One of the most beautiful half marathons I’ve ever run. Almost the entire route follows the coastline, with stunning views of the bay and pohutukawa trees.
But the course has a catch. After the relaxed, flat sections along the waterfront, the route enters a regional park, and a solid hill climb begins. Heaps of runners drop to a walk here. Honestly, this section makes you work up a serious sweat and absolutely trashes your leg muscles. For me, at least, running the second half of the course after the downhill was way harder.
As a reward, you get a gorgeous view of the bay and the surrounding area from the top of the hill. To remember the race, I snapped a photo of some very confused sheep trying to figure out why so many people were trampling their grass.
