A truly special race that not only takes in many of Bath's beautiful attractions, but also has the longest underground section for each race distance in the UK!
Cutting right under the city of the Bath, the two tunnels offer a truly unique running experience. The Somerset & Dorset Railway closed in 1966 and until April 2013, the tunnels had been sealed and inaccessible. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Two Tunnels Group and Sustrans over a period of 7 years, the two tunnels now have a new lease of life as a shared use path. The first tunnel, the Devonshire Tunnel is 408m long and the second tunnel, Combe Down Tunnel is 1672m long. Both tunnels are well lit and well surfaced and have recently been converted into a shared use path for the enjoyment of runners, walkers and cyclists looking to make the most of the city whilst remaining on flatter ground.
With an ultra marathon, 50km relay, marathon, 3 different half marathons, 2 different 10kms, 5km, 2km and 500m Colourburst races there are events for all the family, and if they are not taking part, bring your friends and family to cheer you on. Our start and finish is at Brickfields Park in the middle of the city which also has a children's play ground and is a great spot to sit and enjoy a picnic after the race.
We are very happy to be supporting the ongoing work of Sustrans in maintaining the Two Tunnels by contributing £1 per runner to their charity. Looking to fund raise as part of your run, why not raise money for Sustrans? You will get a lovely free running vest and other goodies. Find our more here. In 2019 we donated £5,254 to Sustrans.
Register
Individual Races: Some distances have multiple route options, known as Tickets, across the year, some repeated on each date, others available only once a year. Please click on the route options off the main Two Tunnels menu for more info on which routes are offered on which dates. You can enter one or more races at any time.
Series Discount: Sign up for all four 5km or 10km races and get a race for FREE! Please use the series registration option on the form. Series discount only applies when all four races are booked in advance of the first race date.
Challenge Series: Two Tunnels Mini Challenge = 5km + 10km + Half. Two Tunnels Challenge = 10km + Half + Marathon. The distances can be run in any order over the year. If you run these combination of events over the year, not only will you take home 3 medals, but also a laser engraved glass trophy which is awarded to ALL finishers. If you sign up race by race, please email us at least 4 weeks before your final event so we can order you a trophy. We can not guarantee a trophy after this point as producing one offs, shipped from abroad, would be cost prohibitive.
You can run multiple races on each day, please just make sure that the schedule would allow for this. Please allow some extra time between races as we hope to be able to reduce the time intervals between the races as normality returns. Provisional schedules can be found here.
All runners collect one custom medal with each race and there are four medals to collect over the year. Scroll down for a preview of the medals and trophy design for this year. If you are doing the challenge race, you can enter any distance race as your fourth race to get the fourth medal.
Format
Each distance will have a number of waves to choose from, please make a selection when asked to on the registration form. Waves are organised by approximate finish time, with one wave per distance open to all speeds.
We held the events in their usual fashion in 2021, with wave sizes of ~100 runners starting every 10mins which helps runners spread out on the route.
As a back up, should we need to reduce the size of the waves, if you wish to start with another runner, please enter exactly the same predicted time when you register, to the same second. If you can make it obscure that would be great, as lots of people will enter 1:00:00, so enter 1:00:19 instead for example. This means if we need to reduce the size of the waves, we can use this info to ensure pairs of runners can start together.
Notes
Please note there is a cut off of 3hrs for the marathon runners to complete the first lap (approx 13.3 miles). After this time runners will have to complete the half marathon course. They can still collect a half marathon medal but unfortunately we won't be able to provide a finish time. There are no cut offs for the other distances.
Runners with buggies are very welcome for the 5km, Return Ticket 10km and Return Ticket Half Marathon races only. The other routes have gates, steps or stiles which make them unsuitable for buggies. If you are running with a buggy you need to start at the back of your wave as there is some narrow, uneven ground after 150m for which it would be best if you were not in the middle of a group. Unfortunately none of the events are suitable for canicross.
Please note prices are £2 extra for on the day registrations, £5 extra for Mini Challenge/Challenge on the day registrations. There are great group discount rates for groups of 10 or more runners taking part in races of any distance, on the same date. 10-19 runners save 15%, 20-49 runners save 20%, 50+ runners save 25%. All bookings must be made in advance of race day to qualify for the discounted rate. We ask all groups to be registered at least four weeks in advance of the race date to we have the opportunity to top up our medal order if necessary.
As the 2020 and 2022 season were somewhat disrupted, we will be using the same design as shown below, but replacing the final O with a new 2 design so the medals will spell out 2022.
Each medal is an impressive 10cm x 6cm, giving you a giant 10cm x 24cm medal if you collect the whole set. If you collect all four we will be giving away small medal stands which keep all the medals nicely aligned like in the image below.
Each of our medals has a landmark from the race routes; Midford Castle which is visible at the turnaround of Return Ticket 10km route, the Return Ticket Half and Hilly Ticket Half also run past it on their routes. The third medal shows Bath Abbey which is a highlight of the route on the City Ticket Half and Marathon. And of course, every route has lots of tunnel running as represented by the train images on the second and fourth medals. All brought together with a representation of Tucking Mill viaduct, where you will find the first drinks station on all the 10km, Half and Marathon routes.
If you are entering the Two Tunnels challenge you will get one medal per race. So if you would like to collect the fourth medal just enter an individual event of any distance.
Build the interlocking medal set across the series, the more races you do the bigger your final medal! If you complete one of our Mini Challenge or Challenge series of events you will be rewarded with a unique glass trophy. This is for everyone who complete the race set, not just the winners!
Please note that runners collect 1 medal per race. Mini Challenge/Challenge runners will collect 3 medals + 1 glass trophy from completing that series. In order to collect the 4th medal a fourth race needs to be completed. This can be of any distance, 5km, 10km, half or marathon
Prizes
All our finishers receive a top of the range custom medal as well as a buffet of fresh fruit and other tasty treats. We also recognise a few of the speedy runners on the following basis.
Prize Categories
Top 3 male and top 3 female
First U20 male and female
First 20-39 male and female
First 40-49 male and female
First 50-59 male and female
First 60-69 male and female
First 70+ male and female
The final number of prizes awarded is determined by the number of finishers for each gender in a given race distance. If there are more than 100 finishers then the full range range of awards are made as shown above. If there are less than 50-100 finishers then the top 3 finishers overall will be awarded a prize. If there are less than 50 then only the winner will be awarded a prize. We do not have any winner's prizes for any of the children's events as would like to keep this participation focused.
There is no on the day prize giving because of the multi wave, multi start time format of the events. Prize winners will be contacted mid week via email.
Cancellation Policy
Whilst it feels like life is returning to normal, and we sincerely hope it is, there is the potential for further disruption which could come into play at any time. In this event we will still owe payment to our suppliers; medical cover, portaloos etc which we will honour. This means we will have to pay for these facilities twice, in full again on the rearranged date which will put a big hole in the funds. This does mean we won't be in a position to offer a refund.
In the event of a cancellation (local or national restrictions, bad weather etc) everyone will automatically roll over to our contingency date/race OR you can have a free transfer to a friend (within 7 days of the event postponement notice) OR you can email us within 7 days of the event postponement notice to let us know you can't make the back up date and you will be able to choose any other event in the following 15 months.
The contingency dates are;
27th Feb event would join the 8th May race. The 8th May event would join the 10th July race. The 10th July race would join the 21st August race. The 21st August race would move to the 23rd October.
