If you examine the map above you’ll notice two things about this year’s Great Scottish Run:

First, you’ll notice the route is largely out and back with a large section using the same roads.

Second, you’ll notice most of the route avoids nearly evert park, tree or hint of a plant in the Southside in Glasgow, which is quite an achievement. Glasgow is know as the ‘Dear Green Place’. It has more than 90 parks and gardens. It has beautiful tree lined streets, particularly in the Southside and, yet, the Great Scottish Run chooses to run through some of the most deprived areas and avoid anything which makes Glasgow nice (unless you’re a Rangers fan and love to see a glimpse of Ibrox stadium).

It even finishes in Glasgow Green, one of Glasgow’s biggest parks. But it only uses a few hundred metres as a dash to the finish line. Can they not use more of it? Would you hire a Ferrari to just use it to park it in a Park? Of course not, so why run the Great Scottish Run and not use the very things that make running in Glasgow great.

Great Scottish Run, more like okayish Scottish Run.

At least this year, the route was the correct distance after previous races has seen record had to be scrubbed as the official distance turned out to be less than 13.1 miles. But to do that, they’ve had to add in a 50m detour down a road and then back up again. They couldn’t even add 100m in Glasgow Green. Instead we a Ferrari and a quick spin up to the next level in QPark.

Saying all that, and trying not to be too grumpy, the race is very well organised with groups released in waves to help spread people around the course. There’s three water stops and the route is almost flat.

But if you want to see a tree, try another race. Or try my race. Instead of running around the Southside, howabout running from George Square to Kelvingrove Park, then to the university, the Kelvin walkway, the Botanic Gardens, Great Western Road, Hyndland and Clarence Drive, over to Victoria Park, before back down Dumbarton Road, the banks of the Clyde and longer run through Glasgow Green. Easy.

The “Blades” in race the blades refer to the propellors of the wind turbines at Whitelee wind farm, where the race takes place. As the tips of the blades travel at around 300 mph, even an F1 car would have trouble racing the blades. At around 8mph, I might challenge the blades for a race but I would be left in the starting block while it was doing victory laps.

Despite the impossible challenge of the name, Races the Blades is a great off road half marathon held annually in July. There is also a 10k version and ultramarathon option for those who prefer a shorter or a longer challenge.

I’ve entered before and you can find a previous report here. It’s a tricky race, with a rolling course and an annoying hill around the 9 mile point. But, it’s a scenic race with varied train taking you from moorland, to forests to loch side to moorland again with only the sound of the turbines remaining constant. Whumf. Whumf. Whumf.

This year the weather was challenging. The race is held at a wind farm and when it’s windy, it the best spot in the world to be out in the wind. Unless you’re running. In which case it feels like running into jelly. And today was very windy. Except when the heavens opened. Then we were soaked to the skin. It was a real proper Scottish four seasons race. It was just a pity that two of those seasons were hurricane and monsoon.

The race is very well organised and if you like raining on tracks, this is a great event, which is not too far from Glasgow.

Particular praise for the organisers recognising the most important thing for athletes starting a race – plenty of portaloos. Sometimes, when you get to a race, there is only a handful of portaloos for a few hundred runners. Race the Blades had over 20. Fantastic (if you’re looking for a toilet just before you start).

Overall, this is fourth time I’ve run this race and I recommend it to anyone looking for a challenging rolling course through moorland and forests. Just don’t try and race the blades.