This was my second year competing at the Gut Buster, and I was eager to put in a good performance, having had a bit of a shocker in 2015; where I set out too hard, and my muscles weren't quite ready for it after a period of indulgence.

The race build up was in the usual MST relaxed style, with a couple of slight changes from last year.

Firstly, car parking was via a park and ride system, which worked really well; certainly better than the free for all on narrow country roads by the farm where the race starts and ends.

Secondly, rather than starting on the road next to the farm, we went the reverse way through the finish gantry and in to the mud straight away. This made for a tricky start, and resulted in the course being about quarter of a mile long.

The route is deceptively tough; not as much elevation gain as the other longer distance MST event (the Mapledurham 10), but where Mapledurham is largely on compacted trails, a significant portion of this route is straight through the middle of, or around the edges of, farming fields. This makes it incredibly tough on your legs, especially in soft conditions as we had this year. The final two miles were torture in particular - but I absolutely loved it!

The course is pretty well marked and marshalled, but as there are two distances running at the same time, there are a couple of points where the course splits. I found these to be well sign posted, but I know a couple of people did fall foul and take the wrong route.

This will definitely continue to be a race that forms part of my race calendar - not least because of the mince pies and mulled wine at the finish line! A second place finish this year helped too :)