THE rebirth of the Sutton Benger five miles road race has been pronounced a big success, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

The small north Wiltshire village race returned to the calendar for the first time in over 25 years thanks to the efforts of former British marathon international Amy Chalk and her new running and triathlon events company Cadence Events.

A small but satisfied field of 159 runners completed the event on Sunday – the entries were closed at 200 – with Chippenham Harriers’ Eilidh Bell proving a popular winner of the women’s race.

“We have already had some very positive feedback on social media which is very nice,” said Chalk.

“We shut off entries at 200 because we wanted to keep it manageable and see how the course and facilities coped with those sort of numbers.

“When we launched the Grittleton 10k last year we had 170 runners and that leapt to 450 this year so hopefully the word will now spread about the Sutton Benger race as well.”

Chalk said she recalls running the event as a youngster 25 years ago but then, like many old events, it just dropped off the fixture list.

“We think it was the late 1980s when the race was last held from Sutton Benger School,” added Chalk.

“The Sutton Benger 5 is a really lovely, flat and potentially fast loop course but on Sunday it was a bit messy after the storm and there were puddles and leaves all over the course.

“We deliberately didn’t push or advertise the event this year and we knew that the Swindon 10k and Castle Combe Chilly 10k races were also on the same day so really it was a test event to see how it went.

“I was keen to have a 5 miles race as I always thought it was a good distance to race but sadly there aren’t many of them around these days.

“It is satisfying to bring back an old event like that and we are also planning a 10 miles race on Good Friday next year from Stanley Park.

“It is just a question of finding the right race, a good venue, involving local people and organising a good event. Hopefully with all my experience I know what runners want and it is nice for me to give something back to the sport.”

Sutton Benger 5 – men: 1 Josh Dixon (Stroud) 25:51 2 Michael Passmore (HRC) 29:44; 3 William Trew (Chipp) 29:52; 4 Sam West (Bitt RR, M40 1st) 30:14.

Women: 1 Eilidh Bell (Chipp) 30:52; 2 Jenny Creed (unatt) 34:19; 3 Caroline Blake (Chipp, W45) 34:51.