If you prefer your Half Marathons farmyard fresh, with rolling English countryside to keep your mind (and body) amused instead of dull suburban roads, and if you like to have room to run, then you should have been at Horton in the South Gloucestershire Cotswolds on the 20^th of March for the inaugural Hogweed Hilly Half Marathon.

Hosted by the Hogweed Trotters, this first attempt at staging a Half marathon appeared to be flawless. The race pack included personalised baggage ticket, a map with some pictures of what we might expect to see during the race and a course profile which left the runner in no doubt about the hills that lay ahead.

The course is testing and not for the faint-hearted but if you enjoy going up and down (and in Hogweed country what goes up most certainly does go down in equal measure) then it’s worth a try. The first testing climb comes in the second mile, after which the course undulates until miles 7 to 9 when Kilcott has to be overcome. Kilcott is a hill that never seems to end - it just goes on and on and on - with a nice dogleg in the middle to tease you into thinking that you’re approaching the summit when in fact you still have ½ mile more to climb. But from there the final 4 miles are almost all downhill and if the road surface is dry you can make up some time and some places. There’s one more climb in the 12^th mile before a last long downhill all the way to the finish.

101 runners enjoyed the race, which was blessed with lovely running weather. The marshals were friendly and supportive throughout, the route well marked, and with 4 drink stations en route we had enough to drink.

There were plenty of prizes (certificate, trophy and bottle of wine) for the leading runners, some spot prizes and a special trophy (and wine and certificate!!) for the 100^th finisher. The goody bag included some useful gel and powder and best of all a Hogweed Hilly Half ski hat, and there were plenty of rolls, sandwiches and cakes available to buy before and after the event.

As you can see there were lots of Forumites there, taking part and officiating (you'd be amazed how many Hogweeds are RW Forumites!!).

Put it in your diary for 19^th March 2006. And get your entry in early, you don’t want to be disappointed.