Bath Half Marathon: Thousands take to streets for race

Thousands of runners took to the streets of Bath

Some 9,300 runners have taken to the streets of Bath for the city's 41st half marathon race.

The 13.1 mile (21km) race drew crowds of thousands who came to watch the runners.

Race director Andrew Taylor has described it as a "fantastic" event.

"We have been through some turbulent times in recent years with the pandemic, but Bath has come out in the sunny weather and the backdrop of the Royal Crescent was great," he said.

However, some runners weren't able to make the starting line because of problems with broken-down trains.

"We were made aware of some runners who were stranded.

"That was a great shame, I feel sorry for those runners who made travel plans in good faith," Mr Taylor said.

The women's race was won by Phillipa Williams, with a time of 1:13:05, while Jonathan Escalante-Phillips won the men's race with 1:04:24.

"I'm tired but really pleased, we had fantastic support from the crowd," said Mr Escalante-Phillips

Jonathan Escalante-Phillips and Phillipa Williams won the men's and women's races

Ms Williams said she was "buzzing" to win.

"The race conditions were great, I thought I'd hate it because it was so cold but it was perfect," she said.

The Bath Half Marathon was postponed four times during Covid and only returned last year.

It will return to its regular schedule of a March race in 2024.

The race snaked its way around a 13.1 mile loop of Bath

Mr Taylor said he was grateful to the volunteers who supported the event.

"We've had 750 volunteers and 120 charities supported. We couldn't do it without everyone's help," he said.

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