Photo: SUPPLIED
The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow, if I can...
So says Bilbo Baggins as he leaves his hobbit home in Lord of the Rings.
And now there is a new quest to be undertaken in Hobbiton. One race to rule them all: The Middle-earth Halfling Marathon.
About 1500 Lord of the Rings fans from all over the world are converging on the Waikato town of Matamata on Saturday to run in the unique race.
It is the third year of the event, which has sold out, with participants running through the rolling hills of Hobbiton Village where Peter Jackson shot the opening scenes of the famous films.
Many runners will be dressed in costume, flying for the finish line as if the black riders were at their heels.
Luke Jenkins was one such fan, having travelled long distances to be here.
Photo: SUPPLIED
"I've really always wanted to do this trip. New Zealand has been my dream vacation since I was 10, 11 years old. So I was on Instagram, TikTok or something and I saw this race occurring. I thought, 'this is awesome'. This is when I go."
1500 LOTR fans run in 3rd annual Middle Earth Halfling Marathon
Jenkins was a self-proclaimed "big old nerd" for Tolkien. He loved Lord of the Rings so much he travelled 40 hours from Boston, Massachussetts.
He would not be dressing up for the race, but said he naturally has some halfling characteristics.
"Most people would say I look like a hobbit. But I think like most kids, Aragorn was my favourite. Faramir is a great one too, even though they did him a little dirty in the movies."
Jenkins had run half marathons before, but was looking forward to the laid-back style in Matamata.
Photo: SUPPLIED
The race passes through iconic Rings landmarks like Gandalf's Cutting, the Sackville Orchard, Bag End and Bagshot row.
Valerie Ceallaigh had travelled from Ireland for the race with partner Dave.
They already had a holiday down under in mind, and then the stars aligned when she saw an ad for the race.
"I immediately texted Dave and was like 'red alert, stop everything, we need to go to this race!'"
The Galway couple were leaning into the occasion.
"We're both dressing up as hobbits. Dave's mum is an incredible seamstress, so when she got wind of the fact that we needed costumes, she took the sewing machine and fashioned him the most incredible hobbit costume. It's so great, and he's been growing his hair out, which is naturally curly as well, for the race. So we're going to hopefully look as hobbity as possible.
Photo: SUPPLIED
Hobbits were famous for their funky feet, but the couple would be wearing shoes, while racing at least.
"Unfortunately we're not able to run barefoot, I think it's health and safety risk, so we'll still have our fancy runners on. But the second the race is off, those shoes are coming off and we're going full hobbit mode."
Entry is $249 for the Halfling Marathon, and $199 for the "Eleventy First" 11.1 kilometre race.
Stephanie Maggs. Photo: SUPPLIED
Included with the race is entry to the Hobbiton movie set, a Hobbit Southfarthing drink at The Green Dragon Inn, a branded Stein with a finish line drink and a Middle-earth Halfling Marathon Finishers medal.
Valerie said they had opted for the shorter option.
"We could do the half marathon, but we'd have way more fun doing the 11.1. So although we're signed up for the run, we're going to be taking it really handy and stopping for lots of photo ops. And yeah, just trying to like have as much craic as possible."
Stephanie Maggs and her husband had travelled from Ontario, Canada. Like Valerie, she would not be in any hurry out on the course.
"I have absolutely no time limit in mind, if it's a three hour half that is totally fine with me. This is not the type of race that you want to do a personal best on. When I see orks or elves or wizards or fellow hobbits running, I will definitely be taking pictures."
And while most marathon runners were known to wear headphones pumping with motivational music, Maggs was taking a slightly different approach.
"I have three hours of Lord of the Rings soundtrack music on my phone and I plan on just playing it out loud so everyone can enjoy the wonderful music."