10:47am Thursday 14th January 2010
By Richard Daniels
A THREAT hanging over this year's Coniston 14 road race has been been lifted.
The 30th anniversary race will go ahead over an extended course, which will mean runners tackling almost another three miles.
The closure of Bouthrey Bridge on the course due to damage after theNovember floods had raised the fear of postonement and even cancellation of the well-established fixture.
Now the race organisers have agreed with the relevant authorities for the race to go ahead on its original date - Saturday, March 27 - over an amended course of a total of 16.7 miles.
The race will be called the Coniston 14 Plus and the record times will not apply this year.
The altered route will take the runners from Water Yeat past the closed Bouthrey Bridge to use the next available bridge near the Red Lion pub at Lowick, and from there back on to the original course at Nibthwaite.
Another water station will be put in and the extra mileage will be well marshalled.
Mr David Walmsley, the race's registration co-ordinator said: "It's an excellent solution for all the 1,500 runners and many l the guest houses and businesses which benefit from the Coniston 14.
"The road closure notice over Bouthrey Bridge is for 18 months and with a lot of bridges in need of repair, it has low priority and we could not be certain when or if it might be opened again."
He added: "It is important that we get the message out to runners who have entered and might not want to do the extra distance. "
"We are almost at our maxmimum entry of 1,500 and it is likely the race will be closed this weekend, so if you want to run you should consider registering through the race website as soon as possible.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/trade_directory/