Cotswold Way Relays – Chippenham Harriers

Saturday 1st July 2023

103 miles, 10 Stages, Off-road through the Cotswolds

Chipping Campden to Bath

The Cotswold Way Relay is operated as 10 back-to-back race legs, where each stage begins with a mass start, base on the expected arrival time of the 1st runner from the previous stage. This may be altered some years. Teams compete in the relay to achieve the quickest combined time from the 10 individual relay legs. Teams are compiled and submitted to the organisers by the respective clubs or team organisers.

Full details can be found on the official website here.

The 2023 rules can be found here

Route information can be found here (Note that Maps of each leg can be found by clicking on the numbers in the entire route map shown at the linked page).

You can enter as a fully paid club member by emailing the club captains at: 

NOTE: maprun6 is not used this year

Description

Running from Chipping Campden in the early morning, all the way 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!). The route is split up into 10 varied stages, varying in ascent and length, to offer a differing flavour for each runner in the team. There are no designated  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 various recces of 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.

The Chippenham Harriers will apply for as many teams as we feel we can fill, but this has been limited in some years to 3 teams. We also attempt to operate a mini-bus (shared with Corsham) to ferry bodies to the starts of the legs (running back to your vehicle at the end of your leg).

Relay Legs

  1. Chipping Campden to Stanway House
  2. Stanway House to Cleeve Common
  3. Cleeve Common to Seven Springs
  4. Seven Springs to Cranham Corner
  5. Cranham Corner to Ebley Mill
  6. Ebley Mill to Dursley
  7. Dursley to Wotton-under-Edge
  8. Wotton-under-Edge to Old Sodbury
  9. Old Sodbury to Cold Ashton
  10. Cold Ashton to Bath Royal Ave. (Victoria Park)

Note: There have been a few changes to the legs. Please check your leg, rather than assume it is the same as previous years.

Timing

This year we are not using the Maprun system which we first used two years ago to enable socially distanced starting.  Instead we are reverting to pre-covid use of team race numbers and traditional manual race timing.

General safety

In previous years temperatures have reached 30 degrees during the race and there were several runners who collapsed and even hospitalised. In spite of strong advice there are still some runners, particularly at the front of the race, who run without water. This year again, it will be mandatory to carry a race water bottle or bladder. There will be water stations at halfway and at the end of each leg, which will dispense from large containers. There will be no disposable bottles handed out enroute or at the end.

A runner who is witnessed by two members of the event team to finish without a water container and no persuasive excuse will be awarded a cut off time penalty as per rule 23.

Recce

We recommend that runners do a recce of their stage before the event. Doing a recce is very enjoyable as well as reducing the risk that you will take a wrong turn on race day.

Marshalls/Water Stations Support

Every team entered will provide at least one volunteer. There are individual roles such as marshalling, or for clubs with three teams, group roles such as a water station or a road crossing.  As a larger club we usually operate a water station and marshal point on a dangerous road crossing.

The event also has individual volunteer role of Tail runner. Tail runners will get credited with a cut off finish time towards King or Queen of the Cotswold Plaque

Team Captains

Each year we choose captains for each our teams. These will be advertised once we know how many teams are available.

Injured

Please remember to speak to your team captain. Please note the team captain reserves the right to swap runners between teams if they feel it is necessary. Please recce your route, at the weekend or evenings prior to the relay. You can get lost! Please contact your team captain if you are injured or uncertain about your route.

Event merchandise

This year’s specially designed event T shirt is here now in the right size and fit, posted directly to you (£15 plus P&P) online in the event shop see website link.
 
The shop has a link to a wide range or Cotswold Way association gifts maps prints and other souvenirs. All proceeds to the trail charity. Good value please support them.

There will be winning team prizes however these will be distributed after the event. Due to Covid we are not planning a post-race gathering or prize giving.