2019 Mota Race 2 Bletchingdon
2019 Mota-vation Race 2 at Bletchingdon
Today, in my series entitled "where I was taking photos this time last year", I'm looking at Race 2 of the Mota-vation Series. This takes place from Bletchingdon, a village that is about 9M N of Oxford.
The Mota-vation Series is organised by Kidlington RC and there are details about the Bletchingdon race on their website. Although it was planned to hold last year's race on Thu May 30th 2019, at the very last moment it had to be moved to Thu Jun 6th 2019 because of an accident on the A34. This year's race was to have taken place today (Thu May 28th 2020). However, because of the corona virus, the 2020 Series of Mota-vation races has had to be cancelled.
By the way, you can click on any of the photos on this web page to see the photo in hi-res. Some of the photos are taken from geograph - they are released with this Creative Commons Licence.
The route of the race
.
The above map is taken from the
organiser's web page
about the race.
The race starts/finishes at the Recreation Ground and it's "4 miles 451 yards" long.
It first goes N to the village of Kirtlington, then SW to the outskirts of Enslow
and finally back E to Bletchingdon.
Bletchingdon
One of the web pages of the Parish Council says "The village of Bletchingdon lies on high land on the old London to Worcester road at its junction with three by-roads to Weston-on-the Green, Kirtlington and Hampton Poyle. The village is just under 2M from Enslow where there is a bridge over the river Cherwell. The Oxford Canal was completed in 1789 and follows the path of the Cherwell. From 1845 the Oxford and Rugby Railway was built, also through Enslow, where Bletchingdon railway station once stood."
"The village was originally built around a green,
but the houses on the north side were pulled down when Bletchingdon Park was extended in the 16th century.
The parish church is enclosed within the Park, and can only be approached by a footpath,
which after a struggle in 1795 was declared a right of way.
On the south side of the green there was a row of thirteen rubble-stone cottages with slate roofs,
built in 1794 that were reconditioned and converted into seven cottages in 1954."
At the 4M point of the race, the runners run on the pavement alongside these cottages just before they turn
into the road that leads to the Recreation Ground.
The cottages are shown in the above photo.
Earlier in the race, at the start of the road to Kirtlington, the race route
runs alongside the wall bordering Bletchingdon Park.
Wikipedia
says the Park
has "a country house built in 1782 next to the parish church".
The original "medieval manor house was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Coghill in about 1630.
It was fortified and garrisoned by 200 Cavaliers during the First English Civil War,
before being over-run by Roundheads during Cromwell's raid in 1644. ...
In 1993, the estate was bought by Michael Peagram, a chemicals industrialist and philanthropist,
who had the house historically restored. In 2012, the 22600-square-foot house was listed for sale
at a price of 20 million pounds."
The above photo of the house was taken by
Stephen Richards.
Another Wikipedia page says "The earliest known document to mention Bletchingdon is in the Domesday Book of 1086, which records it as Blecesdone. A charter written about 1130 records it as Blechesdune. The Feet of fines records it as Blechesdon in 1197. A document called the Placitorum abbreviato records it as Blechindon in 1279. It is derived from the Old English Blecces dʉn meaning Blecca's hill.
Wikipedia also says "In recent centuries 'Bletchington' has been an alternative spelling. In the 19th and 20th centuries Bletchington railway station at Enslow was spelt with a 't'. A local business based on the site of the former station trades as 'Smiths of Bletchington'."
Another web page of the Parish Council
says
"It's easy to get confused.
Don means on a hill, Ton means village. It's been a centuries old argument.
And it all depends upon which way you enter the village.
Some signs say Bletchingdon others say Bletchington."
It's Bletchington as the above photo from Google Maps shows - it's the road approaching the village from the A34 and from Islip.
There's a similar sign just outside the Recreation Ground on the road that approaches the village from Hampton Poyle.
Oh no it's not!
It's Bletchingdon as the above photo shows - it's an old photo of the road approaching the village from Enslow.
The photo was taken by
Des Blenkinsopp.
Kirtlington
Just after 1M, the race reaches the southern edge of Kirtlington.
The green areas on the above map indicate the gardens (in Sep 2019) where the residents of Kirtlington
are helping hedgehogs get around their village,
e.g., by constructing holes in walls to enable them
to go from one garden to another.
There are more details on
this web page.
It has a
0m9s video showing a hedgehog using a ramp
provided by a resident.
Enslow
After about 2.7M, the race comes to a T-junction close to the pub called the Rock of Gibraltar
in the outskirts of the village of Enslow.
Close by are the River Cherwell, the Oxford Canal and the railway line from Oxford to Banbury.
According to Wikipedia,
the railway line "opened as far as Banbury in Sep 1850
- there were three intermediate stations, the southernmost being
Woodstock Road.
Upon the opening of a different station named
Woodstock Road
in 1855,
this station was renamed
Kirtlington;
and following rebuilding it was renamed for a final time in Aug 1890, becoming
Bletchington. ...
British Railways closed the station to passengers in Nov 1964 and to goods in Jun 1965."
The above photo of the station
was taken in 1961 by
Ben Brooksbank.
I found this strange video about the station. It's 2m44s long.
Photos of the male runners who did well at 2019 Mota-vation Race 2 at Bletchingdon
Here are some photos of the male runners who finished in the top 3 and/or were first in their age category. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.
