This was my first ever trail half and I had a fantastic experience. It was easy (and cheap!) to sign up and register, the directions were very clear and the course was clearly very sensitively organised and planned to make the most of the beautiful scenery whilst allowing walkers and cyclists plenty of room to enjoy their day too. At no point did I have any doubt about where I was going, and there wasn't too many people but enough that I was never totally alone. The course was just the right amount of challenging and whilst I'm told the hills were undulating, it didn't feel that way to me!!
At around the halfway mark I had my first ever experience of fig rolls (?!) and I was kept going for the rest of the race by the thought of having some more, which unfortunately had all run out by the time I got back to the aid station. I think perhaps one more along the course would have been better, but that's a very minor gripe.
The only other thing I'd say is that there was a long delay before the start waiting for the last bus to arrive in the cold - a necessary difficulty with the start line being two miles away from the parking and centre. This wasn't a major problem but there were lots of people and I couldn't really hear the instructions!
Overall a brilliant experience. Course 5/5, organising 4/5, weather 3/5!! and 5/5 for the t-shirt, medal and bag at the end - one of my favourites so far!