Run Fest Run is a 3-day running festival in the beautiful countryside at Bowood House, which is just a short drive away from Chippenham station. We were invited to attend this awesome weekend of running, music, inspirational talks, lots of festival fun and a chance to mingle with like minded people. As you can imagine we jumped at the chance of attending this incredible festival, it’s a weekend full of running how could we possibly say no!
The great thing about Run Fest Run is that it caters for all ages and all levels of running abilities. There are tonnes of runs that you can choose to take part in during the weekend. If you fancy a shorter run, you can opt for a 2.5km or a 5km or if you are up for a challenge you can sign up for the 10km or Half Marathon. Bowood house has a mixture of terrains including grassy tracks, compacted gravel and tarmac pathways so the perfect mix!
The festival starts on Friday afternoon but due to work commitments we arrived on Saturday morning bright and early ready for the day ahead. The festival was in full swing when we arrived, and the atmosphere was alive, we couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
Upon arrival we were given a wrist band and told to head to the registration tent, so we could collect our race packs and t-shirts. They had run out of the purple RunFestRun t-shirts but luckily, we are only small so opted for a child’s size large which fitted perfectly.
We signed up for the 10KM run which didn’t start until 2:30PM so it meant we had plenty of time to walk around. We started our day with an iced coffee before wandering around the stalls.
We attended a few talks during the day and we made sure we attended Fearne Cotton’s session which was great as expected- we love her! We also listened to Paula Radcliffe on the main stage as well which was super interesting, she is such an incredible woman!
There were lovely deck chairs to sit on as well which we definitely made use of whilst snacking on an pre race banana!
We made our way to the start line for 2:30PM where there was a warm up and then the race begun. The sun was shining, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather, but it did mean that it was super-hot when running. I was running the 10km with my boyfriend’s mum and it was so much fun running it together.
The route was very scenic and picturesque and as previously mentioned it was a mixture of terrains. It was a relatively hilly route, but it seemed like there were more down hills than up hills which I very much welcomed.
There were several water stations on the way round which I wasn’t expecting but very much appreciated in the heat. There were also lots of supportive and encouraging marshals on the route which was also great.
I was handed a cup of water and a medal once I crossed the finish line and there were also a selection of snacks to choose from. There were Nine bars, Whitworth shots and they were also handing out Tribe bars. I absolutely loved the 10km run, it was so much fun and I wish I could run it all over again.
Post run we enjoyed a couple of gins from Onker in the glorious afternoon sunshine and it was just the perfect way to spend the rest of our day!
We also tucked into a Raja Wrap which was so incredibly tasty! We do think they could have had a few healthier food stands as we did struggle to find something we wanted to eat. We always find when the sun is shining we want a delicious salad and nothing too heavy.
Olly Murs player in evening and was absolutely incredible! (My phone died so unfortunately I didn’t get any photos). They had so many amazing acts in the evenings including Razorlight on the Friday evening.
RunFestRun was organised immaculately, we really cannot fault it in any way! If you are looking for a running festival to attend next summer then this is the one!
