2020 Banbury 15

Information (e.g., entry forms, results and photos) for running races (e.g., 5K, 10K, 10M, half marathon), both road races and multi-terrain, that are in Oxfordshire, Berks and Bucks, parts of Glos, Hants, Northants and Wilts, ... Generated: Tue 12 Oct at 16:55:47 BST

2020 Banbury 15

As no races are taking place at the moment, I'm creating some web pages entitled "where I was taking photos this time last year". Little did I know when I first started doing this in March 2020 that I'd being doing it for a year! Today, it's the turn of the 2020 Banbury 15 which was the last race that I took photos at before the first Covid-19 lockdown took place.

The organiser's website says "Forget monotonous courses, the Banbury Run is seriously rural!". Last year's race took place on Sun Mar 15th 2020 and this year's race was to have taken place today (Sun Mar 21st 2021). Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 it has had to be cancelled. This web page says "the Banbury Run event will not take place in March but we have not ruled out holding it later in the year".

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

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The above map is taken from the organiser's website. The course is a shaped like a letter P, the out and back bit being about 5M long. This out and back bit starts along narrow paths in Spiceball Park. It continues on a footpath that accompanies the A423. The first hill is alongside this main road at about 1.75M. At about 2.4M, the course leaves the main road and ventures into the countryside first visiting the villages of Little Bourton, Great Bourton and Cropredy. At 5M, the circular 5M bit of the P starts. Here there is a short hill and at 6M there is a longer hill. At the top, you reach a village called Claydon. In my opinion, the nicest part of the course is between 6.6M and 8M: so peaceful on a quiet, narrow lane that crosses the Oxford Canal (between Claydon and Appletree). Unfortunately, this tranquillity is shattered by a significant hill at 8M - and in the future by being only 1K from 225 mph trains on the HS2 railway line - this map shows how close it comes. Just after the 10M marker, you complete the circular bit of the course. And just after 11M you meet the last hill which is on the approach to Great Bourton. You know it's coming as you went down it on the way out!

Photos of the male runners who did well at the 2020 Banbury 15

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.

Sullivan Smith (265, Cambridge_and_Coleridge) was 1st and the 1st MV40 finishing in a time of 01:24:28.
As the bibs indicate, the full name of the race is the "Geoff Smith's Banbury 15". It is named after "a much loved race organiser and Banbury Harrier athlete Geoff Smith who died in 2015". Sullivan Smith, the winner of the 2020 Banbury 15, is the son of Geoff Smith. This photo of a much younger looking Sullivan (!) was taken in 2012 when he last did the Banbury 15 - in 2012 he won in 01:24:13. The photo appears in this report in the Oxford Mail. I think the photo was taken by Jenny McBain.

James Bolton (50, Woodstock_Harriers) was 2nd and the 2nd MV40 finishing in a time of 01:24:50.
This photo also shows Sullivan Smith. Although Sullivan beat James by 22 seconds, this tussle at the top ensured that James's time of 01:24:50 was 34 seconds faster than when James won the race in 2019 (in 01:25:24).

Aaron Burgess (272, Oxford_City_AC) was 3rd and the 1st SM finishing in a time of 01:27:40.

Carl Gaden (212, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 1st MV50 finishing in a time of 01:36:53.
This and the next two photos indicate that Headington came first in the MV50, MV60 and MV70 categories.

Steve Cowls (83, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 1st MV60 finishing in a time of 01:58:47.

Phil Kimber (46, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 1st MV70 finishing in a time of 02:03:45.

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.

Richard Palmer (264, 100_Marathon_Club) was the 36th MV50 finishing in a time of 02:31:48.

Chris Bedford (138, Abingdon_AC) was the 8th MV50 finishing in a time of 01:43:32.

Paul Leverton (218, Alchester_RC) was 5th and the 4th MV40 finishing in a time of 01:28:04.

Jonathan Carruthers (289, Banbury_Harriers) was the 26th SM finishing in a time of 02:00:14 - I can't find a photo of Jonathan - please e-mail me a frame number if you see one.

Carl Tucker (248, Buckingham_and_Stowe_RC) was 8th and the 3rd SM finishing in a time of 01:31:48.

Henry Sleight (134, Cherwell_Runners_and_Joggers) was the 5th SM finishing in a time of 01:32:27.

Ben Oliver (276, Daventry_Road_Runners) was the 30th SM finishing in a time of 02:06:34 - I can't find a photo of Ben - please e-mail me a frame number if you see one.

Mark Tyroll (292, Eynsham_Roadrunners) was the 7th MV40 finishing in a time of 01:34:17.

Adam Standley (206, Hayes_and_Harlington_Road_Runners) was the 33rd SM finishing in a time of 02:09:02.

David Warlow (213, Hook_Norton_Harriers) was the 18th MV50 finishing in a time of 01:57:34.

