Race Date: Sunday 22 March 2026

Race report by Hannah Holliday

The Ashby 20 is without a doubt my favourite race on the calendar, and I am evidently not alone in being fond of it as it always sells out within hours. However this is probably also down to its excellent timing as a warm-up race for anyone doing a spring marathon. This year it fell 4 weeks before Manchester and 5 weeks before London, making it an ideal opportunity to test out marathon kit/fuelling/pacing and to get some final long miles done with company. 

It was a lovely spring morning and, aside from the usual race-day apprehension, spirits were high on the car journey down. We parked up at 9am, giving ourselves plenty of time to do all the usual pre-race faffing before the gun went at 10am. Ashby is always a very well-organised race, with an army of Scouts manning the bag drop. So, no queues for this, but the toilets were another matter! Despite having made use of the facilities in a local pub, we then all needed to use them again and so found ourselves queuing when we really should have been on the start line. It all worked out in the end though, and before long we were lined up and ready to go.

The route is described as ‘undulating’ and that is 100% accurate. The first couple of miles are mostly downhill before you then start an 8.5 mile loop of rolling country roads, taking in some of the villages around Ashby. You do this loop a second time before then heading back up the hill to the finish. The final climb isn’t particularly steep by Sheffield standards, but at mile 19 of a 20-mile race it feels steep enough! 

The final 400m skirts the edge of a nice open field area and this is where you get your first glimpse of the highly-anticipated finishers hoodie. The colour is a closely-guarded secret and can either give you a spring in your step for the sprint finish or make you wonder why you’ve bothered! Fortunately this year it was a very tasteful ‘muted lavender’ – definitely an acceptable reward for running 20 miles. In addition to the hoodie, all finishers are given a freshly-made cheese and tomato cob, a generous selection of snacks and a very warm welcome over the finish line.

As mentioned, this race is used by many as a warm-up for the marathon and so there were a variety of strategies at play. Some were racing it flat out, some were doing the whole thing at marathon pace, others (like myself) had a strategy of some steady/some marathon pace. It was interesting observing others and seeing people consciously speed up and slow down as the various mile markers passed. As always though, it is quite hard to find and maintain the discipline to do this when the race-day adrenaline is flowing and the sun is shining, and my efforts to take the steady sections at a truly steady pace fell slightly short of what was required (much to Coach Malcolm’s despair…) However, my main concern before the race had been an ongoing hamstring issue, so to finish in a decent time without this causing any problems was a huge result for me, and only added to my already joyous “it’s Ashby 20 day!” mood. Most others seemed to have had good runs too, and there was definitely a celebratory feel in the finish area and plenty of confidence-boosting miles banked for those with marathons coming up. As with a marathon though, it’s all fun and games when it’s going well, but it’s a very long way to run when things aren’t going to plan. Kudos to all those who didn’t enjoy it quite so much but persevered anyway – it really is much, much harder.

The whole race is very well-supported, particularly in the villages but also around the course where there were regular pockets of very enthusiastic support, loud music and jelly babies. The marshals are also all extremely friendly and encouraging, especially on that final climb. And the cherry on the cake this year was the car-load of Striders who had come down for the day to support. Seeing them at the half-way point and again on the home straight was a massive boost.

Post-race, we collected our belongings, met up with the support crew and then made our way to a local pub for lunch before heading back up the M1. A lovely day out, a successful long run ticked off and a fifth Ashby hoodie added to my ongoing collection.