This event has taken place

Congratulations to everyone who took part. We're waiting on information about the next edition of this event.

Did you race? Let the community know how you got on and leave a review.

Add a review

Want to see all previous and future editions of this event, find them below.

Bath Running Festival event image

Bath Running Festival

University of Bath, Bath, Somerset

Recreation Ground, Johnstone Street, Bath, BA2 4, United Kingdom

Sun 25th July 2021

Organiser's Description

The Bath Running Festival is a celebration of off road running around the beautiful hills and valleys of Bath. All the runs take in breathtaking vies of Bath from Sham Castle and the open meadows about Bathampton. The longer the race, the more hills and fantastic views you will get to experience. The half marathon and marathon routes include sections along the Kennet & Avon Canal and through the historic Sydney Gardens.

All the races are designed to be fun and friendly. We put on glorious buffets of fresh fruit and tasty treats at the feed stations around the course and at the finish line. We have a great team of marshals to point you in the right direction and to cheer you round.

Races

  • 500m

    No Min Age

    £5.40

    CLOSED
  • 5km

    Min Age 12yrs

    £21.60

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED
  • 10 Km

    Min Age 16yrs

    £27.00

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED
  • Long Half Marathon

    Min Age 18

    £37.80

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED
  • Marathon

    Min Age 18 Yrs

    £48.60

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED

Book

  • 500m

    No Min Age

    £5.40

    CLOSED
  • 5km

    Min Age 12yrs

    £21.60

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED
  • 10 Km

    Min Age 16yrs

    £27.00

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED
  • Long Half Marathon

    Min Age 18

    £37.80

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED
  • Marathon

    Min Age 18 Yrs

    £48.60

    UK Athletics (UKA) save £2.00

    CLOSED
Location

University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY

The race is based at the University of Bath, in the amphitheatre, a lovely circular seating area cut into the grass by the lake. Follow the Relish Running signs to event registration and the start/finish point.

Getting There & Parking

Bath has excellent transport links. Bath Spa train station is on the main line between Bristol and London, Bristol Airport is about an hour away and the City is close to the M4 motorway. The best ways to get to campus from the city centre are by bus, cycling or walking.

There is free parking on Sundays.

What's Included

All our finishers receive a custom medal as well as a buffet of fresh fruit and other tasty treats.

Format

At present all our starts are individual, at 15-30 second intervals. Runners are generally seeded fastest to slowest to help spread people out across the course. The only exception is that a pair from the same household may run together on the basis that you run the whole event together and that you run in single file, not side by side.

All runners need to provide a predicted finish time to help us organise the start lists. This doesn't need to be too exact so don't worry if you think it might have changed come race day. If you wish to run as a household pair, or in the same wave of 30 when that is permitted, please select the same slightly obscure predicted finish time. Rather then selecting 50mins 0secs, select 50mins 1 sec for example.

We hope to shortly be able to offer waves of 30 runners starting every 10-15mins. These will be mixed ability waves. In time we hope to be able to get back to our usual wave size which is ~100 runners.

10K Info

The Bath Run Festival 10km follows the Skyline 10km route, but hopefully with much less mud! It is a two lap course which stays on the hill tops, offering great views of Bath from the iconic Sham Castle, as well as over to Little Solsbury Hill and Bannerdown Hill, where the other races will head. There is a great mix of terrain: open meadows, single-track way and winding forest trails. The course is rolling, with a few hills, but nothing too extreme.

Follow the red arrows and green distance markers for a two lap run around the hill tops over looking Bath. The course is gently rolling and comes in almost exactly on 10km.

Long Bath Half Info

Follow the orange distance markers to the 14.5 mile point (where the marathon U turn point is, and Half Marathon goes straight on), and then pick up the blue distance markers to the finish.

This course takes in 3 significant hills - some of toughest in Bath - where the bulk of the 1,215ft of climbing will take place: the original Roman Fosse Way (first purple section - straight up!), down into St Catherine's Valley and up a lane which locals assure me was once a road (second purple section), a little climb up to Little Solsbury Hill at 13km, before a final climb back up to Sham Castle at the end of the course. At the top of each of the hills, beautiful views await, each offering a unique aspect of Bath and the surrounding valleys. This generously long half marathon course, has a suitably lengthy amount of climbing, with an elevation gain of 675m (2215ft) over 26km.

Race Day Info

Feed Stations - The Very Long Half Marathon & Marathon

We are no longer offering bottled water at the drinks stations in an effort to reduce plastic waste. There will of course be biodegradable cups on offer for you at the drinks stations as well as water containers to refill your own water bottle at every drinks station.

