On Sunday I raced Over the Hills which is a 12km multi-terrain race organised by the Avon Valley Runners. This undulating race through the Wiltshire countryside starts and finishes in Bradford-on-Avon and incorporates a mix of road, trails, grass, towpaths and even a river crossing!

The race starts at the Barton Farm Country Park and sets off along a footpath before quickly moving into some fields alongside the river Avon. This is where it started to get muddy and become a proper trail race. It hasn’t been too wet recently which meant it wasn’t as bad as previous years but the narrow paths meant it was single file. Once we reached Avoncliff we started a loop.

I don’t think I have ever done a race with as many gates as this one and they certainly kept things interesting with a lot of stop-start making it feel almost like an intervals session. Running in a group also meant if you were at the back of the group you had to work back up to the other runners after going through the gate.

We continued following the river until we reached Friary Wood and there was some quite nice running along the forest paths but also one of the particularly big hills. We ran through the wood and then across towards Ilford Manor.

Just before we reached the manor we approached a bridge but the marshals guided us down the side of the bridge and through the stream! It was about 15m across and got deeper the further in we went. Up the other side and then through the manor and we were almost home.

But first we had another long, gradual hill up the road (it is called Over the Hills). Once we reached the top this completed the loop and we re-joined the canal path by the fields from the start of the race. Rather than going back through the fields we enjoyed a smooth finish along the canal path which meant the pace could pick up before finishing back at the Barton Farm Country Park.

I enjoyed a good race with some strong local club runners from Bath and the surrounding areas. There was a group of about 7 of us for the first couple of miles before it slowly whittled down to 4 and then 3 of us by the time we go to the river crossing at about 4.5 miles. On the hill up from the river, me and one of the Bath runners pulled away. We had a good battle down the canal path towards the finish and I managed to break away and win by about 8 seconds.

The men’s podium was Jamie Williamson (Springburn Harriers) in 42:51, Harry Palmer (Team Bath Athletics Club) in 42:59 and James Reeder (Team Bath Athletics Club) in 43:57. Laura Backhouse (Unattached) won the women’s race in 53:34, Emily Griffiths (Team Bath Athletics Club) was second in 56:10 and Lizzie Atkins (Unattached) was third in 56:47. In total there were 339 finishers. Full results here.

The course was very well marked with plenty of marshals out and enough signs to ensure no-one got lost. The race raised money for Alzheimer’s Support who also set up a cake stall and kindly baked cakes for the top 3 men and women!

Well done to everyone who raced and thank you Avon Valley Runners for organising such a great event!