Gate Gallop

08/07/2026

Final report on this years' Gate Gallop is below. If you won a trophy and haven't had it yet please let us know here or via DM and we'll try to get them to you.
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Sunday 21st June saw the return of the Tamworth Gate Gallop to the Anker Valley Sports Complex. This event is organised by the Peel Road Runners and features three events (~1 km children’s run; 5 km trail and 10 km trail runs). On the field there was a fete-like atmosphere, with hot and cold food and drink, and other fundraising stalls with all proceeds (a total of £2857.68 over the weekend) going to St Giles Hospice.

The day began with the children’s run: 20 enthusiastic children aged between 2 and 11 years took part, receiving a medal together with goody bag gifts.

The next event was the 10 km run. The course was altered this year due to ongoing solar works and involved an out-and-back to Statfold after the usual loop that takes in paths and tracks around the Warwickshire Moor and Anker Valley. Despite the warm conditions, the change was well-received by runners who perhaps appreciated a reduced number of stiles to climb and grassy fields to cross! In the women’s race, Burton-based clubs Run 4 U & Perform and Washlands Women vied for supremacy, with 1st for Laura Dutton (R4U&P, 41:19) and 2nd for Chantal Longdon (WW, 41:35). Carolyn Plateau (Ivanhoe) came 3rd in 43:14. Washlands Women won the female team prize though, with Lily Trueman (12th, 50:49) and Hannah Lee (13th 50:50) contributing alongside Chantal. At the front of the men’s race, there was no catching Peter Hackett (Tamworth AC, 33:34) who was in clear lead from the start. Following him over the line nearly 2 minutes later were Christopher Pearson (2nd, South Derbyshire RR, 35:24) and Chris Horton (3rd, Tamworth AC, 35:51). Tamworth AC were the deserved winners of the 2026 Male Team prize, with Max Kent (4th, 36:11) contributing alongside Chris and Peter. Female category winners were Isabelle Clemson (U20, South Derbyshire RR); Katie Stretton (Senior, Peel RR); Emily Parker (V35, Ivanhoe); Jessica Head (V45, Hatton Darts); Katherine Bradley (V55, Peel RR) and Mary Norman (V65, Run 4 U & Perform). Male category winners were Joseph Gorst (U20, Tamworth AC); Max Kent (Senior, Tamworth AC); Andy Evans (V40, Lichfield RC); Paul Waters (V50, Hatton Darts); Shaun Coulton (V60, Ivanhoe), Brian Moran (V70, Desford Striders) and Robert Dilworth (V80, South Derbyshire RR).

The 5 km “fun run“ started shortly after the 10 km run, with 27 runners completing the course, which follows the initial and latter parts of the 10 km route. The male race was won by Ian Orton (Peel RR, 21:51), followed shortly behind by 2nd place Jack Hilton (22:19) and Joseph Dutton in 3rd (Run 4 U & Perform, 22:25). The female race was won by Jennifer Bradshaw (25:25), followed by 2nd place Sophie Towns (28:35, South Derbyshire RR) and in 3rd place Becky Oddy (32:32).

The event organisers would like to thank the BDSL for their continued support of this race, and Team Peel for all of the hard work both behind the scenes and on the day that went into making it a success. We also thank Mike Gilman (J R Gilman & Son Ltd) and Graham Lee (Statfold Barn Farm) for permitting us to use paths on their land and clearing those tracks; Sunotec Group, including their representatives Jude and Rohit for manning a water station; Race Timing Solutions for the entries administration and chip timing; Fyffes for donation of finish-line bananas and St John’s Ambulance for event First Aid.

We look forward to 2027!

29/06/2026

A few photos from the Children's run. Apologies for not having many of these this year - I was on registration while this took place, so have posted a few that I received from another parent (who said I could use them).

29/06/2026

As a brief update, the final total raised for St Giles Hospice by the 2026 edition of the Gate Gallop was £2857.68. With that in mind, I'd like to thank the following individuals and companies:
- the Anker Valley Complex staff for supporting our event over the weekend and providing on-site refreshments, including very popular ice lollies,
- St Giles staff and volunteers for their continued support.
- Mike Gilman (J R Gilman & Son Ltd) and Graham Lee (Statfold Barn Farm) for permitting us to use paths on their land and clearing those tracks
- Sunotec Group, including their representatives Jude and Rohit for manning a water station
- Fyffes for donation of finish-line bananas
- Race Timing Solutions for the entries administration and chip timing.
- St John's Ambulance for First Aid provision
- The extended Peel Family for their year-on-year support of the race (baking cakes, clearing the course, helping with setup and breakdown, marshaling, manning water stations, running stalls or just generally making themselves useful).
- Anyone who entered / attended and in doing helped us to raise the above funds!
Finally, it was again a pleasure to welcome Stephan and Chloe Couture of the LadyBugs Trust back for yet another crack at our bespoke off-road wheelchair-accessible route. If you've not heard their story yet we'd thoroughly recommend you check out their website: https://ladybugstrust.org.uk/

