ABOUT 4,000 people raced around the stunning grounds of Blenheim Palace yesterday to join the fight against heart disease.

The Woodstock event included a half marathon, 10-km run and two km “family run”, for British Heart Foundation (BHF) research.

Oxford Mail:

10k run winner Sam O'Neill

Headington resident Sam O’Neill won the 10k run in 35 minutes and 55 seconds.

Mr O’Neill, 25, said: “It was a great day and the palace grounds were a really fantastic background for the run.

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“The course was quite challenging, a bit more hilly than I expected. But there were lots of people out there supporting those of us taking part, which was really helpful.

“Getting to run somewhere like Blenheim was a great experience.”

Fastest woman Dan Edmunds finished in 41m 30s and was 15th overall.

Witney’s Tom Offord was first in the half marathon (1h 18m 35s) and Sarah Wheeler was the fastest woman at (1h 24m 12s).

Oxford Mail:

Alan Goss of Bicester stretching before the run

Organiser Alistair Hills, of the BHF, said it hoped to raise £220,000.

He said: “It was a fantastic day and we had almost 4,000 people taking part in total.

“The sun shone pretty much all day and we had hundreds of spectators come out to support the runners. We are really pleased, it was a big success.”

Full results

  • More than 100 people yesterday took part in an annual fundraising walk between city hospitals. The It’s Not Just a Walk in the Park walk is for 34 charities that support Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. They began and finished at Headington’s John Radcliffe Hospital and took in the Churchill, Nuffield Orthopaedic and Warneford hospitals. For a full report see tomorrow’s Oxford Mail.

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