2019 Otmoor Challenge

2019 Otmoor Challenge

As races are not taking place at the moment, I'm creating some web pages entitled "where I was taking photos this time last year". Today, I'm looking at the Otmoor Challenge which is a Half Marathon that starts/finishes in Horton-cum-Studley, a village that is about 11M NE of Oxford.

The organiser's website says "Otmoor is an area of fenland between Oxford and Bicester, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a major bird sanctuary belonging to the RSPB. Surrounding the area are the so-called Seven Towns of Otmoor (really villages), one of which is Horton cum Studley. Annually, for the last 39 years, Horton cum Studley has organised a half-marathon with the title "The Otmoor Challenge" around the roads, tracks and field paths of Otmoor, a race that attracts between 300-350 runners of all abilities, both as club runners and as individuals, from the local area as well as much further afield. The race starts and ends at the Millennium Hall in Horton cum Studley, with the course being mostly flat apart from a 130 foot climb up to the village of Beckley at about the 11M point. The race starts at 2.00pm. In addition, the same course, as well as a shorter 5M version, is available for walkers, starting at 8.30am." Last year's race took place on Sat Jun 8th 2019 and this year's race was to have taken place today (Sat Jun 6th 2020). Unfortunately, because of the corona virus, it has had to be cancelled.

By the way, you can click on any of the photos on this web page to see the photo in hi-res.

The route of the race

Before showing you photos of some runners who did well in last year's race, I'll first show some maps of the race route and then some photos taken along the route.

The above map is an extract of the organiser's course map.

The above map is an extract of a map that Simon Worfolk produced several years ago.

His map has the above elevation profile.

Photos of the race route

Now for some photos of the race route. Most of these are from Google Maps. However, some are from geograph. And the photo of the Otmoor (at the top of this web page) is also from geograph. These geograph photos were taken by David Hawgood, Des Blenkinsopp, Shaun Ferguson and Steve Daniels. They are released with this Creative Commons Licence. Bear in mind that the photos from Google and geograph were taken several years ago. You can click on any of these photos to see where it comes from. Thanks to the photographers for these photos.

The race starts by leaving the field with the Millenium Hall (which is just visible in the above photo) and turning right along the road to the centre of Horton cum Studley.

At this junction it goes straight on into a small housing estate.

But it's quickly out - it's then off road for the next 2M.

It uses tracks and footpaths along the sides of some fields and diagonally across others.

Just before 1M, it passes Gardener's Barn.

Later it uses this track on its approach to Manor Farm.

At about 2.2M, it turns left to join the road that encircles the Northern part of the Otmoor. It's on this road for the next 4M.

The road visits four of the seven 'Otmoor towns' that were mentioned above. First up is Murcott that has a pub/restaurant called the Nut Tree.

Then it's a small village called Fencott.
Here's the Plough and the Church of St Mary at the village of Charlton-on-Otmoor.

The fourth village is Oddington which has St Andrews Church.
Just after Oddington, the race route leaves the road and goes off-road.

The race route uses the footpath that goes from Oddington to Noke.

This is Noke which is another one of the seven Otmoor towns. Noke is reached just after 7M.

At this point, the road that goes through Noke becomes a track to a farm - the race route instead turns right to go along ...

... this footpath which is alongside the fence of the 'Never Ending Field' - it's about 1.2M long.

The footpath alongside the 'Never Ending Field' is shown in the above map.

At about the 10M point, the race route joins Otmoor Lane which is a straight track/lane to Beckley - it gradually climbs from about 60m to 110m - it starts off gently but gets steeper later.

At the top of Otmoor Lane, the race route hits a T-junction. This is after about 11M.

The route comes in from the left and turns left to go up ...

... this hill. This is really up - it's the steepest part of the course.

After the top, the race route reaches a field which it goes down - it is losing all the height that was recently gained.

Just after 12M, the race route comes to this T-junction. It comes in from the left and turns left to join the road to Horton-cum-Studley.

It's a tedious end to the race - the name of the road gives it all away - it's 'Straight Mile Road'.
Eventually the entrance to the field is reached and there's a short straight to the finish on grass to the roar of the crowd!

Photos of the male runners who did well at the 2019 Otmoor Challenge

Here are some photos of the male runners who finished in the top 3 and/or were first in their age category. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.

Paul Fernandez (325, Abingdon_AC) was 1st and the 1st MV40 finishing in a time of 01:18:28.

Duncan Lawrence (361, Headington_RoadRunners) was 2nd and the 1st SM finishing in a time of 01:19:09.
Duncan was one of the team 'Oxhead' that consisted of Ben Upjohn, Adam Bayliss, Duncan Lawrence and John Fenning. They were the first team to finish and so they won the Challenge Cup.