21/06/2026

RESULTS
Hello all, the final, updated version of the Gate Gallop 5k and 10k results are now available from here https://results.racetimingsolutions.co.uk/Results.aspx?CId=16269&RId=24245&EId=2. I think that these are now correct, but please do either let me (here or via [email protected]) or the timing company (via [email protected]) know. If you do the latter, could I ask that you cc me in anyway so that I'm aware of it. Apologies for the issues here - there's definitely been some awards given out incorrectly - but there's been some folks at the timing company doing some serious work behind the scenes to sort this out, and I thank them for that.

21/06/2026

Explore this photo album by Martin Hollamby on Flickr!

21/06/2026

PHOTOS from today :)
I hope I've got at least one photo of everyone. Please feel free to download and use...
The start: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCXbsw
1st ~500 m on the field: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCXbsb
Near water station 1: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCXdgW
Neat T- junction (3/8.5 km): https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCXdhh
Finish straight: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCXdhH

Explore this photo album by Martin Hollamby on Flickr!

19/06/2026

Hello all, an email will go out to all who have registered for this year's Gate Gallop shortly with details for the day, but in summary:

- Parking is onsite (Anker Valley Sports Complex, Moor Ln, Tamworth B77 3AX). We'd recommend car sharing or being patient (please :)) as the access drive is narrow, but there's plenty of parking space once you reach the complex.
- Registration starts from 08:45. This is for all three events. Children's run is entry on the day (£3) and entries on the day are available for the other events too. Even if you've entered online, you must still come to registration to collect your number/chip.
- Children's run starts at 09:45, 10k at 10:15 and 5k at 10:30. We'd recommend all aim to arrive onsite for the Children's run, primarily as it's a joy to watch.
- Prize-giving will be after the 5k and 10k have finished, which is likely to be around 12 noon. As usual, we'll have a lot of prizes to give out. Please stick around to collect your prize if you are fortunate enough to win one, and to support those who've won.
- There are several stalls onsite offering food, drink, and also raising funds for St Giles Hospice, our primary beneficiary. Please take advantage of these opportunities :).

In relation to the course, because of the need to run an out-and-back this year for the 10k due to the ongoing solar works, we'll be making a little more use of the football fields both on the way out and back. Please follow marshal directions and course markings. The whole course is a mixture of grass, fields, concrete and gravel paths so be advised that while in pretty good shape the ground is uneven in places. After you leave the sports complex, there are the usual narrow parts in the first 2-3 km (particularly around the 2 km mark). Work is ongoing cutting back vegetation around the section we refer to as "blackthorn alley", but it's never going to be a motorway through there, so please proceed accordingly and be kind to your fellow competitors. There's ample time later in the course to open up your legs on the wider sections, so bide your time (I suspect the change of route may make this the fastest Gate Gallop in a while). On the out and back sections please keep to the left hand side of the (very wide) paths to avoid colliding with runners coming the other way.

It's forecast to be warm on Sunday. There are water stations on 5k and 10k at around 3 km, and on the 10k at around 6 km. There will also be water and bananas at the finish, but it would be a good idea to bring your own supply too.

Finally a couple of important race rules I'd like to highlight:
(1) There is zero tolerance of littering on the course and in the event area. Anyone observed deliberately littering will be disqualified and removed from the results. Note that this does not include areas around water stations, where it is acceptable to throw the provided cups to the side of the trail - water station volunteers will collect those up post-event.
(2) We don't allow headphones while running the Gate Gallop, following the recommendation of the Burton and District Summer league that this race is part of. This includes any type of headphones.
Other race rules can be found here: https://thegategallop.wordpress.com/race-rules/

I think that's all for now, but if you have any further questions please post below, send a DM here or email via the address on our website (https://thegategallop.wordpress.com/).

The organisers strongly advise that you train before the run. Speak to your doctor if you currently do not undertake regular exercise before you start to train. Participants to ensure their own wel…

21/03/2026

Hi all, entries for the 2026 edition of the Gate Gallop are now open. The event is taking place on 21st June this year. We look forward to seeing you: Please enter via the link here

The Gate Gallop is a community running event that helps to raise money for St Giles Hospice.  It has been running for over 25 years raising an amazing £100,000.