Cranham Boundary Chase 2026

I recently ran Cranham Boundary Chase, a challenging road race, for the second time. The race, based in the village of Cranham in Gloucestershire and organised by Severn AC, is part of the Gloucestershire AAA road race series. I won my age category in the series last year and am trying to retain my title this year. It is the eighth race of 12 in the series and the fifth one I have taken part in this year.

The Cranham Boundary Chase has been going for more than 60 years, which I believe makes it the oldest race in Gloucestershire. It is a rather random 5.6 miles. It takes place on the first Saturday in September, in conjunction with Cranham Feast, a local fete, based at the cricket club. It starts at 2:30pm, which is a slightly challenging time for a race to start, as it’s not possible to eat a proper lunch beforehand – unless you’re one of those lucky people who has no stomach issues.

My friend from the running club gave me a lift. Parking is on the grass by the cricket pitch. In fact, she ended up parking right next to the cricket pitch and was told she was parking at her own risk. There was a cricket match on! Luckily, her car was fine.

We picked up our numbers and timing tags from the registration tent and went to the toilet. The toilets were just the toilets on site. There was only two cubicles, but the queue was short. They didn’t flush very well and there was hardly any toilet roll! I warmed up on the grass between two rows of cars. I didn’t fancy running round the perimeter of the cricket pitch when they were playing.

For a Gloucestershire AAA race, the turnout was surprisingly low. There were just 70 runners in total. My rival in the race series was listed on the starting list, but she wasn’t there, which was good news for me. I think she’s running a bit better (or maybe I’m running a bit worse) this year.

The race starts just outside the cricket club. We had a briefing at 2:25. Basically, there’s no road closures, it’s hilly, don’t overtake on the main road and don’t wear headphones of any sort.

The starter horn went and we were off! I thought I’d positioned myself right in the pack, but I instantly overtook a few people. The route started climbing almost straightaway. It’s the sort of climb which makes me want to walk, but there’s no way I can walk right at the start of the race. For a quiet country road, there was a surprising amount of traffic, including a hold-up where cars were coming in both directions and there wasn’t room for them, plus a load of runners.

After a mile, we turned off the country lane onto the B4070 – a road running between Stroud and Cheltenham. This is where we’d been told not to overtake. But a woman and man did overtake me and it was fine. After another mile, we turned onto Buckholt Road, another country lane, which took us most of the way back to the finish line. At this point, we had some significant and very pleasant downhills. My time for mile 3 was 7:10 and for mile 5 was 7:12 – compared to 8:12 for my first mile and 10:37 minutes per mile for the final 0.6. My overall average pace was eight minutes per mile.

The route was undulating, but more downhill than uphill from around 2.5 miles to five miles. We were running mainly in the shade of trees, then out into the village and the bright sunshine. It was a sunnier day than predicted and about 20 degrees. There’s no water station on Cranham Boundary Chase. The organisers said they would have one only if there was adversely hot weather. I knew I wouldn’t cope without a drink with those hills, so I carried my own bottle of electrolytes and I think a few other runners did too.

All the downhills were very pleasant, but I know what goes down must go up. And I also know because the memory is seared on my brain from last year! We hit the bottom of the hill in Cranham at about five miles and then we needed to go up. The first climb is steep, but I managed to keep running, with the support of the man next to me. He was telling me to keep my head down and take small steps.

Then there is a small respite and the hill gets even steeper. There was no way I could run this one. Nor could the man who’d been motivating me. So we walked it.

At this point, I was overtaken by a woman, who managed to keep running for longer than I did. She looked like she might be my age. If she was my age, she would take the age category prize for the race, but not the series points, as she wasn’t wearing a club vest. To take series points, you just have to be a Gloucestershire resident and wearing a Gloucestershire running club vest. You don’t have to say you are taking part in the series or not taking part in it. You will be allocated points, even if it is the only race in the series you do.

I walked most of this hill to the turn-off for the cricket club. I could have sworn the marshal at the turn said ’80 metres to go’, but I know it’s more than 80 metres. The route is still heading uphill, on an uneven gravel and grass path. We didn’t turn in the main entrance to the cricket club, we had to run up even further. Then, finally, a left turn and pretty much straight over the finish line.

I finished in 45:16, eighth female and first in my age category. My friend from the club won her category too and we both got a tub of chocolates.

Despite the hills, I enjoyed my second time running Cranham Boundary Chase.

The other Gloucestershire AAA races I’ve run so far this season are – The Fission 20 race, Bourton Mile, Stroud Beer Race and Dave Lucas Memorial 10k.