Bugatti 10k 2025

My husband, sister, brother-in-law and lots of members of our running club recently ran Bugatti 10k. Organised by Almost Athletes running club, Bugatti 10k is an evening road run on country roads – and it’s not flat! It is based at the Bugatti Owners’ Club at Prescott Hill Climb near Gotherington a few miles outside Cheltenham.

Bugatti 10k is on both our club’s road race series and the Gloucestershire AAA road race series which I’m taking part in. Before the race, I was lying in third in the LV50 category of the Gloucestershire series, but had run a lot less races than the two women above me. Last year, I ran Bugatti 10k in 48:09 and won my age category. My aim for this year was to run it a minute faster and win the age category again. With it being part of the Gloucestershire series, Bugatti 10k brings out all the local elite runners. There were about 350 runners in total, which is quite a lot for a small local race (there were only 92 at Standish Woodland Chase a few days earlier).

After a couple of emails on the day about temporary traffic lights, we had a seamless journey to the Prescott Hill Climb and arrived slightly earlier than planned. Parking is on a large field on site. Everything was incredibly well organised by a huge team of Almost Athletes volunteers. We picked up our numbers from the registration desk and they were marked to show we had permission to use bone conducting headphones. As an open road race, all other headphones were banned. Toilets were the on-site toilets, with four cubicles for the ladies. The queues moved pretty quickly.

There was a race briefing at 6:45pm reminding us of the route – downhill at first, don’t go too fast, fairly flat 3.5 to 8k, then it starts climbing! And it gets really tough at 9k, so keep something in the tank…

We then walked down to the start line as a group. The start was a few minutes’ walk away. We didn’t worry about getting too near the front because of all the elite runners and the race was chip timed.

At 7pm precisely, we were off! My husband was ahead of me briefly, then we ran alongside each other for a short time, then I left him behind and didn’t see him again. The course did start downhill immediately, followed by a brief but sharp uphill, when I already found myself questioning my life choices! But then there was another sharp downhill. I tried not to waste too much energy, but somehow I made it through the first mile in 7:03. Then I ran the second mile in 7:03 too.

I passed through the 5k mark in 21:54. To put that into context, I’ve only run two parkruns faster than that all year – at Severn Bridge and Berkeley Green, which are both very fast courses. There was no way I was running the second half anywhere near that fast, but it looked likely I was at least on for a course PB.

I wasn’t overly concerned about saving my energy for the hill. I tend to run fast when I can and slower when I can’t and it seems to work out for me. Plus, the hill was really bigged up last year and I actually didn’t find it as bad as I’d expected.

The race passes through three villages – Alstone, Alderton and Gretton. There is quite a long stretch on the B4077, which is a fairly busy road. There was an advisory speed limit in place, but we’d been warned to keep close to the right and in single file to stay safe. The traffic I saw was very good – driving slowly and straddling the solid line down the middle of the road where possible.

There was very welcome water at 3k and 6.5k. I slurped what I could while moving at 3k, then actually stopped for a few mouthfuls at 6.5k. The temperature was around 20 degrees, but it was cloudy and late in the day, so I’m pleased to say I didn’t feel hot at any time. Around this point, I overtook my husband’s colleague. I don’t think I’ve beaten him in a race since Cheltenham half marathon in 2017 or 2018, when he first started running.

At around 7k, we turned onto another road, where we were instructed to stay on the left side.

And then we were heading for 8k and the hill…

It started off gradually – just enough to feel it in my legs. It was only three days since the Standish Woodland Chase 9.5 mile hilly trail race. I would have benefited from a few more days’ recovery! There were even a couple of small downhills, which were pleasant, but what goes down must go up…

The finish line for the Bugatti 10k is higher than the start line. And that hill was way more brutal than I remembered it last time. Every time you think it must be over, there’s a bit more. But I was keeping an eye on my watch – 0.8 miles to go, half a mile to go, a quarter of a mile to go… I could do it! Talking about it with others afterwards, we all agreed we would have walked if it hadn’t been so close to the end. We’d all had that same conversation with ourselves in our heads.

I saw a building on my left which I was convinced was on the Prescott site, but it was actually a neighbouring building. One more bend, one more climb. Even getting back onto the site for the finish line is a climb! I crossed the line in 46:39 and first LV50. I’d more than fulfilled my target of a course PB. I’d been aiming for something starting with a 47. And I’d got maximum points for my category in the Gloucestershire series! As usual these days, my husband finished a couple of minutes after me.

All participants were given a wooden medal and as much water as they could drink in reusable plastic cups, which are washed and reused for Almost Athletes’ other races – Meteor Mile and the Linda Franks Race.

There was a really lovely presentation ceremony afterwards, with prizes for the top three men and women, as well as age category prizes for men and women every five years from 35 to 75.

Bugatti 10k is a tough race, but no doubt I’ll be back next year!