OUOC invites you to the seventh Oxford City Race to be held on Saturday 31st October 2026.
Following on from the success of the 2024 edition, the Oxford City Race returns for 2026. Our permissions spreadsheet once again runs well into double digits; the event continues to offer a unique way to experience the city. The courses will start in University Parks and visit central and south Oxford. We have secured permission from SEVEN colleges, along with other interesting areas of the city.
The event is twinned with SOC’s November Classic on the Sunday and is part of both UKOL and UKUL.
Entries are now open: https://racesignup.co.uk/oxford-city-race.
The event will be based in the Oxford University Parks and the courses will then take you on a tour of south Oxford featuring various parks, departmental areas and, of course, colleges.
There will not be any dedicated parking provided for this event. There are a few paid public car parks around the city, please get in touch with us if you would like more information about these.
However, Oxford is a busy place, especially on a weekend morning! Generally, we strongly recommend that you use the Oxford Park&Ride service instead (https://www.oxford.gov.uk/parkandridesites). As of August 2026, they offer a “£3 combined ticket which covers return bus travel into Oxford and back for up to five people of any age and up to 16 hours’ parking at Oxford’s Park and Ride sites”.
The area is a standard urban orienteering area. It includes the streets of Oxford as well as several colleges, departmental areas and parks, offering a good variety of fine navigation and route choice.
All courses will finish in University Parks and Courses 1 and 2 will also visit another park on the course. It is therefore recommended that you wear shoes suitable for grass as well as hard-standing.
There are numerous ‘Out of Bounds’ areas on the map, all marked with the standard symbols of either olive green or purple hashing. Many of these OOB areas are college quads and similar areas. Our continued use of the colleges for orienteering is contingent on our being respectful of the colleges, so please take particular care to not go into any OOB areas.
The courses available will be the standard Courses 1-7 offered at urban events. Specific course details can be seen on the Racesignup page.
The Start is located within University Parks and is approximately ~500m from Assembly. The Finish is adjacent to Assembly.
There will be a 4 minute call-up at the Start. When entering, please select a start window. Specific start times will then be allocated, within the start window you have selected. These specific start times will be shared closer to the time.
Timings:
Help, enquiries and SIAC hire: 10:00-13:00
Starts: 10.30-13:00
Courses close: 15:00
Please note that Courses 6 and 7 have slightly restricted start times of 11:00-12:30.
Entries are now open! More details, including entry fees, can be found on Racesignup here: https://racesignup.co.uk/oxford-city-race.
Dogs are allowed in the Assembly and University Parks. They are, however, unfortunately not allowed on the longer courses (Courses 1-5).
First Aid will be provided by White Star Medical Services and will be available at the Assembly / Finish.
All competitors will be required to wear race bibs. These are crucial for allowing event officials and volunteers to identify you as a competitor. Anyone not wearing a race bib will not be allowed into the colleges. We request that you fill out the emergency and medical information on the reverse of the bibs. Bibs can be collected at Assembly on the day. There will be a list of names and corresponding bib numbers at Assembly too.
Organiser: Carys Sharp (OUOC/TVOC)
Planner: William Blackwell (OUOC)
Controller: Ben Green (TVOC)
Please email cityrace@ouoc.org.uk with any questions.
Find results, details and pages from previous Oxford City Races in the City Race history.