This year sees the first ever OutdoorsMagic Trail Race as part of a collaboration with a legendary British running brand.

On 5 May (that’s the early May bank holiday weekend) our sister site OutdoorsMagic be putting on two races including one half marathon and one full marathon, and we’re very pleased to announce that they’ll both be staged within the beautiful Forest of Dean on the border between England and Wales.

Expect deep woodland for almost the entire route on each race, as well as technical single tracks and a fair amount of ascent and descent.

If you’re doing the full marathon, don’t think it will be just be two laps of the half marathon route. Instead, it follows the majority of the short course then breaks into deeper territory within the forest.

Best of all, the OutdoorsMagic Trail Race is part of a big weekend festival of running and outdoor events all hosted by the Original Mountain Marathon (the OMM).

The weekend will feature our trail race, a navigation event, plus the classic OMM Lite running and mountain biking challenges. At the festival basecamp there’ll be a bar, cafe, outdoor gear shop, skills workshops and free camping for anyone signed up for one of the races (£10 for anyone just along for the craic).

The Outdoors Magic Trail Race will be open for 300 entries and the overall weekend should see as many as 1000 people in attendance.

Both the full marathon and half will start and finish at the basecamp so competitors can expect a crowd to cheer them off and in. Each route will be fully flagged and marshalled with water points along the way, and competitors will be given a race tag which will accurately record their time.

There’ll be some free hot grub at the finish line as well to have everyone revitalised for the fun evening ahead.

You can view the trail race routes online already, and nearer to the race you’ll be able to download them on GPX. The specific basecamp location is just outside Coleford at the Speech House Hotel.

Race entry for the the Full Marathon is £40 and the Half is £30. Head to the OMM site to sign up before the race entries run out.