Paul Smart (269, Human_Energy) was the 2nd MV60 finishing in a time of 02:01:06.

Richard Taylor (231, Kidlington_RC) was the 11th SM finishing in a time of 01:41:24.

Chris Large (17, Leighton_Buzzard_AC) was the 40th SM finishing in a time of 02:44:46 - I can't find a photo of Chris - please e-mail me a frame number if you see one.

Robert Lukehurst (1, Lonely_Goat_RC) was the 22nd MV50 finishing in a time of 02:03:35.

Richard Simkiss (13, McCarkiss_Endurance_Project) was the 7th SM finishing in a time of 01:35:01.

Allan Lock (201, Midland_Masters_AC) was the 2nd MV70 finishing in a time of 02:28:48 - I can't find a photo of Allan - please e-mail me a frame number if you see one.

Chris Coomer (301, Peckham_Striders) was the 25th MV40 finishing in a time of 01:54:04.

Steve Marklew (259, Royal_Sutton_Coldfield_Athletics_Club) was the 4th MV50 finishing in a time of 01:41:34.

David Jarrett (223, Silson_AC) was the 6th MV60 finishing in a time of 02:12:33.

Kevin Naughton (267, Sphinx_AC) was the 3rd MV60 finishing in a time of 02:06:12.

David Maundrell (273, Stratford_AC) was the 43rd MV40 finishing in a time of 02:29:43 - I can't find a photo of David - please e-mail me a frame number if you see one.

Robert Lloyd-Smith (177, Sutton_Runners) was 7th and the 5th MV40 finishing in a time of 01:31:36.

Alex Briscoe (117, White_Horse_Harriers) was 10th and the 4th SM finishing in a time of 01:32:12.

Matthew Lock (241, Witney_Road_Runners) was 6th and the 2nd SM finishing in a time of 01:29:39.
In this photo Matt alludes to the rain. This photo was taken at my normal first spot for the Banbury 15 which is at 1.1M. However, because of the rain, for my second and third spots I didn't go to my usual places at the 5M and 10M markers (where there is no shelter) but instead hid my camera from the rain under the railway bridge just South of Cropredy (which is at about 3.88M and 11.26M).

Photos of the female runners who did well at the 2020 Banbury 15

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.

Joanne McCandless (180, unattached) was the 1st female and the 1st FV35 finishing in a time of 01:35:11.

Kate Allred (249, Eynsham_Roadrunners) was the 2nd female and the 1st FV45 finishing in a time of 01:41:49.

Isabel Stubbs (112, Witney_Road_Runners) was the 3rd female and the 1st SL finishing in a time of 01:43:50.

Clare Curnow (193, Cherwell_Runners_and_Joggers) was the 1st FV55 finishing in a time of 02:05:22.

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.

Rosie Davies (72, Abingdon_AC) was the 5th SL finishing in a time of 01:56:27.

Suzie Taylor (150, Adderbury_RC) was the 16th FV35 finishing in a time of 02:15:13.

Claire True (136, Alchester_RC) was the 5th female and the 2nd SL finishing in a time of 01:48:16.

Laura Mathers (71, Bicester_Tri) was the 10th SL finishing in a time of 02:03:42.

Myshola Kirkham (43, Coventry_Godiva_Harriers) was the 4th female and the 2nd FV35 finishing in a time of 01:47:44.

Rachel Temple-Fry (275, Daventry_Road_Runners) was the 13th SL finishing in a time of 02:06:31.

Madeleine Ding (143, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 7th FV35 finishing in a time of 01:53:25.

Lisa Moulder (151, Hook_Norton_Harriers) was the 20th SL finishing in a time of 02:47:46.

Zoe Kemp (268, Human_Energy) was the 9th female and the 4th FV35 finishing in a time of 01:52:14.

Andrea Finnigan (31, Kidlington_RC) was the 9th FV35 finishing in a time of 01:56:08.

Tracy Lawrence (209, Lonely_Goat_RC) was the 14th FV45 finishing in a time of 02:18:37.

Louise Stewart (110, Stratford_AC) was the 21st FV45 finishing in a time of 02:32:20.

Amanda Mann (116, Swindon_Harriers) was the 8th FV45 finishing in a time of 02:09:05.

Rachel Whiting (8, White_Horse_Harriers) was the 10th female and the 5th FV35 finishing in a time of 01:52:29.

Postscript

If you did the Banbury 15 in 2020 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 might help to find the photos of a runner given their time and you can find that 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 maintain a web page for runners that provides a list of races near Oxfordshire and the latest results. So go and visit www.oxonraces.com to see what races may take place. And if you use twitter, you may want to follow @oxonraces to become aware of important changes to this web page.

This web page is at www.oxonraces.com/blog/2021-03-21-banbury. It was created on Wed Feb 10th 2021 and last updated on Sun Mar 21st 2021.