This course will be the same as the full marathon, and then the 10.3km course, making it 52.5km.

There are 62 marshals on the course and lots of signage. The general description for the half marathon course is:

• Starts at Hunter Valley Gardens oval and runs approx 300m run around the oval, to allow the field to spread out before the Garden entrance gate. Runners exit the gardens via a side gate through the nursery and left into the Talwanta Vineyard heading up towards Thompsons Rd.
• Marathon, Half Marathon and 10km runners turn right along Thompsons Road about 400m and then left into Thompsons Lane that leads to The Golden Door (part of Cypress Lakes) and then in another 200m, right into the back of Audrey Wilkinson's Winery.
• All runners follow the road all the way through the property (past the warehouse) and to the top and turn left and up to the Cellar Door. Then back and out the front gate onto Debeyers Road.
• Cross to the RHS of the road, then left along Debeyers until the intersection with McDonalds Rd. At this point marathon and half marathon runners cross McDonalds Rd and continue along Debeyers Rd for another 5km and then return. This section is quite flat with a few rolling hills.
• On returning to McDonalds Rd marathon and half marathon runners will cross again and turn right to follow the same course as the 10km runners along the bike track all the way to Pokolbin Estate and then cross McDonalds Road again and near Cypress Lakes and back onto the bike track until Brokenwood and McGuigans and all the way through until it joins with the back car park of Hunter Valley Gardens.
• Through the top car park, then keep left along the small top carpark and zig zag around a garden and then around the big top car park and left into the path past the Aqua Golf and then follow the path around the outside of the car park beside the entrance to Hunter Valley Gardens and follow the markers to return to the oval. A chute will direct you to the finish area.
• Marathon runners will enter a chute and run past the start line and do one more lap.
• The additional 10.3km of this event will be achieved by completing the 10km course after completing the full marathon. This will mean runners get to see the start and finish area three times, for some extra encouragement.

Please note that some parts of the course are not normally open to the public and we would ask you if training around the course not to go onto property without permission.

Create Maps or find more routes in Cessnock from millions at MapMyRun

Create Maps or find more routes in Cessnock from millions at MapMyRun