Towpath Series 2025 Roundup

19th August 2025 0 0

There we go! Another year of the Towpath series draws to a close and another fabulous 4 races in mostly glorious sunshine completed. The tent survived another year!

Overall numbers for the series have been excellent:

249 for race 1 (10k) Race results
147 for race 2 (10k) Race results
136 for race 3 (10k) Race results
106 for race 4 (5k) Race results
638 entries overall (not all unique)

Overall series Winners:

Male

Ben Rawlins – SM – Westbury Harriers
Adrian Hearn – MV40 – Unattached
Tariq Kurd – MV50 – Bristol and West AC
Richard Goddard – MV60 – Weston Athletic Club
John Hargreaves – MV70 – Great Western Runners

Female

Aisling McCarthy – SF – Southville Running Club
Lucy Ellis – FV40 – Great Western Runners
Kate Hoffen – FV50 – Westbury Harriers
Barbara Sullivan – FV60 – Staple Hill Runners
No FV70

(The full list of overall finishers hasn’t been published but if you get in touch i can let you know where you finshed!)

A big thank you to Southville for supporting as always and Westbury Harriers for making us apart of your club championship, something we returned in kindness this year and will continue for next year I’m sure, also Bristol and West and Portishead who turned out in good numbers for the Mob match.

The series was run in excellent spirit, and the St Johns Ambulance crews were kept very quiet which is a big relief for any race director. We were so glad not to have any fallen trees this year minutes before kick-off as in previous years.

DBmax have become a real partner in the timing of the event, and they make it all so easy so a big thank you to Justin and the team for being great and the few issues we did have were resolved quickly with no hassle.

Whilst the towpath prizes hereditarily were wine of various colours, I feel the introduction of some Lagers, Ciders, IPAs and various spirits and of course some celebrity wine has added to the camaraderie of the raffle and the Toblerone has now become infamous, it was even copied this year by another local running club (mentioning no names (Westbury) 😉).

Thanks also go out to @OltraUK for supplying some recovery balm for post-race aches and pains. You can still get a discount on that using the code GWR10 for 10% off on their website (https://oltra.co.uk/). It is now available in Superdrug and will soon be in Tesco’s as well. I still have a few samples left so If you want me to attend a club night of yours and bring some then I’m happy to.

Kinisi Run Hub in Bedminster provided the series prizes so please go along there and take a look at the shop when you next need some running gear (which is all of us). Supporting local is something we need to be aware of as a community otherwise these options will disappear. Congrats to everyone who won a series prize, you rock!

As always, the towpath wouldn’t happen without the many people that make it happen behind the scenes, most of all John Cox who does all the boring paperwork stuff, dealing with council, sorting the school, St. Johns Ambulance etc etc. It’s a big task and he does it every year without any complaints. Awais who has coordinated the volunteers for the last 2 years, ensuring everyone is prepped, supported and has a smile on their faces. Also not forgetting all the other people that supported us from registration, directions, marshallers, water station(s), tail runner(s) and last, but not least the bollard protector for the 4 races!

As race director I do a little bit as well, but it’s all part of the service and I like to focus on the team and ensure we deliver the best, safest race possible.

A massive thank you to the few people that came up to me throughout the series and thanked me and club for our efforts, it means a lot to me personally and especially when people go out their way to do so, so I thank you immensely. Not to forget everyone that else that came and ran, we thank you just the same. We all know it’s not free to run our clubs and events like these keep our clubs viable so we appreciate you choosing to spend your money and time in our company.

I would encourage everyone who reads this to think if they can donate a little time to their club as we all get a lot back from it.

As a club we will actively encourage any feedback you have on what we did well and what we could do better. We have a few plans already, but new ideas are always welcomed.

We can be found at committee@greatwesternrunners.org.uk