The Oxon 40/20 - 2008


3 May 2008

We were lucky again with the weather this year. It was sunnier and warmer than forecast – the temperature reached 20°C in the early afternoon and in the hazy sunshine it felt quite a bit warmer. It stayed dry all day. The bluebells were at their best, and anyone not seeing several red kites must have been looking at their shoelaces for the whole of the walk!

299 entrants took part, a record for the event. The hard-working catering team coped magnificently with the extra numbers. Supplies at the first checkpoint at Bix (7½ miles) began to run low and were promptly replenished with extra bread, quiches and cake, and more water was hastily ferried to the al fresco checkpoint at Britwell Hill (15½ miles) on the 40-mile route when their containers began to run low.

The detailed numbers are:

  • 40-mile route – Starters 97; Switched to 35 miles 11; Retirements 13; Finishers 73
  • 20-mile route – Starters 202; Retirements 6; Finishers 196

Thanks to everyone who took part, congratulations to everyone who finished, and commiserations to the few who didn’t make it. We look forward to seeing you again next year. Thanks to all the support team from the Thames Valley Group for their hard work on the day marshalling, checking starters out and finishers in, feeding and watering everyone, and clearing up afterwards! And thanks to the companies who let us use their car parking facilities in Newtown Road: RPS Energy, Dalton Identification Systems, Videcom Ltd and Hattrick Films.

Nicole C did the 40-mile route and sent us the statistics and the ascent/descent profile from her GPS.