Timings for the 2021 race are to be confirmed and may be amended to allow for a COVID-secure event. We will update this section as we get closer to the event. Our event will be contained to the time frames below.

8am – Event Village opens

1pm – Event Village closes

The Event Village is in the University Parks, OX1 3RF, near the cricket pavilion.

It’s where you can have your registration queries answered, use the toilets or buy food and drink.

The Event Village is also where the race warm-ups and presentations take place.

We are hoping that our Oxford Town and Gown 10k event will go ahead on our new date - Sunday 27 June 2021.

If you are unable to make the new date, or the new date does not go ahead, then your entry will roll over to the 2022 event. If you can’t make the 27 June date or the 2022 date, you will be able to request a full refund of your entry fee.

We’re doing a number of things to keep you safe on the day. These include:

• staggered arrival times to reduce the number of people in the park at one time
• socially distanced warm-up according to your start times
• socially distanced start funnel with clear floor markings
• starts in pulses of 10, to give you plenty of space when you run the route
• removal of touch points across the event, such as water stations and the baggage marquee, to reduce the risk of transmission.

Some general rules of the race

• Run your own race. We won’t have pacers, so use your own watch and our kilometre markers to pace yourself.
• Avoid drafting and running behind someone.
• Run on the left and, if you need to overtake, pass on the person’s right.
• Some narrow sections of the run will be single file so please follow the instructions and signage on the route.
• Please do NOT wear headphones while you race. This is for your own safety and that of your fellow runners, marshals and officials. The only headphones that are acceptable are bone conductor headphones.

COVID-19 tests

• We recommend all runners order a lateral flow test, which you can order free from the uk website.
• We strongly advise you complete the test within 24 hours of the race.
• If you get a positive result, do not turn up to the event.
• If you get a positive result, you can take a photo of the test result and send it to us at townandgown10k@musculardystrophyuk.org and let us know which you’d prefer:
• credit to use on another Town and Gown 10k event in the future, such as Oxford Town and Gown 2022.
• to consider your entry fee a donation to Muscular Dystrophy UK (we’d hugely appreciate this, as we’ve invested significant funds to deliver this event for our runners) a refund to the card you used to pay. (Please consider one of the above options before requesting a refund. Thank you.)

All entries are also secured by our new policy, whereby in the event of cancellation due to Covid-19 your entry will roll over to our 2022 event, and if you cannot make this date you may request a refund or to donate you fee to Muscular Dystrophy UK.

Entries have been extended to Monday 21 June.

The 10k is open to everyone over the age of 16.

It’s a race that attracts local runners, including university students, club runners and fun runners. If you are a wheelchair user or have any accessibility requirements and would like to take part, contact us on townandgown10k@musculardystrophyuk.org and we’ll make the necessary arrangements.

The Town and Gown 10k raises vital funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK. So while fundraising is not compulsory, we encourage all runners to fundraise what they can to help beat muscle-wasting conditions sooner.

Upon entering the race you will be given the option to make a donation and set up a fundraising page with our partners at Sport Giving. With the click of a button your page will be created as soon as your entry is complete and you'll be able to share your fundraising to your networks to help raise vital funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK.

All race packs will be sent in the post before the event to the address provided on registration. You Race Pack will include your running bib, which will have the timing chip fixed onto it.

There will be no Race Pack collections on the event day.

If you give us your mobile number on entry, you’ll get an SMS with your chip-time shortly after you finish the race. All chip-timed results will be available on www.chiptiming.co.uk after the event.

You can transfer your place to someone else, and there’s an admin fee of £5 per transfer. The deadline to transfer your place is Friday the 26th April 2021, please contact townandgown10k@musculardystrophyuk.org to make your transfer.

To limit contact we will not have a baggage marquee in the Event Village. Please leave anything you don't want to run with, either at home or with a friend or family member who's with you. If this is going to cause an impossible situation, please email use at townandgown10k@musculardystrophyuk.org

We will just have a coffee van at this year's event, in order to reduce queues and areas of congregation.

Another thing we’ve had to do to limit contact is remove water stations, which is guidance we’ve followed from Run Britain. If you need water during the race, we recommend carrying a small water bottle. At the finish, you’ll find a water bottle in a recyclable cardboard pack (thanks to Just Water) in your goody bag. We will also have water available on arrival.

Once you finish the race, marshals will funnel you into the finish area. Please keep moving through to the table where you can collect your goody bag. It will have in it your medal, water and some product samples.

Entry fees no longer include an event T-shirt, but these are available to purchase on entry and will also be on sale on the day of the event.

