CLC Striders race report - Cotswold Way relay 2025
Cotswold Way Relay 2025
On the 5th July, The Cotswold Way Relay, now in its 33rd year, welcomed teams of runners to race from Chipping Campden to Bath Abbey. The route is divided into ten legs and each team comprises ten runners. Competition-wise, there are team prizes for Open, Women, Veterans and Mixed teams.
On the day the weather was favourable, warm and humid from midday onwards but with cooler conditions for the early starters.
Leg 1 started in Chipping Campden. Emma Abbey, Sophie Longmore and Colin Upton were the first Striders hitting the trail at 7am, early enough in the morning for Emma to instantly regret shouting ahead to a runner taking the wrong turn – just how many locals did she wake?
The leg ended at Stanway House and from there Nicola Weager, Philip Abbey and Jamie Hartnoll took up the baton to battle onwards to the golf club house on Cleeve Hill. In doing so, completing Leg 2 – 11.8 miles and 1722ft of elevation.
Leg 3 – more hills and trails carried Scarlett Bell, Heather Ip and Liam Richardson 10.9 miles and 1610ft up and down to Hartley Lane and Leckhampton Hill.
The schedule had it that Leg 4 set out at 10.30am, still cool enough, but warming up. This leg saw Ellie Pudifoot, Julia Rose and Paul Lockyer compete as Striders, no small task, with 12.4 miles and 1698ft of elevation – stats-wise, the toughest leg, and finishing in Painswick. Ellie ran brilliantly, and came 2nd lady overall for the Leg, finishing in just 1:39:14.
Continuing onwards to Ebley Mill in Stroud, Fiona Brady-Miller, Nikki Smith and Rich Elsworthy took on Leg 5. The Leg saw another stunning performance for the Striders from Rich who was 2nd overall in a time of 1:00:24 for his 9.3 miles and 1374ft of elevation.
With the race now in the Stroud Valleys, Laura Elsworthy, Gavin Jerman and Tom Fletcher battled on to Dursley – 8.7 miles and 1341ft of elevation – to complete Leg 6.
Sarah Bergdhal, Jo Thomson and Sam Templeton continued the charge to Wotton-Under-Edge and so Leg 7 was done and dusted – a mere 7.5 miles and 1102ft of elevation.
Karlien Heyrman put in a mighty solid performance on Leg 8, finishing 3rd female overall in 1:45:03, completing the 12.1 miles and 1325ft of elevation along with Striders Si Thomson and Rob Hyams, finishing in Old Sodbury.
Leg 9 to Cold Ashton – happily for runners Gary Farquharson, Helen Howes and Ed Collier there was less climbing involved – just 787ft – but still a fair distance of 9.3 miles. Gary exhausted himself by having to re-tie his shoe laces, dropping three places and then fighting back to regain his position. The final leg saw the descent into Bath. The honour of that glory stage going to Kate Telford, James Babbage and Ed Thompson, who gratefully received the applause of the congregation at Bath Abbey.
Kate rued a mis-turn downhill and the agony of having to turnaround, face an additional climb and losing a few places. Without this error she would have finished in the top 3 women. “Congratulations, you were the true second lady,” said a sporting competitor who gained from the mistake. Just 10 minutes later, Kate was recovering and ‘hydrating’ in the local Wetherspoons with a pint of Madri, with not a care in the world!
One hundred teams completed the race, with the CLC Hurricanes finishing 17th in the Open category (39th team overall), CLC Storm Clouds finished 6th (50th overall) in the Women’s category, and the CLC Thunderclaps 20th (68th overall) in the Mixed team category.
The performances of Scarlett, Rich and Ellie put them into the top ten fastest times for their respective legs (new routes since 2024).
Everyone loves the CWR: beautiful countryside, super-friendly atmosphere, team spirit and runners of all abilities. Run hard or just aim to finish your leg before the generous cut-off time. If you have never taken part then give it a go next year!
Huge thanks to Liza Bradshaw for all her organisational efforts and to the Striders for staffing the aid station on Leg 4.