Royal Windsor Half Marathon River Trail Run

Better than older reviews suggest - don't be too put off. Low key, friendly event. Still very little communication from F3, with updated competition notes (with totally different bib pickup arrangements to previous years) only issued a couple of days before the event. But the good news was that you could pick up on the day of the race this year. There was plenty of parking nearby and I had no issues with traffic when I arrived or left. There were plenty of loos - portaloos on both sides of the river, plus a large toilet block in the coach park. The pre-race briefing was rather hard to hear, despite a sound system but the info given wasn't quite correct (water stations and wave times) so it didn't really matter if you missed it. The warm up was a good idea, but without sound it didn't work too well. The start was very civilised and I didn't experience any congestion at all (although I was at the front of the last wave). No issues with water/gel stations - they were where they were supposed to be, there was no queuing and I prefer cups to bottles so was happy. There was good signage - note it was in km not miles which was unusual for a HM - and there were marshals where necessary (some of whom were more engaged than others). I had no issues at road crossings - the marshals were holding traffic whenever I needed to cross. There were a few groups of supporters en route; this is a trail race, not an urban one, so for me part of the charm is the peace and countryside - personally I don't want supporters every step of the way. Having said that, the people I did see were most welcome and did a great job and the support at the finish line was fantastic. The route is beautiful and conditions were perfect. My Garmin measured the route as 21.4 km so maybe it's still a bit long, but it's hard to know if that's really just a GPS issue. This race is pretty local for me and I would definitely do it again.