Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, two cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Banbury 10k
by Russell Turner - 15:26 on 07 September 2026
It’s not every day you have the opportunity to take part in the first staging of a race, so the inaugural Banbury 10k was one to do, especially as it meant I could stay near Oxford with friends I’d not seen for a while. Cyril was also to run; Dianne to support.
On Saturday, via a Falkirk Premier Inn and a night at Mum’s in Wakefield, I arrived in Banbury, found my way to the People’s Park where both start and finish would happen, and collected bibs for me and Cyril. A small park, flowers and sunshine, and a cafe where I could enjoy a snack. What’s not to like? From there, Big Blue and I completed the short distance to Radley where I was greeted by my hosts after 600 miles of driving. A long way for a 10k.
Food and catching up was done then kit organised for the next day.
Race day began with a 40min journey to one of several recommended car parks. We’d no idea how popular the race would be so played safe and parked a short walk from the People’s Park rather than as close as we could. This gave us the opportunity to observe Banbury town centre: a bewildering mix of traffic, modern architecture (some of it still under construction), much older civic buildings and a few thatched houses. Plus, of course, the Banbury Cross. Didn’t see any fine ladies, though.
The park was en fête with a few marquees and the usual range of runners in all shapes, sizes and ages. Warm-ups done, Cyril and I joined the back of the runnery throng, chatted with other entrants and tried not to worry about the warm day. The hooter sounded at 10am; two minutes later (there were 621 runners) we crossed the start and not long after that hit our first incline. There would be several.
I lost Cyril quickly. He knew his pace was slower than mine, although mine was nothing to shout about after insufficient training. I hit the first peak after 1.5k then left the town shortly after to enter rural Oxfordshire – pleasant views but nothing for a Highlander to shout about. The next 1.5k was mostly downhill, ending just before the turn-off to North Newington where the leader of the race passed us looking strong and unconcerned; he’d covered almost 7k in the time I’d taken to run 3k. Show off. He finished in 31:16.
North Newington was an uphill out-and-back which defeated me before I reached the turn. More walk breaks happened on the way back and around much of the loop that took us through Broughton (never saw the castle) and towards the road where we’d retrace out steps to the finish. There were plenty of other walkers so I didn’t feel too bad.
Surprisingly, walking (for me) finished after 6k, shortly before I caught up a girl limping heavily on a leg fully covered by a compression sleeve. She’d wrecked a tendon two weeks earlier, she told me, after I asked if she was OK. I stayed with her for the next 2k, finding her limpy pace just right (I didn’t even notice we were heading uphill again), during which we discovered we are both running London on the Saturday, she for the first time. I gave her (because she asked) the benefit of my accumulated wisdom, such as it is.
Sadly, at 8k she needed to walk, by when the route was almost ready to travel downhill (mostly) to the end, so I bid her farewell and pressed on back into town, urged on by spectators – there’d been a decent turnout – and into the park where, with mere metres to go, I took a few seconds’ uphill trudge (wimp) until reaching the home straight, which I ran. I’d suspected a 1:10 finish so 1:09:39 was acceptable. Dianne took several photos, none of which I’m willing to share; my form leaves much to be desired.
The reward was water, a banana and a decent medal. Stretching followed, plus reunion with Dianne who’d been joined by two local friends. We settled down to wait for Cyril, who arrived 20mins later, surrounded by kids’ race competitors who’d set off on their two-lap park run as though it was a 50-metre dash. Amateurs. The kids were of no concern to Cyril, who enjoyed being the last adult to cross the finish line, whipping up the crowd as he went. Checking the results later, he was disappointed to learn that the two finishers ahead of him both had longer chip times. He may have finished last but wasn’t the slowest on the course.
Sleep was hard to come by overnight so our active recovery this morning consisted of a gentle stroll around the grounds of the Nuneham Courtenay Global Retreat Centre where I kept an eye on my heart rate because it was just 32bpm when I left my bed. (It had returned to a sensible rate when I was moving.) At least this helped take Matchgirl’s mind off Pandora, currently residing at Conanvet’s while the feline’s lack of appetite is investigated. I’ve had regulat WhatsApp updates. She’s making good progress, we’ve been told.
That’s the Banbury 10k 2026 done. Entries for 2027 are open already. It’s a good event, well organised in a scenic part of the world but I doubt I’ll be there next year – it clashes with the Buckie 10k which is much closer to home and a race I’m yet to sample.
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