THE Swanage Half Marathon is reckoned to be one of the oldest country road races in the UK. It was started in the early 1990s and until 2005 has been known as the Swanage 12.

But for the past two years, the organisers have added the extra mile. "That extra mile which takes the course to Studland has added a sting in the tail," explained one runner who has made the event an annual pilgrimage.

He wasn't wrong. The Swanage Half is an absolute beast. After weeks and weeks of incessant rain, trust the weather to put his hat on big style. It was a boiler for a gruelling test through the beautiful, undulating Dorset countryside - tracing a tough route through the Purbecks on the north side of Nine Barrow Down, through the historic village of Corfe Castle and running back through the valley back to Swanage.

The race begins in the seaside town on the first day of its carnival. The beach was busy, the fairground rides were attracting good business, and we set out on the first seven miles of the run which were brutal.

The rising run out of Swanage was bad enough, and then there was no respite all the way to Corfe. I sat in with a group of Gurkhas from the Queen's Gurkha Signals who seemed oblivious to the heat and the hills, and ran a steady pace. "They're like machines," said a soldier from the Signals regiment based at Blandford who was was trying to keep pace. "They are so single-minded and they grind it out."

At Corfe I was 91st. Two of the Gurkhas broke from the pack of six of their fellow Nepalese. I tried to go with them, but I couldn't. For the final six miles it was a case of holding on. Miles nine to 11 were awful. My legs were drained, I felt I was overheating and I was taken water as often as I could. Fortunately, the hills were less frequent on the stretch back into Swanage, and the last two miles were downhill.

I finished in 1 hour 46 minutes, my slowest half of the year so far, but boy was I glad to finish.