Julian L'homme (376, Headington_RoadRunners) was 3rd and the 2nd MV40 finishing in a time of 01:20:17.

David Cantwell (386, Woodstock_Harriers) was the 1st MV50 finishing in a time of 01:24:28.

Graham Tull (278, Reading_RR) was the 1st MV60 finishing in a time of 01:37:01.

Photos of male runners from other running clubs

Here are some photos of the first male runner from running clubs other than those mentioned above. I've only included those clubs that had more than four runners competing. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

Paul Leverton (390, Alchester_RC) was 5th and the 3rd SM finishing in a time of 01:21:20.

Chris Noble (227, Brackley_and_District_RC) finished in a time of 01:35:06.

Ian Malcolm (357, Hook_Norton_Harriers) finished in a time of 01:42:15.

Mark Dilks (305, Kidlington_RC) was 8th and the 3rd MV40 finishing in a time of 01:24:01.

Adam Bayliss (431, Oxford_City_AC) was 6th and the 4th SM finishing in a time of 01:23:07.
Adam was one of the team 'Oxhead' that consisted of Ben Upjohn, Adam Bayliss, Duncan Lawrence and John Fenning. They were the first team to finish and so they won the Challenge Cup.

Andrew Newton (247, Thame_Runners) finished in a time of 01:33:09.

Matthew Lock (408, Witney_Road_Runners) was 4th and the 2nd SM finishing in a time of 01:21:05.

Photos of the female runners who did well at the 2019 Otmoor Challenge

Here are some photos of the female runners who finished in the top 3 and/or were first in their age category. These photos are ordered by the position of the runner.

Camilla Mitchell (965, unattached) was the 1st female and the 1st FV40 finishing in a time of 01:35:15.

Sam Usher (807, Alchester_RC) was the 2nd female and the 2nd FV40 finishing in a time of 01:35:58.

Katy Young (828, unattached) was the 3rd female and the 1st SL finishing in a time of 01:37:22.

Jo Gundle (995, Bicester_Tri) was the 1st FV50 finishing in a time of 01:46:14.

Jackie Duvall (909, Headington_RoadRunners) was the 1st FV60 finishing in a time of 02:05:38.

Photos of female runners from other running clubs

Here are some photos of the first female runner from running clubs other than those mentioned above. I've only included those clubs that had more than four runners competing. These photos are ordered by the name of the running club.

Dawn Breward (833, Brackley_and_District_RC) finished in a time of 01:57:52.

Samantha Rees (824, Hook_Norton_Harriers) was the 2nd FV50 finishing in a time of 01:48:30.

Andrea Finnigan (924, Kidlington_RC) finished in a time of 01:45:51.
Andrea was one of the team 'Kidlington Ladies A' that consisted of Heidi Lancaster, Clarissa Demczak, Clare Beesley and Andrea Finnigan. They were the first female team to finish and so they won the Challenge Trophy.

Emma Pughe (817, Thame_Runners) finished in a time of 01:57:02.

Lucy Harris (901, Witney_Road_Runners) finished in a time of 01:51:17.

Photos of the runners who got special prizes

Jonathan White (269, Alchester_RC) finished in a time of 01:47:44.
Each year, the Ogden Trophy is awarded to the runner who finishes in 100th place. In 2019, Jonathan received the Ogden Trophy.

James Smethurst (311, unattached) finished in a time of 01:36:28.
In 2019, the Otmoor Challenge 40th Year Prize was awarded to the runner who finished in 40th place. This prize went to James.

This photo shows the team 'Oxhead': Ben Upjohn, Adam Bayliss, Duncan Lawrence and John Fenning.
They were the first team to finish and so they won the Challenge Cup.

This photo shows the team 'Kidlington Ladies A': Heidi Lancaster, Clarissa Demczak, Clare Beesley and Andrea Finnigan.
They were the first female team to finish and so they won the Challenge Trophy.

Postscript

If you did the Otmoor Challenge in 2019 and want a reminder, then here's a link to all the photos that I took. There's a calculator on that web page that makes it easy to find the photos of a runner given their time and you can find the time from the results web page.

If you want to see the reviews I've done on other races, then here's a link to a web page that includes an index of the reviews of races.

I'm not sure which of the 2019 races I'll review next!

I maintain a web page for runners that provides a list of races near Oxfordshire and the latest results. Visit www.oxonraces.com and follow @oxonraces

This web page is at www.oxonraces.com/blog/2020-06-06-horton-cum-studley. It was created on June 1st 2020 and last updated on June 7th 2020.