It was the first year I participated in this race and I cannot praise it enough. It is incredible value for money and the pre-race updates and briefings were great. My first impression of arriving to the race site was the number of Marshall’s guiding participants to HQ/the start line. They were all incredibly friendly and helpful. The course itself is stunning with scenic views and a really nice change from the usual 10k. It is undulating and possibly the hardest technical course I have run (I don’t think all the recent rain helped) but don’t let that put you off in the slightest. The route is challenging yes, but the views are worth it. You can run it in road or trail shoes, but highly recommend running it in trail (especially after a lot of rain). The route is well marshalled (quite possibly one of the best marshalled routes I’ve ran). They were all full of enthusiasm and made a point of calling out the names of runners as they went past. The route is very well signposted and I really enjoyed the silly signs as I went around. The finishers bag was brilliant. I really loved the candy apple and bottle of beer. Every single volunteer we interacted with today was brilliant. I honestly can’t find a single thing about this race I didn’t like. I can’t recommend it enough and only wish I had run it before.