Saturday 2nd July 2022 – Starts at 6:00am finishes evening
The Cotswold Way Relay is operated as 10 back-to-back races, starting each stage with a mass start at the expected arrival time of the 1st runner from the previous stage.
Running from Chipping Campden in the early morning, through to the arrival at Bath Abbey in the early evening, using the waymarked route of the Cotswold Way as our route, the relay is over 90% off-road, taking in many hills, woodlands, fields and tracks, all offering spectacular views of the countryside around (if ever a runner looked up from the path to take it in!). We split the route up into 10 varied stages, varying in ascent and length, to offer a differing flavour for each runner in the team. There are no marshals on the route, so route finding is all part of the spirit of the event. In recent years the Cotswold Way Authority has considerably improved the signage on route, as part of its upgrade to National Trail status, but there’s always one or two who speed past a sign to take time to appreciate some countryside off the main route. The race route follows the National Trail precisely, with the exception of the end of Stage 7 into Wotton-under-Edge, where we avoid the High St for safety reasons.
Many runners do a recce of their stage before the event, others fall in behind someone else. Most runners find that doing a recce through the beautiful Cotswolds in the company of other runners is all part of the great pleasure derived from this event. You will certainly observe more of the views during the recce than in the race.
Route Information
- Chipping Campden to Stanway House
- Stanway House to Cleeve Common
- Cleeve Common to Seven Springs
- Seven Springs to Cranham Corner
- Cranham Corner to Ebley Mill
- Ebley Mill to Dursley
- Dursley to Wotton-under-Edge
- Wotton-under-Edge to Old Sodbury
- Old Sodbury to Cold Ashton
- Cold Ashton to Bath Abbey
Logistics: Each team has 10 runners. Each runner will do a variable distance of between around 8-12 miles. Each leg is launched at a set time and the times are accumulated for the final team time. There is no baton or hand-off between legs. We will usually try to arrange a minibus that we share with Corsham. The idea is you drive to the finish of your leg (ideally car share) and the minibus takes you to the start of your leg. So you run to your car/transport! It can be hot, it will be hilly and it is always friendly fun.
Chippenham Harriers will have 4 teams of 10 runners.
All legs are unmarshalled so need to be recce’d.
Everyone is welcome to join in any recce runs whether you are planning to run on the day or not!!
Rohaise is in charge of organising us all and will let us know the steps as we go along, the first instruction being to register interest at (not as a FB comment please)
As well as the runners, we will need a team to man a water station on one of the legs and our amazing minibus crew too.
Race website: https://cotswoldwayrelay.co.uk/
Route information: https://cotswoldwayrelay.co.uk/route-information/