The Rotary Blenheim 10k

Latest: The 2010 Rotary Blenheim 10k will take place on Sunday 17 October 2010 in aid of DUO.

The Rotary Blenheim 10k is the annual 10–kilometre charity run held in the park of Blenheim Palace near Woodstock in Oxfordshire – an undulating course through parklands on traffic-free metalled roads. The race is organised by the Rotary Club of Woodstock (Registered Charity no. 1036746) and is held in Blenheim Park by kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Marlborough.

This year's run is to support the DUO charity for the Urology Department at the Churchill Hospital Oxford Cancer Centre to help develop state of the art treatment for some of the more awkward cancers using Robot Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery. The Nuffield Department of Surgery, University of Oxford, together with the Department of Urology at the Churchill Hospital, are developing robotic surgery and have raised funds in excess of £1million to acquire the latest version of the da Vinci Robot where instruments are connected to robotic arms and controlled remotely from a console by the surgeon. The advantages of robots are precision surgery; the image magnification of the operative field; the quality of 3D imaging and the improved outcome and fast recovery of patients - can be less than 24 hours in hospital and recovery within two weeks, compared to conventional surgery with 4 or 5 days in hospital and five weeks recuperation. Their next aim is an additional console so that training and teaching can be can be enhanced with two surgeons working together. This will be the first robotic set-up of its kind in the UK and allow Oxford to be at the leading edge. The cost of the additional console is £400,000 and DUO is raising funds for this purpose.

The 2009 race was run on Sunday 25th October 2009 on a brand new course. 457 runners completed the race. Results can be downloaded here in MS Excel format, or go to our results page for listings by time, name, number, etc. as well as previous years' results.

Simon Fisher won the men's event finishing in a time of 35:37. Michelle Bartlett led the women home in a time of 41:33. Tegid Jones and Lazloe Boden took second and third positions for the men, whilst Dawn Davies and Alison Bagnall repeated their 2008 positions, finishing second and third in the women's event.

In the Vets events, Phil Gilkes took the men's prize in the 50-59 age group in a time of 40:38, with Bruce Hendrie winning the 60-plus category in a time of 43:43. Alison Bird led the 45-54 age group for the women in 43:40, with Barbara Ralph winning the 55-plus category in 45:25. Team Brookes won the men's team event and Gentle Joggers took the women's team prize. Congratulations to them and everyone who took part!