You will be emailed your allocated wave times in the next few days.

Because of starting the race in waves and the space between the first and last wave, we’ll email you details of the winners and will mail the trophies after the event.

There’ll be trophies for the following

Categories, based on chip-time on the day:

• first, second and third male and female
• first male and female in age groups.

Should a runner qualify for an overall winner prize and an age group prize, they’ll get the overall prize and we’ll offer the age group prize to the next finisher.

Availability of parking in the centre of Oxford is extremely limited, and there are no parking facilities in the vicinity of the race. All the roads in the immediate area are closed, with parking restrictions enforced.

Local Buses

Please visit the Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach websites for up to date travel and bus routes to Oxford City Centre on race day.

The start and event village is a maximum 10 minutes walk from the City Centre so any bus reaching near into the City Centre will be a walkable distance.

Trains

The start and event village is a maximum 20 minute walk from Oxford Railway Station. Please factor this walk when planning to get to Oxford by Train. For up to date train information visit the national rail website.

Parking

Please visit the Oxford City Council website for a list of car parks within the City Centre.

Road closures will start to come into force from 8.00am on the Sunday morning and remain in operation until 12.00 noon.  The majority of the affected roads will be on a rolling closure system (i.e. will reopen as soon as the last runner has passed and it is safe to do so) apart from Parks Road, which will remain closed for the duration of the event.

The roads affected are listed below.

Bradmore Road, Blackhall Road, Broad Street, Catte Street, Cornmarket Street, Crick Road, Keble Road, Fyfield Road, High Street (except buses and taxis allowed in both directions using Stop/Go Traffic Management), Holywell Street, Jowett Walk, Longwall Street, Magdalen Street East, Mansfield Road, Market Street, Museum Road, New College Lane, Norham Gardens, Norham Road, Parks Road, Queens Lane, South Parks Road, St. Cross Road, Turl Street.

To coincide with these closures, parking in the certain residential parking bays will also be suspended.

Parking bays suspended from 00:00-12:30 on Sunday 27 June.

• Longwall Street
• Parks Road
• High Street
• Broad Street
• Mansfield Road
• Jowett Walk
• Norham Gardens
• Fyfield Road
• Norham Road
• Bradmore Road

Parking bays suspended from 18:00 Saturday 26 June until 12:30 on Sunday 27 June

• Mansfield Road

If you require further information please contact us.

Yes, we have beginner and intermediate training plans to get you ready for the day on Muscular Dystrophy UK's training zone. Visit the training zone now.

The virtual race offers you to take part on Oxford Town and Gown on our event date - Sunday 27 June but in a location that suits you. You can complete your run anytime from 00:00 - 11:59 on 27 June.

Submitting your time

There are 3 ways you can submit your time.

Option 1 - live tracking via the app
Our entry system partner, Race Nation, have a Free App which will have a facility for you to track your run on the day. You can see how to download and record your time on the Race Nation website

Option 2 - Strava
If you are a Strava user, you can complete your run and track with your chosen device to upload onto Strava. Once the run is uploaded onto Strava please follow these instructions to submit your time and run.

Option 3 - Enter manually
You have the chance to submit your time manually via the Race Nation App. You can follow these instructions on how to this and also upload any proof.

Medals

All entrants who complete their Virtual Run will be sent a medal in the post by the end of July to the address entered on registration.

Please contact townandgown10k@musculardystrophyuk.org if you have not received this by 1st August or for any virtual entry questions.

Our popular Junior 3k race has been rescheduled to Sunday 19 September 2021 and being held in the stunning grounds of Summer Fields School in Oxford.  Visit our Junior 3k page for more information.

Our current 2021 Oxford Partners are at the bottom of this page we are always interested in forming more new partnerships with businesses.

For more information about our sponsorship packages fill out the short form on our sponsors page.

Muscular Dystrophy UK’s Town and Gown 10k series is professional, chip-timed and serious fun. Popular events in the Oxford and Cambridge runners’ calendars, this is the runner’s run, raising funds for people living with muscle-wasting conditions.

We believe in:

• excellence – our award-winning runs are the only closed-road city centre 10k races in Oxford and Cambridge, and they take in beautiful, historic sights.
• community – we bring students, graduates, club runners and novices together to compete for personal bests or simply to enjoy the bespoke routes.
• ambition – we give our runners a first-rate experience and involve them in our drive to achieve a fully accessible and sustainable event, and they’re helping achieve our goal of beating muscle-wasting conditions.