Date: July 9, 2023
The Oxford Green Belt Way is a 52 mile circular route around Oxford’s green belt, created in 2007 by the Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). The route is on a mixture of trails, fields, footpaths and country lanes, and passes through villages with good accessibility and parking. A perfect route for a relay!
Following a successful trial event with three teams from Headington Road Runners and Abingdon AC in 2022 we are
expanding the event in 2023.
The Relay is in 8 stages of between 4.7 and 9 miles, starting and finishing at Risinghurst cricket ground near to Thornhill Park and Ride (map ref 51.76,-1.185), and following the route clockwise:
- Stage 1 Risinghurst to Toot Baldon 5.3 miles
- Stage 2 Toot Baldon to Abingdon 7.3 miles
- Stage 3 Abingdon to Radley 4.9 miles
- Stage 4 Radley to Cumnor 7.3 miles
- Stage 5 Cumnor to Wolvercote 9.0 miles
- Stage 6 Wolvercote to Kidlington 7.8 miles
- Stage 7 Kidlington to Beckley 6.7 miles
- Stage 8 Beckley to Risinghurst 4.7 miles
The start will be at 9am, with teams expected to finish back at the cricket ground before 7pm. A group start will take place at 2.30pm from Wolvercote for any teams not to have reached the end of Stage 5 by that time (~10 min/mile pace).
After the run there will be a refuelling/ social gathering at an Oxford pub, tbc.
Navigation: With the exception of checkpoints there will be no marshals on the course – runners will need to self-navigate and are responsible for their own safety at all times. The route is marked with waymarkers (see image left), but there are many places where they are not so easy to spot and runners will be advised to familiarise themselves with their stage(s) beforehand. The CPRE Oxfordshire publishes a handy guide book containing navigational tips, available via their website, http://www.cpreoxon.org.uk/resources/documents/item/2325-oxford-green-belt-way-guide which also provides a link to a GPS routes website for downloading the detailed map. Details of the locations of the checkpoints and further information on the stages will be provided to the teams well ahead of time to help them plan their logistics. We aim to provide each team with a GPS tracker which will also act as a baton.
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