Step back in time at the wonderfully preserved National Trust village of Lacock. With its central grid of four streets, Lacock today looks much like it did 200 years ago. Its oldest house is older than the thirteenth century abbey but since the loss of the village's main source of income from wool in the nineteenth century, new development has been minimal.
The name Lacock dates from Saxon times when the earliest permanent settles lived by the Bide Brook which runs through the middle of the village. They called it lacuc, or 'little stream'.
The medieval landscape was dominated by Melksham Forest which came right up the village and stretched for 33 miles to the south and east. Settlement began around the church, reflected in the irregular line of Church Street, but the rest is a medieval planned town, deliberately laid out on a grid of the other streets which can be seen today. There is much to see and enjoy once the events have finished!
There is a race specific car park for the event which costs £4 per car payment to the landowner. As the event is not affiliated with the National Trust they have asked that runners do not park in the NT visitor car park which is reserved for Abbey visitors. Toilets and baby changing facilities are located by the Stables cafe, only 50 yards from the Abbey entrance and very close to the race start. There will be additional toilets brought on site by us, the race organisers, which we ask the runners use instead of the village toilets. There is a children's play area, National Trust shop and many great places to eat in this historic village.
Please note that whilst the National Trust village is playing host to the race, Lacock Abbey itself is a pay to enter attraction and there is much to see including the Abbey, Rose Garden, Orchard and Museum. Find our more about the village, places to stay and visit during your trip for the race on the Lacock website and visit Lacock website.
Format
We expect to be holding the event in the usual format of ~150 runners starting every 10mins. Runners select a wave when they register.
As a contingency, if we need to reduce the wave size, please enter the same predicted time to the same second as another runner. Please make it obscure, as lots of people will put a predicted time of 1 hr (1:00:00) for a 10km, but if you put 1:00:19 it will be easier for us to pick out people who want to run together should we need to split the waves into smaller waves.
Register
This is a fully CLOSED ROADS event taking in the tranquil and picturesque lanes of the Wiltshire countryside and through the historic streets of Lacock itself. It is an ideal race for the first time runner and you can expect to post a good time on this flat course. The 10km and Half Marathon route officially measured accurate routes.
The race start on the village green opposite the Abbey. The route heads out of town and over some lovely stone bridges over the river Avon. There is a slight rise before the first turn coming in at 1km. Beautiful country roads wind round to the hamlet of Reybridge with lovely thatched roofed buildings lining the narrow streets.
Once through Reybridge the run will come back round to Lacock itself and run along the historic side streets as well as up and back along the main high street. This is a 1 lap course for the 5km, 2 laps for the 10km and 3 larger laps for the Half Marathon which has a larger looped section at Reybridge to ensure an accurate distance.
The 1km family run run will be an our and back along the main high street. The minimum age to run unaccompanied is 8 years old. Children younger than 8 are welcome to run it they are accompanied by an adult who is over the age of 18. There is no charge for adults accompany children, unless they wish to collect a medal, in which case we ask they register as usual.
Notes
This event is suitable for buggy runners but please note there are a couple of narrow sections including a raised footpath without a fence. Many runners have run with buggies in the past, including double buggies, but please do take extra care. As we don't know the dimensions, wheel base, of your buggy we can not comment on the suitability of your buggy. This is event is not suitable for canicross.
There are no hidden booking or processing fees on top of the prices shown below. Please note on the day registrations are £2 extra. There are great group discount races for groups of 10 or more, the runners can cover any range of distances on race day. 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 that all group bookings are made at least four weeks before race day wherever possible so we have the opportunity to top up our medal order if necessary.
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.
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 automatic contingency date for this race is the 25th June 2023.
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