"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own" Sri Chinmoy
Ramsbury Half Marathon - Trail Race - 15 March 2026 - Wiltshire
The last time I remember doing a trail half marathon in Wiltshire was 2004 – 22 years ago now! That was one of my most memorable races, where I moved up the field and eventually finished 4th out of 180+ runners, in a time of 1:25. The 22 years older version of me picked the Ramsbury Half as a training race – a stepping stone on the way to (all being well) the Mount Olympus Marathon in June. The race came in mid-March, just as Spring was trying to start and a cold-snap was trying to push it back. I got there early as always, got myself ready in the car and then had a good warmup on a nice, quiet droveway over the road from the Race HQ as the disco/barbecue setting at the Ramsbury Brewery was not really my thing. I knew it was a beer-themed race, but I had a weekend where I was free to race and just picked the right terrain, distance and location.
As it turned out, this was a great choice of race. The course began with a long downhill stretch from the hilltop brewery yard and barns that were the base for the race, down into the valleys where most of the race would take place before a long, final drag back up. I went off in the first 30 or so and had a plan of sticking to the top-end of Threshold HR – for me on my watch that’s 165-166 bpm and it allows me to run at around 8 mins pace on the flat. I haven’t usually set myself limits like that in races before, but as this one was part of my training rather than the goal itself, it seemed smart to pace myself.
The weather forecast for race day had been pretty dire until a few days out, when it had suddenly promised a cool and dull day with maybe even some breaks of sunshine. Rolling down into the valley we had exactly what was promised, and I was layered up against the cold which I expected to last all morning. It wasn’t long before I found myself running almost alone as the field of 170-ish runners strung out, and I pulled off the buff and unzipped a bit as I warmed up. I was happy with the plan, happy with the pace and very happy with the scenery which unfolded around me (not to mention the perfect surface – firm but soft, nothing technical). From the first mile marker up to around 2.5 miles it was all steady uphill, but the reward was to emerge on to the Ridgeway, the 5000-year old drove that many call Britain’s oldest road. If you ignore the sweet track (a line of planks through the marshes of Avalon) I reckon it must be the oldest one that you can still follow. The sun was bright, I was serenaded by skylarks, I was running alone with just a couple of faster runners visible up ahead but otherwise just the natural sounds of the Wessex Downs and a sense of timelessness. The light had that clear quality you get in Spring, with views from the ridge out over the rolling hills and valleys of this corner of Wiltshire.
The course descended and followed the wonderfully named River Og, I kept up the strict discipline of running at 165-166, pushing faster downhill, shortening strides and chipping away slowly at the uphills. Soon we hit the old railway line, now a perfect running surface (bit muddy for road bikes, I would have found this a bit of a chore if it was included in an Audax) and we were fortunate to have it pretty much to ourselves. There was the odd dog walker or cyclist, a runner or two with a hydration vest coming the other way, otherwise it was more solitary running.
A few twists and turns came, sections of road through Mildenhall (pronounced Mynal) where I spotted a phone box library and resolved to visit it later to donate a book, then came the end-game in the shape of a long slog back up on trails and field-edges to the finish. For the last 3 miles I stashed my gilet as the sun was getting stronger and I let the HR limits go, getting up into the 170s on the climb at the very end where I was the only one running as far as I could see, in a pack of 10k runners who had rejoined the Half Marathon route just for the run in.
I finished happily in 23rd place with a time of 1:47, 4th Vet 50, pretty well satisfied with that. I hadn’t run the whole thing flat out, but the finish had been at proper race-intensity and I probably paced the whole thing perfectly (unlike my usual fly-and-die optimistic pacing). The atmosphere at the brewery became, predictably, a bit beery for my liking so I jumped in the car and got myself over to Avebury for a 2 mile cool-down on the trails of The Avenue. On the way there I did visit that Phonebox Library in Mynal, to drop of a Daily Wisdom-Light, my little gift of something beautiful to a beautiful and charming village.
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