Taunton Marathon & Half Marathon route changed for safety reasons

The section along the A38 Taunton to Wellington road, including Rumwell Hill, has been scrapped for the 34th anniversary of the popular run.

Instead, competitors will follow a revised route out of Bradford-on-Tone and along Hele Road, parallel to the A38, through Hele and Upcott and up into Bishop's Hull by Shutewater Hill.

Race director said the route has been tweaked for safety reasons.

He added: "Traffic on the A38 on Sundays has grown tremendously since the event started in 1983 and especially so in the last few years.

"Our primary concern has to be for the runners’ safety.

"very year we review our risk assessments and are clear this is the right move to minimise the potential conflict between runners and vehicles.”

Under England Athletics rules the route has to be measured to within 42 metres of the official marathon distance.

Mr Lewis said: “To keep within the limits we’ve also had to alter the route the race takes through the town centre.

"Instead of using Corporation Street and North Street, runners will go down Castle Street, past Tesco, and over the Tangier Way bridge to pick up the original route in Bridge Street.

"The official measure found we were 56.8 metres short with this, so to keep the start and finish in exactly the same place we’ve put in a little ‘out and back’ section in Silk Mills Road.”

The route will be still as challenging as before as the new section along Hele Road has a couple of inclines and Shutewater Hill is very much like the climb up from Bradford Bridge.

More than 650 runners have signed up for the half marathon and a further 150 for the full 26 miles.

The closing date for entries is March 20 - enter by clicking here or pick up a form from Wellsprings Sports Centre, Blackbrook Pavilion, Tony Pryce Sports or the Taunton Visitor Centre.

This year’s nominated charity is the Alzheimers Society, which will receive a donation from each entry fee.