The FFFT Marathon is a wonderful, small race in a beautiful part of the country. It's a fairly easy drive down from Sydney which some people did the morning of the race, but I made a weekend of it with some friends - there are shorter distances on offer (5km and 10km) if not all your friends are up for the long one.

The course is a lovely bush run with some spectacular scenery and as expected, lots and lots of hills. Consensus is that you should expect to run about 20 minutes slower than you would on a road marathon. The majority of the course is on packed dirt fire trails with a couple of fairly rocky sections - no technical trails though. It felt like there were loads of aid stations and watermelon was a definite winner.

The last climb up to the finish line is brutal. Overall, a fantastic run in the bush. Helps if the weather is nice and cool like it was in 2010

Excellent weather (though nobody could control that). The drink stations were excellent: the watermelon, & jelly beans were really good. (Maybe could do with some electrolyte fluid.)

SPECIAL THANKS GO TO THE GOOD GENTLEMAN AT THE 28K 'TURN AROUND' (WHO GAVE ME HIS 2X SALINE AMPOULES], & THE GOOD LADY AT THE 30K STOP WHO FOUND ME THE SALT IN THE BACK OF HER 4WD. I had been cramping badly between 25K & 30K, & the salt really did do the trick. From thinking I would not be able to finish, to being able to continue on & be able to overtake approximately eight people afterwards was really good. THANKS VERY MUCH.