2019 Wallingford Thames Run

2019 Wallingford Thames Run

Today, in my series entitled "where I was taking photos this time last year", I'm looking at the 2019 Wallingford Thames Run which takes place from Crowmarsh Gifford, a village adjacent to Wallingford that is about 14M SE of Oxford.

The organiser's website says "the Thames Run is a multi-terrain route along the local footpaths and banks of the River Thames, and back through the historic market town of Wallingford. For the 5K event runners complete one circuit of the route and for the 10K route two." The race starts/finishes at Crowmarsh Gifford Primary School. Last year's race took place on Sun May 19th and this year's race was to have taken place a week today (Sun May 17th). Unfortunately, it has had to be cancelled.

At the 2019 Wallingford Thames Run, I took photos at 1.6K - those photos have a mix of 5K and 10K runners. I also took photos of the 10K runners on their 2nd lap when they had reached 7.3K. Below I'm just showing photos of those that did well in the 10K.

By the way, you can click on any of the photos on this web page to see the photo in hi-res.

The route of the race

Before showing you photos of some runners who did well in last year's 10K, I'll first show a map of the race route and then some photos taken along the route.
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The above map is taken from the organiser's web site. As mentioned above, the 10K is two laps. The course measurer's report says "each loop consists of 3.8K on road/pavement and 1.2K on grass/dirt track".

Photos of the race route

Now for some photos taken along the route. I've grabbed these photos from geograph and from Google Maps. The photos I'm using from geograph were taken by Bill Nicholls, Christopher Hilton, Robin Sones, Rod Allday, Roger Templeman and Shaun Ferguson. They are released with this Creative Commons Licence. Bear in mind that the photos from geograph and Google were taken several years ago. You can click on any of these photos to see where it comes from. Thanks to the photographers for these photos.

The above photo shows the Crowmarsh Gifford Primary School which is where the race starts/finishes.

The race starts by going along the Old Reading Road which is shown in the above photo. This road is a cul-de-sac and so it's reasonably free from traffic.

Not far from here, Old Reading Road ends and the race route turns right ...

... to go along this lane that leads to Newnham Murren.

The above photo is where the lane has reached the 1K point of the race route.

The route passes St Mary's Church. Although this is very visible from the race route, it is hard to see if you're running because of the bushes in the way. Wikipedia says "the church dates from the 12th century, with additions and alterations in the following century".

Just after the Church, the race route uses this footpath.

And just before this underpass, the race route turns right to ...

... go along the pavement that's on the right hand side of the Wallingford bypass - the road uses the bridge in the photo ...

... to cross the River Thames. The race route then uses a track from the Wallingford bypass to get to the footpath that passes the people picnicing in this photo. The race route reaches this footpath just after 2K.

The footpath leaves the field and runs alongside the Thames until it meets ...

... this bridge over Bradford's Brook. Immediately after the bridge it turns left ...

... to run alongside Bradford's Brook.

After a short section alongside the stream, it turns right into Chalmore Gardens. At this point, the race route has reached 3K.

The race route passes Oxford University Boat Club on the right ...

... and posh houses on the left.

Not long afterwards, it turns into Reading Road which becomes St Mary's Street where it passes the first of Wallingford's many pubs - it's the Coachmakers Arms.


The race route comes up St Mary's Street (which is on the left) and passes the Church of St Mary-le-More which Wikipedia says "existed by 1077".

The race route goes pass the War Memorial and the Town Hall. And at the end of St. Mary's Street, the race route turns right to ...

... go along the High Street and pass the George Hotel.
It then uses this bridge to recross the River Thames.
The bridge has this view of the Thames.

The bridge continues as an embankment as this photo from below the embankment shows. At this point, the race route has reached 4K.

And then the race route re-enters Crowmarsh Gifford where it ...

... goes pass St Mary's Church. Wikipedia says "the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene is said to have been built in about 1120". Note that this is the third St Mary's Church on this race route!

And pass the Queen's Head.

And then, opposite the Bell, the race route turns right to go along a short section of the Old Reading Road to the finish which is in the grounds of the School.

Photos of the Male runners who did well at the 2019 Wallingford Thames Run 10K

Here are some photos of the male 10K runners who finished in the top 3 and the runner who was the first MV50. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.

Alex Cumming (361, Hermitage_Harriers) was 1st finishing in a time of 00:35:33.
Hermitage Harriers is a running club that is based in Whitwick near Coalville in Leicestershire.

Chris Billows (374, unattached) was 2nd finishing in a time of 00:36:24.

Richard Guiver (138, unattached) was 3rd finishing in a time of 00:37:04.

Mark Lewy (188, Abingdon_AC) was the 1st MV50 finishing in a time of 00:42:28.

Photos of the Female runners who did well at the 2019 Wallingford Thames Run 10K

Here are some photos of the female 10K runners who finished in the top 3 and the runner who was the first FV50. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.

Tina Wise (169, Didcot_Runners) was the 1st female finishing in a time of 00:43:10.

Sharon Rasmussen (86, Harwell_Harriers) was the 2nd female finishing in a time of 00:45:11.

Eileen Naughton (265, Didcot_Runners) was the 3rd female finishing in a time of 00:45:20.

Gill Forster (262, unattached) was the 1st FV50 finishing in a time of 00:49:06.

Photos of other club runners in the 10K

Here are photos of the runner who was I think was first for those other clubs who I think had more than 2 runners competing in the 10K. The "thinks" are because the results do not have the clubs of some runners. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

Alan Roberts (241, Vale_of_Aylesbury_AC) was the 6th MV50 finishing in a time of 00:46:20.

Colin Suttie (204, Benson_Striders) was the 16th MV50 finishing in a time of 00:52:35.

Rowena Spence (270, Cumnor_Kites) was the 8th FV50 finishing in a time of 00:57:02.

Susie Ivin (303, Gade_Valley_Harriers) finished in a time of 00:56:21.

Nick Jones (247, Headington_RoadRunners) was 6th finishing in a time of 00:39:46.

Thalia Carr (362, Kidlington_RC) was the 9th FV50 finishing in a time of 00:58:36.

Lewis Cousins (206, Lonely_Goat_RC) finished in a time of 00:53:48.

Lisa Jackson (161, On_The_Run) was the 12th FV50 finishing in a time of 01:01:02.

Andrew Nicoll (285, Run_Wallingford) was the 19th MV50 finishing in a time of 00:53:21.

Andrew Harden-Sweetnam (377, Wallingford_Triathlon_Club) was the 18th MV50 finishing in a time of 00:52:48.

Postscript

If you did the Wallingford Thames Run in 2019 and want a reminder, then here's a link to all the photos that I took. There's a calculator on that web page that makes it easy to find the photos of a runner given their time and you can find the time from the results web page.

If you want to see the reviews I've done on other 2019 races, then here's a link to a web page that includes an index of the reviews of 2019 races.

I'm planning for my next review to be of the Ridge Off Roader which because of clashes I last went to in 2017.

I maintain a web page for runners that provides a list of races near Oxfordshire and the latest results. Visit www.oxonraces.com and follow @oxonraces

This web page is at www.oxonraces.com/blog/2020-05-17-wallingford. It was created on 9th May 2020 and last updated on 10th May 2020.