2019 Kingham 10K Run

2019 Kingham 10K Run

As races are not taking place at the moment, I'm creating some web pages entitled "where I was taking photos this time last year". Today, I'm looking at the Kingham 10K Run which takes place from Kingham, a village in the Cotswolds that is about 5M SouthWest of Chipping Norton. It is about 25M NorthWest of Oxford.

The organiser's website says "The decision has been made to postpone this year's race due to the coronavirus. We will look to hold it later in the year, if possible". Last year's race took place on Sat Jun 22nd 2019 and this year's race was to have taken place today (Sat Jun 20th 2020).

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 race, I'll first show a map of the race route and then some photos taken along the route.
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The organiser's web page giving the history of the race indicates that the route and length of the race has changed a few times but these days it is "a one 10K loop incorporating the grounds of Kingham Hill School, Sarsden Halt, Churchill and back to Kingham". The above map and elevation profile are provided by the race organiser and appear on gb.mapometer.com.

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 Jonathan Billinger, Bill Boaden, Michael Dibb, Philip Halling and Derek Harper. 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 race HQ is at the Village Hall on West Street in Kingham

The race starts by gradually climbing a hill towards Kingham Hill School.

It's an ascent from 125m to 178m in about 2K.

The race route turns off the road to run through the grounds of Kingham Hill School. Normally the race is held on a weekend when the children are away from the School. The first bit in the School grounds is steeper as the route ascends from 178m to 197m in about 0.4K.

All the height gained since the start of the race is lost as the race route slowly descends to 120m in the next 1.5K. The above photo has the view looking back towards Kingham Hill Cottages and to the School which is further on (behind the woods).

At about 4.2K, at Churchill Mill, the race route crosses an old railway line. According to Wikipedia, the railway line opened in June 1855 and ran from the station in Kingham to Chipping Norton. The above photo has the view in 2010 of the railway line looking North along its route to Chipping Norton.
To begin with there was just a goods siding at Churchill Mill. However, a "station" called Sarsden Halt opened to passengers in July 1906. The above photo of Sarsden Halt in 1960 appears on the Churchill and Sarsden website. It is attributed to D.R.Lewis.

In 1881, the line became part of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. This was a line that ran from Banbury via King's Sutton, Adderbury, Hook Norton, Chipping Norton, Sarsden Halt, Kingham, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water to Cheltenham. The above map is taken from John Speller's web page about the railway line. It says "The Banbury to Kingham line, though only a single track except in stations, was marked on Great Western maps as a main line. This was because it was on the route of the 'Ports-to-Ports Express'. The latter was inaugurated in 1905. Through coaches off the North Eastern Railway from Newcastle and Hull were united at Sheffield and then ran over the Great Central Railway via Nottingham, Leicester, Rugby and Banbury. The train then proceeded via Kingham, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Newport to Cardiff. The Banbury to Kingham section was of necessity slower than the rest. Not only did the single line limit speed by requiring the exchange of tokens, but the viaducts [such as those at Hook Norton] were not robust enough [that different locomotives had to be used for this section]." Wikipedia says "One train that did not usually stop [at Sarsden Halt] was the daily Ports-to-Ports Express between Newcastle and South Wales, but even this would call at the Halt to set down passengers from beyond Leicester if 24 hours' notice was given." "In December 1962 British Rail closed Sarsden Halt."

Just after Sarsden Halt, the race route passes the the Churchill and Sarsden Heritage Centre. Wikipedia says "The Heritage Centre is on what is thought to be the site of a Saxon church. In 1348 the church of which the chancel - now the Heritage Centre - is the last remaining part was built in the Decorated Gothic style. At that time it was at the centre of the village, but after a fire in 1684 the village moved up the hill [and a new church was constructed]". There are more details on the website of the Churchill and Sarsden Heritage Centre.

