Cotswold Way Relay 2021
103 miles, 10 Stages, Off-road through the Cotswolds
Chipping Campden to Bath
The confirmed race date is: Saturday 3 July 2021 subject to EA Covid regulations
Race entry closed
Race organisation will be Covid-19 safe
Cotswold Way Relay 2021
Welcome to the organiser’s pages for the Cotswold Way Relay
On these pages you will find all the information required to get a team in place for the event. Information will be increased and updated towards race day.
THE EVENT
The Cotswold Way Relay is now in its 31st year. It works as 10 back-to-back races, with each stage having a mass start at the expected arrival time of the 1st runner from the previous stage. This year however, to meet Covid-19 safety standards, the timing, start and finish procedures will be different.
Timing and athlete identification will be done using the ‘Maprun6’ App and therefore every runner will need a smart phone. The start and finish locations as well as a couple of strategic checkpoints will be visible on the phone and timing will start automatically when any runner enters the start location on race day. Runners will be started in groups of 10 at 30 second intervals. When they run through the finish checkpoint the app will stop the clock and upload the trace which will give name team time and a track of route taken.
The relay is over 90% off-road. Starting from Chipping Campden in the early morning, using the way-marked route of the Cotswold Way through to Bath in the early evening. It takes in many hills, woodlands, fields and tracks, all offering spectacular views of the countryside. The trail is split into 10 stages, varying in ascent and length, to offer a differing flavour for each runner in the team. Apart from a few busy road crossings there are no marshals, or additional markers, so route finding is all part of the spirit of the event. In recent years the Cotswold Way Authority has considerably improved the signage, as part of its upgrade to National Trail status. The race route follows the National Trail except for a couple of well indicated changes made for safety reasons
We recommend that runners do a recce of their stage before the event. This year all the stages will be uploaded onto maprun6 by the beginning of May and runners should try out the maprun technology if they have not used it before. Doing a recce is very enjoyable as well as ensuring you will not take a wrong turn on race day.
To limit crowding and traffic at changeover points we are again limiting the event to 100 teams. We welcome teams both from established clubs and formed just for the event. Experienced Team captains know that team logistics before and during the race are as important as speedy runners in experiencing a pleasant and successful event. The Aims this year are:
Covid safety.
We will follow all current EA rules however we are aware that the unlocking timetable could easily be altered. Detailed race guidance will be emailed closer to event date.
General safety.
In 2019 temperatures reached 30 degrees during the race and there were several runners who collapsed and two were hospitalised. In spite of strong advice there were still some runners, particularly at the front of the race, who ran without water. This year it will be mandatory to carry a race water bottle or bladder. There will be water stations at halfway and the end of each leg, which will dispense from large containers. There will be no disposable bottles handed out en route 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
Strengthen our volunteer participation.
We ask every team entered to provide 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. One individual volunteer role will be Tail runner. We want to strengthen this system which was incomplete but useful in 2019. This year Tail runners will get credited with a cut off finish time towards King or Queen of the Cotswold Plaque
To reduce waste
Some people value a race memento particularly if it is a useful item. Others simply throw away things like medals and get irritated if they receive an item of an unusable size or quality. Race directors and runners are increasingly bothered by waste. So this year there will be no universal medal, T shirt or Cup, and the basic race price has been reduced accordingly
However we do intend to produce a good quality event shirt that individual runners can purchase ahead of time in their own size, via an online ordering system
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.
