Angels 10k 2026

Along with a small number of members of my running club, I recently took part in Angels 10k for the second time. Angels 10k is a hilly road race based in the village of Ashleworth in Gloucestershire, which is kind of between Gloucester and Tewkesbury, without being very close to either of them! The race is organised by Angels Running Club – an all-female club based in Gloucester. Angels 10k is part of the Gloucestershire AAA road race series.

The forecast was for a rainy morning and it had certainly rained overnight. It was strangely warm – around 20 degrees – despite being cloudy. It was so humid, that my glasses clouded over when I got out the car.

I picked my friend up and it looked like we were going to arrive very early. Then, as we got close to the Woodpeckers Cricket Club, where the race is based, we came across a huge tree right across the road. We were stopped by a couple of runners we recognised from another club, then had to stop and turn round a couple more regular Gloucestershire runners. My friend navigated us to the cricket club on very narrow, very winding roads. Thank goodness she was there. I’m not sure I would have managed it on my own!

We still arrived pretty early and were directed to park on the cricket ground. There were two portaloos in the car park and toilets inside the cricket club. The queues were moderate. We got our race numbers and timing tags from the registration desk and were then unsure when to warm up. We’d been told there was a race briefing at 9:30, but this got changed to 9:45, so we warmed up before the briefing. After the briefing, we walked as a group for about five minutes onto the road for the start of the race.

The race started at 10am on the dot. Angels 10k is all on open country roads, but I think I only saw two or three cars the whole time. I’m pleased to say that bone conducting headphones were allowed. We began with an immediate downhill, which was nice, so I set off pretty quickly. Early in the race, a few people overtook me and I overtook a few.

The first few km signs seemed to come round fast. After such a cloudy start, it was sunny and I was glad I’d made a last minute decision to put suncream on my face and regretted not putting it on the rest of my body. By 4km, it had clouded over again and started to rain.

At 4.5km, we started a really steep climb. I could see people in front of me walking. I overtook them, then I had to give in and walk and they overtook me. With runners being such nice people, we all said ‘well done’ to each other as we went past. As we were going up the hill, the rain was torrential. The suncream was streaming down my face and into my eyes, which was very uncomfortable.

At 5km, we hit the top of the hill and the one, very welcome, water station. I slowed right down to make sure I could drink the water properly. There was no need to pour any on myself as I was already drenched!

After 4k, the km markers seemed to take longer to come round. After 5k, the route became more undulating. And at around 7k it became more down than up, which was very nice. I sped up as much as I could on the downhills. I’d managed to pull away from a woman who goes to a club which is generally faster than mine and is also quite a bit younger than me, so I was happy! I thought I might close the gap on the woman in front of her, who I beat by one second at Stroud Beer Race and is also 10 years younger than me, but I didn’t quite manage it.

At about 9k, we were back in the village and there was another quite steep climb, although luckily quite a short one. The rain had slowed right down and I was just desperate for it to be over! I was happy with how I was running and knew I’d won my age category, which is always my main aim in the Gloucestershire AAA races.

There were lots of enthusiastic and helpful marshals out on the course. Finally, they directed us onto a narrow footpath behind some houses and it was just a short, flat run back onto the cricket ground and over the finish line.

I finished in 47:18, which was a few seconds slower than last year. I was very happy with that for a hilly run. My friend also won her age category and we both got trophies. There were medals and water at the finish and lots of cakes to buy for charity.

Angels 10k was another enjoyable race in the Gloucestershire AAA road race series. Next up is Bourton half marathon…

The other Gloucestershire AAA races I’ve taken part in this season are Fission 20, Bourton mile, Stroud Beer Race, Dave Lucas Memorial 10k and Cranham Boundary Chase.