The Cranham Boundary Chase

I recently took part in the Cranham Boundary Chase. The 5.6 mile race around Cranham, between Stroud and Gloucester, is Gloucestershire’s oldest race, which has been going for 60 years. Organised by Severn AC running club, Cranham Boundary Chase is part of the Gloucestershire AAA race series, which I’m taking part in.

Cranham is home to a county Scout facility, where my kids and thousands of others spent lots of happy time. It’s also where Lily Allen used to live!

The race took place at 2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon. That is a very strange time for a race. That morning, my husband and many other members of our running club had competed in the Alderton 5k in Gloucestershire. I was really struggling with having to go and do a race on my own in the afternoon, with nobody I knew. It was also a no headphones race and I don’t like running without music. But I put my big girl pants on and got myself out the door.

The last bit of the drive to Cranham was hilly and treacherous. And I realised – I would be running this hill! The race started at Cranham Cricket Club. There was also a fete going on – Cranham Feast. There was a kids’ race setting off at 1:45, so there was quite a party atmosphere. We picked up numbers and ankle tags from the registration desk. Toilets were the cricket club toilets in what appeared to be an old shed. The doors said ‘engaged’, but it turned out they weren’t engaged at all and we were queuing for empty toilets.

I was nowhere near as lonely as I’d anticipated. A guy from our club was there ajudicating and there were two other men from the club running. I also had a chat to people from various other clubs I’ve met through the races and/ or social media. I heard that my main rival in the age category in the race series wasn’t there. Her club mate told me she thought I would win the series, which was very nice of her. Surprisingly, for a race on the AAA series, there seemed to be very few of the local elite athletes there. They’d obviously decided to stick with the flatter races to get their points and give this one a miss.

The email beforehand had described the course as ‘very undulating at best’. I’d seen a picture of the course – basically a big loop, but nothing with the elevation on it. It’s almost as if they were trying to keep that a secret! But I heard enough conversations as I waited for the start to know I was in for a tough run.

After a few cooler, wetter days, it was sunny and 21 degrees. There was no water station on the course, but the email said they would have one if there were ‘adversely hot conditions’. I wasn’t sure whether 21 in early September was adversely hot, so I decided to just carry my own drink.

The race started on time and we were climbing immediately. I’d been warned about this – how it’s so steep that you want to walk, but you can’t walk because it’s the very start of the race. After the initial steep climb, there was then a gradual climb. It felt like it went on forever.

After about a mile, we turned onto the B4077, which is quite a busy road between Cheltenham and Stroud. We’d been strictly told to stay in single file on this road. All of the roads were open, but this was the only one which had any traffic on it. We were still climbing.

Eventually, we started going downhill. The middle third of the race was mainly downhill, but still with a few little uphills mixed in.

We were sheltered by trees a lot of the time, so it wasn’t too hot. I overtook the man from Severn in front of me, then the woman from Severn in front of him and another man from Severn in front of her. Then I overtook a much younger woman who wasn’t wearing a club vest. (There were very few people without club vests.) Then a different man from Severn overtook me.

Much of the route looked the same – quiet roads and trees, accompanied by the sound of my own breathing, with the occasional left turn. Then I recognised one of the turns – still maybe 1.5 miles from the end – as the road I’d driven down. The road took us past the Scout centre and into the village. There were no trees and the sun was hot. There was a guy I knew from social media and local races, in his marshal spot. He’d warned me I’d be happy to see him, but then I wouldn’t be happy afterwards.

And I saw why. There was this huge hill ahead. From where I was stood, it looked almost vertical. I tried running, but I soon realised it was impossible. So I walked. Everyone in front of me was walking. On the hill, the woman from Severn I’d overtaken overtook me. I’m quite familiar with her back! I ran behind her at Stroud Beer Race and Cirencester 10k.

There was a marshal and a man taking photos at what I thought was the top of the hill. I told myself I would start running when I got to them. I started running. It wasn’t the top of the hill. I had to walk again. Then I turned onto the driveway of the cricket club, but I wasn’t quite at the finish line. There was a flag which looked like it should have been the finish line, but we had to run past that, right onto the grounds of the cricket club. But at least we didn’t have to do a lap of the field, like we do at a lot of races.

Thinking about a nearly 10k, hilly race, I’d predicted I would run it in about 45 minutes. I crossed the finish line in 44:51. I was fifth female and first in my age category.

We were given a bottle of water at the end and offered watermelon slices, bananas and flapjacks. I took a piece of watermelon and drank all my water before getting a flapjack. Then I needed more water! They were kind enough to let me have another bottle.

Presentations were after the final runner, who is 85, had crossed the line.

There were so many prizes – top three men and women and veteran age categories in five-year increments from 35 to 75, plus a special 85. There were also junior (under 20) and senior prizes – senior being 20 to 34 and not top three, so these inevitably went to people who weren’t that fast! Finally, there were men’s and women’s team prizes and a prize for the first male and female local runners. I chose a big bar of Dairy Milk for my prize.

Cranham Boundary Chase is a tough race, but it had a really nice atmosphere. I won’t be nervous about running it again!