2017 was my 4th year of running the Brass Monkey and my 4th PB.

Some people hate the course, claiming it's flat and boring, but I've always enjoyed the flat, fast course.

The course itself is not quite out and back (it splits for a loop after around 4 miles so is a lolipop shape), and is on often single track country roads, between small villages on the outskirts of York. I like the mix of the quiet country roads and then great local support through the villages.

It is a race aimed at faster runners. Even with my PB now just under 2.13, I'm in the last 10% of the field and the cut off is 2.45, and the start line is full of lithe runners in their club vests and short shorts despite it being January.

In previous years, the weather has been a problem. For two years it was very icy, so much so that people were having to walk black ice sections, but the race organisers now hire a gritter to solve that problem.

The other issue to note is that you need to be committed to even enter - it opens at 6am on a Saturday in the autumn and last year I had over 1,000 people in the queue before me at 6.02am.

It is definitely a race I'd do again, especially given the paucity of half marathons at that time of year.