The Cambridge Boundary Run

If you want to check if we've received your entry form click here.

The Cambridge Boundary Run 2009

Sunday 1st March 2009, 10.30am
Full or half marathon options

Organised by:

Cambridge University Hare & Hounds

Race Day Timetable

 8.00am CUH&H Committee will arrive to set up the start
 9.00am Doors open for collection of numbers and late registration
10.00am Number collection closes
10.25am Pre-race briefing
10.30am The Start!
12.15pm-12.30pm First bus will leave Coton Countryside Reserve to return to start
12.35pm-12.50pm Second bus will leave Coton Countryside Reserve to return to start
 1.15pm- 1.30pm First bus will return and then make final trip to start
 3.30pm Runners taking 5 hours to complete the whole route will arrive back at the start

Parking: If driving, please park in Windhorse Evolution's car park which 
is oppositie David Lloyd Gym, next to Booker Wholesale. Booker will be 
open on Sunday so please leave their car park clear. Please leave the 
David Lloyd car park free for their customers too.

There is limited parking at Coton, but enough room for collecting. The 
car park is still being built and the buses will require room to turn. 
If you find it is full please drive into Coton and park on one of the 
roads there and enjoy the stroll back - there are plenty of footpaths to 
choose from!

Registering contact details

To register your contact details on our mailing list please go to our mailing list registration page. If you want to enter, please make sure you add your name electronically to our mailing list first then download an application form and post it to our Junior Treasurer, Robin Brown. T-shirts have now been ordered so it is possible we may run out if we have huge numbers of late entries. We also have room to transport about 150 runners back from Coton, so if you want to be sure of a place on the bus, send in your form as soon as you can. Advance entry will cost £7 and entry on the day will cost £10. Last day for receipt of postal entries was Wednesday 25th February 2009. Please do not post any more entries!

Click on the image above to download an entry form!

A detailed route description will appear here once it has been finalised, as the progress of the Guided Bus will ultimately determine which footpaths are open and how much of a detour you'll have to endure! As before, Sweatshop Cambridge are happy to sponsor us, as are David Lloyd (previously known as Next Generation). KPMG have kindly offered to provide t-shirts too. If you are looking for a job, please follow the link to their website! The Cambridge Preservation Society have kindly allowed us to use the Coton Countryside Reserve as a finish for the half marathon. (This is about half a mile south of the Coton recreation ground.) If you want to see what the previous boundary runs were like, please click here.

If you have any general questions that you need an urgent answer to please e-mail boundaryrun@cuhh.org.uk. E-mails to this address will go to James Gill and Mark Coley . We are both final-year medics so may not be able to reply immediately, as we are quite busy!

Poster

If you want to advertise the Boundary Run in your place of work/study, please download a PDF poster!

Click on the image above to download a poster!

Route

We have now heard back from the various land owners that we can use their paths for the Boundary Run, so the route is finalised. Thanks go to St Catherine's College, Girton College, The Cambridge Preservation Society and The Wildlife Trust. The council have assured us the footpath over the guided bus way near the A14 tunnel will be open, and if not, the contractors should be able to open it for the day.

There are a few changes from last year too:

The start will proceed slowly along the footpaths to Cherry Hinton High Street, avoiding Coldham's Lane completely. Experience has shown that runners tend to take risks and cross roads more times than they need to. By running along the High Street there will be a pedestrian crossing on the route, and if the road is quiet, it will be safer to cross there than at a four-way traffic-light-controlled junction.
Towards the end of the path alongside Wort's Causeway the route will veer left and cross Babraham Road to pick up a route into Nine Wells. After Nine Wells the route will take you along the BRCA cycle path towards Addenbrooke's (with a good view of the hospital!) before passing in front of the Rosie and running part way along Robinson Way. Thereafter the route takes the footpath over the railway.
In Trumpington, the route is more northerly passing through an alley into Scotsdowne Road and then into Church Lane and thereafter Grantchester.
Towards the end of Grantchester Meadows St Catharine's College have allowed us to use their path to take us out over Grantchester Road and then north to the west of the city rugby ground. For the rail enthusiasts among you you'll be able to admire Newnham's miniature railway by going this way.
The half-marathon will finish at the Coton Countryside Reserve this year and there will be a water station here.
Full marathon runners will continue northwards along the edge of the reserve and pass along paths west of the recreation ground.
After this the course is more or less the same as last year, although it won't be necessary to do a detour in the park and ride to make up the distance!

The distance has been arranged to be 13 miles 192½ for the half, and 26 miles 385 yards for the full marathon. Most professional marathons are measured using a wheel with a revolution counter attached and the error in the measured circumference must be factored in to the total distance. (Runners must cover at least the advertised distance, so they usually end up running further) We have used modern mapping techniques and numerous GPS devices to construct our route and we are confident you will cover the correct distance. An extra 0.5% has been factored in as a safety margin. Conveniently this makes the finish of the half in a picturesque nature reserve and the finish of the full marathon right by the door of David Lloyd!

A Garmin course file (for those of you with a Forerunner 205/305) is also available.

To use this, save this file, BR2009.tcx, (usually by right-clicking and then choosing Save Target As... or Save Link As...) then import this into Garmin Training Center. Go to File/Import/Courses, change the drop down box to 'Garmin Training Center Database Files (*.tcx)' then select the file you have just saved. Then press the 'Send To Device' button and send the course called BR2009. You may need to move your existing courses (if you have any) back to Training Center so you not exceed the memory of the unit. To use it, press the 'Menu' button on the Forerunner, then go to 'Training' then 'Courses', then choose the course, then press 'Do Course'. Press 'Start' as you cross the start line. You can then flip to the map by pressing the Menu key repeatedly. The up and down arrows will then adjust the scale. Please ensure you have the latest version of Training Center, the GPS chipset software and the Forerunner unit software before proceeding. These can be downloaded from Garmin's website at www.garmin.com.

If you have Google Earth installed you can download the route in KML format and zoom in for a closer look, or use the inline map below.

View Larger Map

High-quality map and instruction booklet

Click here for a high-quality map. 300 copies of this map (A3 colour) have been printed ready to give out to runners so you shouldn't get lost!

Click on the image above to download the high-quality map!

Click here for a PDF instruction book with route description.

Click on the image above to download the route description!

Elevation

This is the elevation of the course. At the top of the first hill (near the end of the Roman Road into Cambridge) you'll get a good view of the city. After this the next peak is around mile 14 on Madingley Road. The last high ground is around the airport at mile 24.

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