What a blast! Our team of runners, walkers and supporters had an amazing time at the inaugural Middle-Earth Halfling Marathon™ at Hobbiton™ Movie Set last weekend. Hamilton Airport is a proud sponsor of this event.
As you will see from the photos, it's a stunning course and the team at Hobbiton™ Movie Set did a wonderful job of staging this unique and magical event.
Some 1,000-plus runners and walkers took to the course through farmland and around the magical sites and scenes made famous in the epic Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies. Set to be an annual Waikato event, the Halfling is absolutely one to put on your running/walking calendar.
It was the first Waikato event to take place that received funding from the Thermal Explorer Regional Events Fund, which is part of the tourism recovery package set up by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. The fund, administered by HWT, aims to support new and existing events to become iconic or anchor events attracting visitors to the regions of Waikato, Rotorua, Taupō and Ruapehu.
** June 2022 update ** Registrations for the 2023 event on Sunday, 25 March are now open! Click here to register.