This race was the final race of the SSE Airtricity Race Series in the lead up to the full marathon in October. It is the same location as the Frank Duffy 10 mile race and was organized very well. There was no expo available as they sent your bib to you in the mail.

I highly recommend using public transport or carpooling to get there as parking is quite limited inside the park. There is a complimentary shuttle bus that collects runners from a location just outside the park that is very convenient for participants.

The course is a large loop around the park and has a few hilly parts to it. Even with several thousand runners, it never felt crowded. However, aid stations only appear every 3 to 4 miles and electrolyte drinks were not available until mile 9. Water was provided only in unopened water bottles, which were tricky to navigate on the run. Definitely recommend bringing your own nutrition.

The bag drop was just a couple small tents and while they tried to organize the bags by numbers, it was still quite chaotic to collect belongings. To be fair, the volunteers were doing their best but there was no system for runners to que or any way for volunteers to locate bags quickly.

At the finish, runners received a goody bag with their tech race shirt and a fantastic finisher's medal. The bag included chips, bars, water, electrolyte drink, and water. They also had fruit and rice pudding available separately.

Overall, it's a great race and wonderful way to prepare for the full marathon just a month later.