As a first-time event, overall I thought the organisers of IM70.3 Edinburgh did a great job - none of the massive teething problems that are easy to stumble across with a split transition, but definitely a few things that could be tweaked / improved upon.

Taking it through, step by step:

I managed to get up to Edinburgh to register on the Friday afternoon, as I knew that would give me one less thing to do on the Saturday, which could prove a logistical nightmare, with three separate areas to get to, with Registration, T1 and T2 all being in separate places.

Getting to the sports stadium where registration was held was a bit of a struggle, because of some reoadworks causing minor chaos, but there's not a huge amount that they can do about that. Once I managed to get parked up, the registration process itself was a doddle - I was in and out in just a few minutes, and even managed to avoid spending a fortune in the expansive store that Ironman always brings with them!

Saturday needed everything to be racked ready for race morning, and this came with a little bit of added stress in that you weren't able to access your bike bag on race morning (which is a first from any IM or Challenge branded event that I've been to) - everything had to be in both the bike and run bags when they were racked on Saturday. This all had to be completed by 4pm as well, which was ok for me, but I imagine you could end up being a bit pressed for time if only travelling up on the Saturday.

Check in itself was easy enough, though, with plenty of marshalls around to answer questions about where the entry/exits from each transition were (for those who didn't go to a briefing!)

A really good thing they did, though, was have a specific swim recce session on the Saturday afternoon. An hour slot where they had the first part of the course marked out, and lifeguards etc around. I found this particularly useful, as it was already evident that the swim was going to be tough, with some high winds causing a lot of chop. I was really grateful for a chance to get in and experience that, and perpare myself for the cold, before the race start itself.

One of the big diappointments was that there was no pasta party at all. Given the amount that you pay to enter, I'd have thought that getting a meal beforehand wouldn't be beyond expectations. They did hold an 'Ironprayer', which felt like a nice touch, but I didn't go, as logistically, it would have meant heading back in to Edinburgh, which would have just been a ballache. There was definitely scope for making a bit more of an event of the night before - a fire festival, or a ceilidh or something to make it feel a bit more Scottish.

Whilst getting settled in to bed for an early night ahead of the race, I picked up an email from the organisers, saying that there was a strong possibility that the swim would be shortened to 950m, given the conditions. To me, this was the right call, and it was good that they made it early, and communicated it well. This helped to settle some of the nerves about the swim somewhat.

Race morning was straightforward enough, though they could perhaps have done with a few more portaloos, as there were significant queues at the two clusters of them that they had on site.

The swim was a rolling start, and over the tannoy all morning they were advising people to still seed themselves according to their predicted time for 1900m. However, there were no clear signs as to where each particular zone was, and no entry to the funnel other than at the very back, so if you wanted to get further forward, you had to fight your way through a number of bodies, and if you were too far forward, you probably had no idea!

Once I got in to the swim, I was wondering whether the call to cut it in half was, indeed, the right one, or whether they should have called it off altogether. Conditions were incredibly tough, and despite the rolling start, it felt very congested very quickly. The chop made it really tough to get any kind of rhythm going, in part because of being hit by the waves, but also because it was also throwing all of the other swimmers around, so you ended up bashing in to every one even more than normal. I'm no Michael Phelps, but I consider myself a reasonably strong swimmer, and there were a few times that I started feeling slightly panicked - I dread to think how weaker swimmers must have felt. I heard anecdotes of several people being pulled from the swim, but whether these were true or not, I have no idea. Again, with hindsight, scrapping the swim may have been a better idea.

Out on to the bike, and things quickly improved. Mostly because the first 10k or so the wind was directly behind, and the land was flat, so speeds were incredible! It wasn't long, however, before we turned in-land, and the hills started, gently rolling at first, then getting more severe as we hit the Gifford Loop.

On hitting the furthest point of this loop, you turn square in to the wind, and continue in that direction for the rest of the race. There are also a couple of pretty treacherous descents on this part, but they were very well sign-posted, and the worst of the lot (where there was also some running water) also had a marshall to provide an extra warning.

The well-signposting didn't carry across to the aid stations, however. There were no signs in advance whatsoever, which led to a quick slamming on of brakes, and almost missing them (as well as not being able to discard old bottle in ahead of time etc) - just putting up a sign 500m ahead, would solve this issue.

Overall, the bike course is stunning. Beautiful scenery throughout, and the road surfaces aren't too bad at all (by UK standards). This changes about 5 miles from T2, however, where the course took us straight through the middle of a building site, and across some genuinely terrible roads - some of the worst I've ever encountered. Thankfully this was only brief (a couple of miles) and with two miles to go, we came to the sadistic, but spectacular, finale for the bike course - a challenging climb up Arthur's Seat, followed by an incredibly fast and fun descent to T2.

T2 was set up well, though the one down side was that you had to re-rack your transition bag yourself, though this wasn't advised in the Athlete's Guide beforehand (it may have been covered by the briefing, but it's another thing that I've never encountered before)

The run course is also really tough, but brilliant, with the wind playing a big part, and the hills having a starring role again. it was a three loop run, with the first 2 miles or so up a long drag, followed by a nice little out and back through a disused rail tunnel (complete with disco lights and cheesey music), a sharp climb to get back to the main road, then a long downhill drag back to the finish area. There were three aid stations per lap, which was perfect, but I would say that the first one could have been located slightly better - it was at about 2 miles in on the first lap, which felt like quite a long time. The other two were fairly close together, so I'd just spread them out a bit more.

Support on the run course (and, indeed, on the bike) was great, with lots of locals out to support, and a couple of pipers also made an appearance. I suffered with some somach cramps on the run, and slowed to a walk at one point, and straight away I had a few random people who were watching come running to check that there was nothing serious wrong.

I crossed the finish line, and made my way in to the marquee set up for the post-race recovery, where there were plenty of masseurs, and the streetwear bags all arrived and racked already, with plenty of marshalls to fetch them for you. There was plenty of food, with some very nice pies (albeit slightly odd choice of flavours - chicken and leek, and spinach and goats cheese) and lots of cake. I was a bit disappointed not to see some more savoury food, however, and they definitely missed a trick with no haggis (nor Irn Bru!)

So, overall, a brutal, but really enjoyable event. Obviously a few things to work on, but definitely a race that I will consider doing again.