Tegs Jones (354, Witney_Road_Runners) was 1st and the 1st MV40 finishing in a time of 00:22:51.
Aaron Burgess (117, Oxford_City_AC) was 2nd and the 1st SM finishing in a time of 00:23:04.
Sam Upton (204, Witney_Road_Runners) was 3rd and the 2nd SM finishing in a time of 00:23:17.
It was close at the front as there was 13 seconds between Tegs and Aaron
and another 13 seconds between Aaron and Sam.
It was also close further down as 11 runners finished within 1 minute of Tegs.
Owen Knox (487, Banbury_Harriers) was 7th and the 1st MU19 finishing in a time of 00:23:37.
Julian Richardson (581, Oxford_City_AC) was the 1st MV50 finishing in a time of 00:24:03.
Stewart Thorp (645, Oxford_City_AC) was the 1st MV60 finishing in a time of 00:27:57.
Roy Treadwell (81, Oxford_City_AC) was the 1st MV70 finishing in a time of 00:29:50.
Photos of male runners from other running clubs
Here are some photos of the first male runner from running clubs other than those mentioned above. I've only included those clubs who had more than one runner competing. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.
Josh Beech (109, Abingdon_AC) was 4th and the 3rd SM finishing in a time of 00:23:24.
Colin Hornby (163, Alchester_RC) was the 12th SM finishing in a time of 00:24:25.
Samuel Worfolk (489, Bicester_AC) was the 5th MU19 finishing in a time of 00:26:35.
Juan Angel-Gonzalez (148, Bicester_Tri) was the 10th SM finishing in a time of 00:24:12.
Ali Herbert (159, Cherwell_Runners_and_Joggers) was the 11th SM finishing in a time of 00:24:14.
Dan Lewis (360, Eynsham_Roadrunners) was 6th and the 2nd MV40 finishing in a time of 00:23:36.
Duncan Lawrence (173, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 7th SM finishing in a time of 00:23:46.
David Bannister (303, Hook_Norton_Harriers) was the 8th MV40 finishing in a time of 00:26:09.
Mark Dilks (316, Kidlington_RC) was the 4th MV40 finishing in a time of 00:24:49.
Adam Nightingale (181, Oxford_Tri) was the 20th SM finishing in a time of 00:26:14.
Matthew Jobson (169, White_Horse_Harriers) was 10th and the 6th SM finishing in a time of 00:23:42.
David Cantwell (516, Woodstock_Harriers) was the 3rd MV50 finishing in a time of 00:25:36.
Photos of the female runners who did well at 2019 Mota-vation Race 2 at Bletchingdon
Here are some photos of the female runners who finished in the top 3 and/or were first in their age category. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.
Chloe Ridewood (742, Abingdon_AC) was the 1st female and the 1st SL finishing in a time of 00:27:02.
Edwina Colclough (809, Alchester_RC) was the 2nd female and the 1st FV35 finishing in a time of 00:28:09.
Emily Georgiades (720, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 3rd female and the 2nd SL finishing in a time of 00:28:14.
Sam Usher (992, Alchester_RC) was the 4th female and the 1st FV45 finishing in a time of 00:28:21.
There was a battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th as Emily was only 5 seconds behind Edwina and Sam a further 7 seconds behind Emily.
Cordelia Halfhead (2, Abingdon_AC) was the 1st FU19 finishing in a time of 00:29:43.
Clare Curnow (30, Cherwell_Runners_and_Joggers) was the 1st FV55 finishing in a time of 00:31:18.
Helen Turley (63, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 1st FV65 finishing in a time of 00:33:53.
Photos of female runners from other running clubs
Here are some photos of the first female runner from running clubs other than those mentioned above. I've only included those clubs who had more than one runner competing. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.
Michelle Bartlett (906, Banbury_Harriers) was the 30th FV45 finishing in a time of 00:35:31.
Emma Gould (933, Bicester_AC) was the 39th FV45 finishing in a time of 00:38:48.
Lucy Davidson (713, Bicester_Tri) was the 19th SL finishing in a time of 00:34:39.
Anna Mackin (836, Eynsham_Roadrunners) was the 5th FV35 finishing in a time of 00:31:43.
Donna Allen (700, Hook_Norton_Harriers) was the 8th female and the 5th SL finishing in a time of 00:28:29.
Sue Morton (966, Kidlington_RC) was the 9th FV45 finishing in a time of 00:32:11.
Jessica Duckett (717, Oxford_City_AC) was the 5th female and the 3rd SL finishing in a time of 00:28:29.
Tracy Makin (958, Oxford_Tri) was the 10th FV45 finishing in a time of 00:31:54.
Katherine Boyce (23, White_Horse_Harriers) was the 10th FV55 finishing in a time of 00:37:36.
Alice Parsons (735, Witney_Road_Runners) was the 9th SL finishing in a time of 00:30:06.
Zoe White (996, Woodstock_Harriers) was the 18th FV45 finishing in a time of 00:33:44.
Postscript
If you did Mota-vation Race 2 at Bletchingdon 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 races, then here's a link to a web page that includes an index of the reviews of races.
I'm planning for my next review to be of the 2019 Banbury 5 and I hope to post that on Tue Jun 2nd 2020.
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/2020-05-28-bletchingdon. It was created on May 24th 2020 and last updated on May 28th 2020.