Cotswold Way Relay 2024

The 2024 Cotswold Way Relay will never be forgotten… although some may wish to forget it!

Being the first weekend of July, the chance of fine weather is high – the weekend before Glastonbury was blessed – but as the forecast typically changed daily the nearer Saturday 6th July approached, the chance of rain was even. Alas, it was a wet night and rained through the morning, at times quite heavy!

Tewkesbury Running Club entered two teams as per normal. This giving the planning a much friendlier feel with car sharing and calming of nerves. But with a fixture clash of the Birmingham 1/2m and Evesham 10km, the club struggled to assemble the 20+ runners to fill the teams. Ultimately, we decided to drop stage No10 altogether after suffering another withdrawal. Ironically, Stage No10 had by far the best weather with a warm blue sky and not a puddle in sight (for most people, the 5pm start time was the sight of the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Germany).

Stage No1: An early alarm call to travel to Chipping Campden was for debutant Owen Grant and second-timer Cristian Orea. What would normally have been a delightful North Cotswolds morning with a little morning mist, was quite an alarming miserable wet morning. Quite a shock for Cristian who relishes in running in temperatures >20 degrees. Cristian still embraced the challenge left Chipping Campden with the other 106 team runners. Their first famous Cotswolds landmark was passed in the shape of Dover’s Hill – made famous by the Olimpick Games which have taken place there since 1612. While most runners headed towards Broadway Tower, the 18th century folly, Owen had already gone wild and added some extra milage! The club’s new marathon record holder was on the trial of a former GF5 winner and there wasn’t a great deal of stopping to read signposts or compasses. Without going into too much detail, Owen ran an impressive 17-mile loop back to the start with over 2,000 feet of climbing. Meanwhile, Cristian et al reached the two quaint Cotswold villages of Stanton and Stanway. Stanway House, the impressive Jacobean manor house, once owned by Tewkesbury Abbey marked the end of the stage and Cristian recorded an official time of 1 hr 41 minutes.

Stage No2: Losing club chairman Nigel to covid a few days before the event was tough news. However, next debutant, Antonio De Abreu was paired with replacement, cyclist Sophie Fennell. The stage, although wet, is epic; once ascended Stanway hill then down past the remains of Hailes Abbey, a trek along Winchcombe High Street before passing Sudeley Castle. Resisting the opportunity to pay their respects to the former Queen Catherine Parr (thoroughly recommend a visit to Sudeley Castle), the brave runners were soon into one of the most demanding longer climbs of the day to Belas Knap. As the stage panned-out, Sophie managed a near 10-miute gap ahead of Antonio. He found the conditions tough and had to dig deep up the incline toward the top of Cleeve hill golf club.

Stage No3: The popular shorter stage is now a little longer due to the Air Ballon excavations. Cleeve hill was under a cloud, and it was miserable weather. Tracing the escarpment above Cheltenham’s Prestbury Park, debutant Karen Harrington and Noel Green were ready for the rocky terrain past the old Cotswold quarry and the lung-busting climb up from Dowdeswell reservoir. Noel finished just before Karen in good times over the longer course that some of the front-end runners compared to an off-road 1/2m.

Stage No4: Formerly the longest stage on paper, but No3 took some of the distance away. With a 10:40 start, the course was covered in puddles and slippery mud. Alec and Elaine Vincent opted to run the stage with the aim to complete all the stages in the near future. With the distance now ‘just’ under 11 miles, Alec logged the club’s highest ‘placing’ of the day with a 1:28 hr run. Elaine followed through the puddles, hanging vegetation and loose stones in 2:03 and they both appeared much happier post-run!

Stage No5: Having just three or four climbs of note, this is another pleasant tour over parts of the Cotswolds escarpment. Historically, this is known as the downhill stage as there is considerably more descending before a delightful canal path finish in Stroud. Needless to say, it is a desirable stage. Our next debutant, Sian Delvin was paired with Jane Sauer (who needed to pull-out ahead of the 11:50hr start). Running down through Painswick High Street, taking in the panoramic views from Haresfield Beacon and tracing through ancient woodland dating back to 1297, Sian passed the timing team in 1:46 hr.

Stage No6: Starting from the Stroud valley, the runners on No6 have 3 significant climbs to tackle; the first to Selsley Common is in full view from the starting point and is a daunting sight! With the gun sounding at 1pm, the ambient temperature was increasing and there were breaks in the weather but dark purple clouds forming. This stage takes the runners through some glorious miles of wooded shade. In contrast, the final few meters involve trekking the streets of Dursley. Club captain Roy Northcott, a proud ‘all-stage’ runner set-off with Stuart Holyoak. Both runners a little shy of race fitness, they sportingly stepped in to run for the teams. Stu came in just ahead of Roy and were both set-up for an afternoon of football.

Stage No7: The shortest stage along to Wotton-under-Edge starts with a ‘hand-brake start’, No7’s climb up to Stinchcombe hill is relentless. Once the hill is conquered, it’s a fast dash along the escarpment with breath-taking views across the Severn Valley towards the Forest of Dean, a few technical twists and turns and then a final climb before a swift descent down to Wotton. This was to be a father and daughter stage for the Hallett’s but Ellen succumbed to a hip niggle just a few days before. Dean Hodges answered the SOS to fill-in and the stage witnessed another two debutants! 7.3 miles is a mild distance, but off-road on the Cotswolds with standing water and greasy mud lurking makes it anything but mild. The new pairing finished back in Wotton in respectable times of 1:20 and 1:25 for Peter.

Stage No8: Normally under hot afternoon sun, it’s regarded as the toughest stage – it is a stage that can breakdown runners of any ability. No8 starts with a one km jog alongside a stream before ascending hands and knees style up onto the Cotswolds hills. The 2:45pm start time saw Andrew Gillett and Jon Mansfield trying to not look afraid. Jon had just bounced back from injury after bouncing down the stairs and cracking a rib. Andrew contrastingly is enjoying a good year with his first marathon and recently a tough off-road marathon was…ready. With just a little shower to contend with, the sun had come out by the end, 12 miles later. Jon finished in 1:41 with Andrew following in 1:58hr.

Stage No9: Setting off from Old Sodbury, as the crow flies, Bath isn’t that far away but the Cotswold Way is never about the shortest A-B route, it’s a purposely designed path along the Cotswold escarpment put in place in the 1950’s by keen ramblers. Designed in a way to incorporate the splendid views and points of interest. Both Tony Foy and Natalie Jenks had a recce and knew what to expect. Welcoming Natelie back into TRC, the focused cyclist would be looking to not only race against Tony but also look to gain a course PB as she had previously raced Stage No9. The runners were treated to beautiful blue skies but still had slippiness underfoot. Coming into the finish, both runners were finishing with a burst of speed. Natelie took the club’s only podium with 3rd female in 1:17 and Tony in 1:22hr.

Thanks to all involved – not just for running but also sorting your own transport out and arranging practice runs. A second thanks to all who spectated and supported both with transport and cheering, photographs and good luck messages.

The overall team times were close with the Kylie Kangaroos recording 18:05 hours and Pedro Ponies 18:26 hours. The best result is that everyone made it safely home 😊