The Staverton 10 road race, due to take place on Sunday, has been called off.

Ongoing roadworks on part of the two-lap course around the airfield just outside Cheltenham means this year’s 10-mile race, which is organised by CLC Striders, will not go ahead at the weekend.

All 275 places in the race had been taken up in the annual event and all the runners, who had been told that the race was in doubt, have received an email from the organisers informing them of the decision.

It reads: “Following our communication on the 20th January, the organising committee for the Staverton 10 road race has had to take the decision to cancel the Staverton 10 road race planned for Sunday 29th January.

“As previously mentioned, we are aware of major ongoing roadworks on the road between Bamfurlong Lane and the Hare and Hounds pub and, despite engagement with the contractors and looking at multiple options, we are not satisfied that we can guarantee runner safety on the day.

“We believed that a safe passage through the works could be made in time for the race to take place, but, regrettably, this has not been the case.

“Our decision has not been taken lightly and we will look at options to run the race later in the year, once we know more about the roadwork situation. And we will keep you posted on this, of course.

“For now, we are offering a full refund and our sincere apologies.

“We do hope that you will run with us again in the future.”

This year would have been the seventh running of the Staverton 10. Last year’s race was won by Michael Kallenburg (unattached) with Fiona Carter (Lonely Goat RC) the first woman home.

Carter set a women’s course record of one hour, two minutes, 41 seconds. The course record is held by James Bellward (Royal Air Force), who ran ran 49 minutes, 29 seconds in January 2020.