was a steady uphill gradient which I ended up walking the latter half of.
On the whole, the course was pretty boring, but perhaps that is also due to the fact that I do a lot of my running around a similar looking area. I am also from Wolverhampton so there was nothing new to see along the route.
The roads were also not fully closed, so there were sections where I had to stop and wait for traffic to allow me to pass, which was rather annoying.
Aid Stations:
There was 1 aid station where bottled water was provided at around the half way point near a local newsagents.
Entertainment:
There was no official on course entertainment along the route, just a local radio station at the start / finish area.
The only music provided on the course was from a local house who had the radio outside their house for us!
Atmosphere:
There was very little crowd support along the route – a few people stood to watch from their driveways or out of the window. At the finish line there was a decent sized crowd, but most of those were other runners who had finished and were getting their goodie bags or trying to meet friends.
Goodie Bag:
The goodie bag consisted of Greggs Mango Pieces, Greggs Cherry and Berry Mix and a bottle of Greggs water (can you guess who provided the bags by any chance?). The Cherry and Berry Mix was actually rather tasty, I am yet to try the Mango Pieces.
T-shirt and Medal:
The medal and t-shirt design were pretty plain and uninspired.
The t-shirt was just plain white (I hate white t-shirts) and didn’t feel of the best quality.
The medal was better than I expected as the picture of the medal that they use for a cover photo on Facebook was a bit plain. This one was a bit more decorative and I liked the words around the outside: “Victory, Effort, Courage, Discipline, Respect, Honour, Pride, Passion.
Overall:
I think that this is the second most expensive 10k I have entered (due to my late registration) and it was probably my least favourite event.
Would I recommend this event? Most likely not… I’d rather do 6 laps around West Park than run through Whitmore Reans / Aldersley – or at least, the route that was plotted for the 10k. At £16 it may be a decent 10k training run for someone who wants the race environment to push themselves, however I ended up running most of the route alone. If you are looking for a fun or scenic 10k, this is definitely not the race for you. In terms of a course with the potential for a personal best… well, I nearly got a personal best despite my training not being the greatest and being unprepared, however having to stop for traffic can really put a dent in your efforts.
I decided to give the event 3.5 stars as for the regular entry price of £16, you do get a technical t-shirt, medal and goodie bag.
You can view my results post here.