We pride ourselves on offering some of the best feed stations you will find at any race! The Half Marathon will have 7 Feed Station passes and the Marathon will have 11 Feed Stations passed. On offer to quench your thirst and fuel your legs will be: water, isotonic drink, flat coke (marathon only), oranges, bananas, chocolate, jelly beans, flapjack, crisps and malt loaf. All this will be on offer at the end of all the events, with plenty of food available for everyone to have their fill!

We aim to make it possible to complete the course without carrying your hydration support or food on the course, for those experienced runners who are looking for a fast time. For the inexperienced long distance runners, we strongly recommend that you carry your own fluid and food as a back up and to keep you going between Feed Stations as these are very challenging courses. In extreme circumstances, we reserve the right to make it mandatory for all half marathon and marathon competitors to carry 500ml of water with them.

Cut Offs

There is a 3hrs cut off for the first 14.5 miles of the Marathon. This will be strictly enforced with no exceptions. If you do not make the cut off you will be asked to head up to the University to complete the Very Long Half Marathon course.

Lap Counting

Marathon Runners must grab a band at the Feed Station on the Canal. This is to ensure that all marathon runners complete the full distance. The finish line team will be checking all marathon runners so make sure you take a band at the aid station.

Health & Safety

Please read the Safety Advisory Notes below. Please note that we are not closing any roads for this event. Road crossings are marshalled and we recommend you follow their instructions - they do not have the power to stop traffic. The final decision to cross a road is the athlete's responsibility. We are expecting it to be hot again but please don't turn the event into a duathlon by jumping into the river or canal to cool off!

This event is not suitable for canicross.

There are no hidden booking or processing fees. Please note prices are £2 extra for on the day registrations.

Further event Information...coming two weeks from race day

Provisional Schedule

Start Process: The schedule is based on 1 runner starting every 30 seconds (or groups of 30 every 15mins) as was established for our first covid secure events in Aug 2020. We hope races will start to look more like they used to, with more regular start times and slightly larger groups. As normality returns we will update this provisional schedule as changes to the frequency of starters will likely have a knock on effect to the race start time schedule.

Start Times: Please note these are very provisional timings, we may need to change these in either direction. We hope by July 2021 it will be possible to start more runners together and therefore all start times may be before 12:00. For now, please allow a healthy margin either side of the times noted below when making plans for the rest of your day. Thank you

OTD = On The Day registrations? Usually only wave for each distance is open on the day. This will be confirmed on the final schedule which will be published on the Tuesday or Wednesday of event week on the Event Info page.

There is no on the day prize giving. Prize winners will be contacted the week of the race by email.

Marathon Info

Follow the orange distance markers for this (nearly) two lap course.

The Bath Run Festival Marathon Route is (almost) two laps of the Half Marathon Route, but we thought we would spare you doing the climb up to Sham Castle for a second time (and it would make the route 50km, which is a 'long' course, even for us!).

The Bath Marathon is a very hilly affair indeed. Runners follow the half marathon course as described above, but make a U turn after 14.5miles on the Kennet & Avon Canal, to tackle Bannerdown and Little Solsbury hills for a second time, before completing this epic run up North Road after 38 hilly kms. This accurate off road marathon course has 3,350ft (over 1,000m!) of climbing.

Event Video

Reviews

Verified Purchase

A 'verified' purchase review means that we've verified that the person writing the review purchased their entry to this race on findarace.com.

  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

5.0

2 reviews

HP
helen

·4 years ago

Amazing. Bath running festival was the toughest marathon and challenge I’ve done. It was picturesque, challenging, rewarding. The marshals were just fantastic! They really got me round and through. Fabulous but not for the faint hearted.
RJ
Ritesh

·4 years ago

Fantastically organised. It was fantastically organised

Who's In

See who else did this event

Susan Crowther

TANVEER QURESHI

Will Adams

Location

University of Bath, Bath, Somerset

More from Relish Running races

You might like

Cookie settings

Cookies are small text files that a website stores on a user's device, such as a computer or a smartphone. When a user visits a website, a cookie may be set to track information such as the user's preferences, login information, or items in a shopping cart. Cookies are not harmful and are typically deleted when a user clears their browser cache or the cookie expires.

Strictly necessary cookies are a type of cookie that is essential for a website to function properly. These cookies are necessary to provide services requested by the user, such as login authentication, shopping cart functionality, and other similar features.

Strictly necessary cookies do not require the user's consent, as they are essential for the proper functioning of the website.

Learn more about our Strictly necessary cookies

Tracking and targeting cookies are a type of cookie used by websites to collect information about a user's browsing behaviour across multiple websites. These cookies are often used for advertising purposes and can track the user's interests and some personal information.

Targeting cookies are used to display personalised advertisements to the user based on their browsing history, search history, and other online activity.

Learn more about our Tracking and targeting cookies