The Abingdon Marathon took place this morning, starting at 9am . (The four-minute video above shows the runners leaving Tilsley Park at the start.)

The overall winner, Tom Hollis, competed in the 40+ age group. Many of the front-runners wore England vests, representing the country’s leading athletes across age categories from 35+ to 75+. This year, the Abingdon Marathon joined the Abbott World Marathon Majors Age Group World Rankings as a qualifying race.

The weather was cool, cloudy, with occasional showers. After about four miles, the route brought runners through the Market Place.

This was one of the areas where there was a lot of support.

The course took runners down East St Helen Street,

along St Helen’s Wharf,

over the Iron Bridge, and out on a loop of South Abingdon and the surrounding villages, which runners completed twice before heading back up Bath Street to Tilsley Park .

Back on the Market Place, The Town Crier was still on hand to ring through the last few runners.

Stewards gave a huge cheer to the final runner – who was moving twice as fast as the other last runners. Possibly she’d started late.

There was a final blast on a traffic-cone.

I revisited the marathon in time to see some of the sub-four-hour finishers in Tilsley Park.

Another well organised event, made special by the enthusiastic support and cheerful volunteers.

There was a good turnout at the Abingdon 5K Parkrun this morning, with 502 finishers — the fourth-highest total since the event began in 2011. Notably, three of the top four have taken place in 2025.

Cool, dry conditions made for good running weather, and a large team of volunteers helped ensure the event ran smoothly.

While many participants were unaffiliated fun runners or walkers, the field also included members of a wide range of clubs – from local teams such as Abbey Running Club, Abingdon AC, Harwell Harriers, and White Horse Harriers, to visitors from further afield, including North Shields Polytechnic AC from the North East and Canterbury Harriers from the South East.

With the Abingdon Marathon taking place tomorrow, some runners treated the Parkrun as a gentle warm-up.

The two-lap course followed its familiar route past Abingdon Lock and Kingfisher Barn. By the second lap, the lead runners were well spaced.

After crossing the finish line, and checking their times, many participants made their way to Abingdon Market Place, where coffee and conversation have become a Saturday morning tradition.

On a sunny August Bank Holiday, members of Abingdon Bowling Club gathered at their rink in Albert Park to compete for the Martin Cup. Teams were drawn from across the club members there, making for a competitive afternoon of bowling.

Bowls is a social sport, with plenty of encouragement and advice exchanged between teammates. For spectators, the basics are straightforward: each end begins with the small white jack rolled to the far end of the green. Players then roll their bowls, aiming to finish as close as possible to it.

Scoring is less obvious – at the close of each end, the team with the nearest bowl scores one point for every bowl closer than the opposition’s nearest. Sometimes only a single point is won; at other times a team can collect several. Scores are added up during the match, and the team with the highest total wins.

Abingdon Bowling Club were founded in 1913. Their present clubhouse, built in 1994, stands beside the green in Albert Park surrounded by a hedge which makes a peaceful setting for the game.