At about 5.5K, the race route passes the "new church". Wikipedia says "The Church of England parish church of All Saints was designed by James Plowman of Oxford in 1826. It is an architectural mixture of imitations. The tower is a two-thirds copy of the tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, its hammerbeam roof a copy of the roof of Christ Church, Oxford, its buttresses are versions of those of the chapel of New College, Oxford, and its windows are based on those from various Oxford Colleges. ... External stairs lead to the bell-ringers' chamber, with a pulpit at the top of the staircase. In imitation of the May morning celebrations at Magdalen College, villagers gather at sunrise on 1 May each year and sing from the stairs and pulpit."

The race route now leaves Kingham.

The next 2.5K is along the B4450 - it's fairly flat.
At this junction, the race route leaves the B4450 and bears right to return to Kingham along Station Road.

There is a slight incline as it re-crosses the disused railway line from Kingham to Chipping Norton.

The route is now in the outskirts of Kingham.

It then uses Church Street in Kingham in order to finish ...

... on the Village Green.

Photos of the male runners who did well at the 2019 Kingham 10K Run

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.

Joel Stevens (80, Cheltenham_Triathlon_Club) was 1st and the 1st SM finishing in a time of 0:36:03.

Oliver Ambrose (3, unattached) was 2nd and the 2nd SM finishing in a time of 0:37:14.

Paul Jegou (97, White_Horse_Harriers) was 3rd and the 1st MV40 finishing in a time of 0:38:31.

Kevin Dutton (24, unattached) was the 1st MV50 finishing in a time of 0:42:18.

Steven Neaves (94, unattached) was the 1st MV60 finishing in a time of 0:44:35.

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. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

Rob Bowery (9, Black_Pear_Joggers) was 4th and the 2nd MV40 finishing in a time of 0:38:40.

Stephen Tyack (25, Bledington_Bantams) was the 15th MV40 finishing in a time of 0:54:28.

John Gibson (31, Bourton_Roadrunners) was the 4th MV60 finishing in a time of 0:50:15.

Martyn Banham (5, Hook_Norton_Harriers) was the 7th SM finishing in a time of 0:42:35.

Mark Jessey (43, Lonely_Goat_RC) was the 10th MV50 finishing in a time of 0:52:34.

Jason Shailer (77, North_Cotswold_Tri_and_Run) was the 9th MV40 finishing in a time of 0:45:54.

John Butler (96, Stratford_AC) was the 9th MV60 finishing in a time of 1:15:15.

Chris Mulcahy (61, Witney_Road_Runners) was the 5th MV40 finishing in a time of 0:43:42.

Martin Fowler (27, Wootton_Road_Runners) was the 3rd MV60 finishing in a time of 0:49:52.

Photos of the female runners who did well at the 2019 Kingham 10K Run

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.

Shona Crombie-Hicks (38, Tewkesbury_RC) was the 1st female and the 1st FV40 finishing in a time of 0:40:50.

Niamh Shoemark (98, Bourton_Roadrunners) was the 2nd female and the 1st FV50 finishing in a time of 0:43:30.

Donna Allen (100, Hook_Norton_Harriers) was the 3rd female and the 1st SL finishing in a time of 0:43:33.

Margaret Hollamby (40, Bourton_Roadrunners) was the 6th female and the 1st FV60 finishing in a time of 0:49:02.

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. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

Anna Gibbons (87, Cambridge_University_Modern_Pentathlon_Club) was the 10th female and the 5th SL finishing in a time of 0:50:02.

Jessica Hamish-Wilson (35, Little_Rollright_Runners) was the 11th SL finishing in a time of 1:03:47.

Claire Harrison (37, North_Cotswold_Tri_and_Run) was the 5th female and the 2nd FV40 finishing in a time of 0:45:11.

Postscript

If you did the Kingham 10K 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 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 2019 Mota-vation Race 3. This was the first of the Mota-vation races that took place at Combe. I plan to post the review on Thursday.

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/2020-06-20-kingham. It was created on June 14th 2020 and last updated on June 20th 2020.