I was incredibly nervous about this one, having never done a race of this format before. The website says "This new creative concept takes you on a journey around some of the best trails in Sheffield, linking up the nicest parkland and green spaces. The unique format breaks the route down into stages. With each stage being raced, and competitors receiving results for each stage as well as the combined overall result."

You have an electronic dibber and you dib in to each stage and out at the end. The marshals make sure you don't forget, and it's really good fun. I'd definitely recommend this race for newby trail runners. Even though it's incredibly hilly, it's very well marked and marshalled and with loads of people running, chances of getting lost are very slim (which was my main worry).

Pros (in no order)

• A great format, something a bit different;
• Fabulous marshal support at each stage and a few along the route;
• Free photos (although I haven't seen them yet);
• Great race village;
• Brilliant medal;
• A really nice, supportive atmosphere;
• Free crisps at the end. Yeah.  Free beer too, but I didn't have time to get one;

Cons (again in no order)

• If you don't like hills, this is not for you. It's really really hilly;
• Could have done with an extra feed station somewhere. Two on a long route like this didn't seem enough, and the last one seemed very near the end;
• More loos at the start would have been great.  The queues were huge. A bit of clearer signage for the urinals would probably help with that.

And a final FYI, I arrived at 7:45am for an early wave start and dad had to drop me off because we couldn’t park. So be warned if you’re in a later start to leave time to find somewhere to park.

All in all, a corker of a race.  Loved it!