This was the second running of the Hatters Half, which starts out at the Football ground in Stockport before heading through the estate roads down to the river. Much of the course is then spent running along the riverbank save for a quick loop of Northenden town centre before reversing the route.

It's a relatively flat course with only a short section at the start and end where there is a hill (that section is uphill on the way back!)

Couple of gotchas. 1) there are stretches of the riverbank which are difficult to overtake so if you think you're going to go quick, it's best to do your overtaking before you leave the road section. 2) despite Stockport being a hotbed of running (seriously, we have 5 parkruns and each village has at least a RunTogether group if not it's own affiliated club) the car drivers in the town mostly need banning from driving. Totally impatient and often unwilling to observe simple safety - it's something that marrs all the events occurring on Stockport's roads. There is one major road crossing which you go out on and return on and there was a concern for safety of the marshals due to the behaviour of some drivers. A shame that the minority behave like this.

That safety aspect aside it's a run worth looking into if you're new to the 13.1 distance.

The medal was fine and you also get a free ticket to see Stockport County play later in the month. Whether this is a benefit I guess depends on whether you like football!