Purple Gecko Events

19/02/2025

Organising a running event? Check out our latest blog about how to spoil your runners with Finisher tees, vests, snoods etc and how to maximize external sales through merch.

If you're a running enthusiast or just starting to explore the joy of running, the South West of England is an exciting place to be. With a significant rise in clubs and races, runners of all ages and abilities are gearing up to experience the spectacular landscapes of Cornwall and beyond. And finis...

17/02/2025

The Saints & Smugglers Challenge Series is back in 2025.
4 unique, self-navigation stages split into bitesize chunks on 4 different dates culminating in the legendary Saints & Smugglers 100 Mile Challenge.

Stage 1 – 1st March 2025, The Polruan Shuffle – 12.5 miles of scenic Coast path along the south coast of Cornwall from Looe to Polruan, 1 feed station part way at Talland Bay, 5 Hour cut off.
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7089

Stage 2 – 27th April 2025, The Smugglers Way – 37 Miles, Coast to Coast, straight across Cornwall via Brown W***y on Bodmin Moor. 4 Check points along the way, 13.5 hour cut off.
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7090

Stage3 – 7th June 2025, The Boscastle Scramble – 26.2 Miles along the North Cornwall Coast path from Rock to Boscastle! 3 checkpoints along the way, with some hefty up & downs and a 9 hour cut off time!
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7091

Stage 4 – 6th September 2025, The Saints Way Challenge, 28.5 miles, Padstow to Fowey, straight across the County following the ancient Saints Way Trail. 10.5 hour cut off.
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7092

The top 20 Male & Female finishers on each stage earn series points with the top 3 male & female champions being crowned after the final stage on 6th September in Fowey:)

The top 3 in 2024 were:

Male
1st - Tom Snaith.
2nd - Paul Grayston.
3rd - James Copp

Female
1st - Autumn Rolling
2nd - Avril Zinn
3rd - Tracey Cullerton of Plymouth Musketeers RC.

16/02/2025

New for 2025 - Roadford Lake - Gecko Gathering - Sat 5th April 6k, 11k & Long Half to choose from, no cut off times, medals for all and awards for the top finishers!

Sign up: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7128

6K 8am
11K 8:05am
Long Half 8:10am

7 weeks to go, your route will be clearly marked with large yellow & black arrows with marshals at key points. We will have a water point out on the course at the end of the loop plus one at the finish the Roadford Lake Cafe will be open for you on race day:)

Waypoint 2 on the map below marks the end of the loop, you will only run back in towards the finish point and the cafe once you have completed your required number of loops:)

6k complete 1 loop.
11k complete 2 loops.
Long Half complete 4 loops.

15/02/2025

Only two weeks to go before we return to Looe for the Polruan Shuffle, 12 Miles of challenging South West Coast path on the South coast of Cornwall between Looe & Polruan on Saturday 1st March.

Sign up: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7089

Race Registration is held in East Looe Guildhall from 7am, here you will receive your race bib and gps tracker and have your kit checked, below are your mandatory items:

Issued GPS Tracker secured in an external pocket of your running pack.
Whistle.
Hi vis / Reflective strips on clothing or pack / top.
Foil blanket or survival bag.
Lightweight waterproof top.
Leggings – (Can be wearing or stowed in pack for insulation)
Hat or Buff plus Gloves – (Can be wearing or stowed in pack for insulation)
Choc bar or item of nutrition
Small first aid kit (Plasters / wipes etc)
Minimum 1l of fluid.
A SPARE warm top
A fully charged mobile phone
Your name plus next of kin contact details on a piece of paper with your phone.
£20 cash for emergencies – (You are dropping out and seeking your own transport back to your car)
A collapsible cup to use at the CP.

You will start on east Looe beach at 8am., from there you will follow the route below across the bridge into West Looe and up through Hannafore onto the coast path and head west. 4 miles in you will come to the one and only check point situated at Talland Bay. Here you will have fluids ( water, cola, electrolyte, squash) plus salt & sugar snacks. The majority of you do normally run through this point without stopping which is fine as long as we can check off your bib on the way though and you are carrying enough fluids to get you through to the finish.

At the 5.5 mile point you will enter the iconic fishing village of Polperro, making your way around the harbour and back out onto the coast path. From that point on you have a 6.5 mile hike to the finish with plenty of elevation and a smattering of steep steps. Watch your footing as you come out of Polperro and take in the stunning views as you make your way past Lantivet & Lantic Bay before coming to the outskirts of Polruan.

This year the finish point is situated in Polruan Village Hall near the car park at the top of town as opposed to the Coal Wharf. The kettle will be on, biccies will be laid out on display (no there won’t be any choc covered hobnobs) and Lesley from Zenara Therapeutics will be there to aid you recovery.

Course GPX: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/327327925

We have medals for all, awards for the top finishers, free race photography, optional return transport & race tees available upon booking Plus those of you considering taking part in all 4 Saints & Smugglers Challenges will receive series points towards the overall challenge championship.

Registration is still open, detailed race day info will be emailed to all runners this coming Wednesday😊

14/02/2025

Cardinham 5k & 10k #7 - 'Back to Callywith' - This time its personal...

On Valentines day we would like to express our unwavering love for you all by revealing this years Cardinham Woods - Forestry England 5k & 10k route, now hear me out....

Yes at first glance it may appear that I am completely unhinged and hell bent on systematically destroying you all but there is indeed a vague method to my madness:

1 - Part of the normal 5k route will be closed for harvesting.
2 - I know you like a challenge & get bored easily.
3 - I have the attention span of a puppy.

We currently have just 55 spots left for this event on Sat 29th March. This is the final stage in the PGE Canicross championship sponsored by Non-stop dogwear with a presentation at the end and Stage 4 in the 2025 PGE Trail Running Championship.

Medals for all, awards for top finishers and Trophies for the top 3 Male & Female 5k & 10k Canicross Champions 2024 - 2025:)

Grab your spot here: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7233

12/02/2025

After Tehidy Country Park & Haldon Forest Park - Forestry England the PGE 5k & 10k Trail Running championship moves onto Siblyback Lake on the 15th March followed by Cardinham Woods - Forestry England on the 29th!

Sign up for Siblyback: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7127
Sign up for Cardinham: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7233

After two rounds the leader board looks like this:

5k Female
1st – Charoltte Tonks of – 32pts.
2nd – Charlene Wildman – 21pts.
3rd – Cath Willoughby, Catherine McBride – 20pts.
4th – Eleanor Jubb, Zoe Partridge – 19pts.
5th – Hayley Janaway – 18pts.

5k Male
1st – Oliver Meredrew of Falmouth Running Club – 39pts.
2nd – Nicholas Webb of WebbyCare – 35pts.
3rd – Damian Fletcher – 20pts.
4th – Benji Cottey, Patrick Metson – 18pts.
5th – Paul Angove of Cornwall Athletics Club, William Slatcher of Abbot Athletics – 17pts.

10k Female
1st – Rachel Forster, Nicky Saville of – 20pts.
2nd – Carla Leone, Victoria France – 19pts.
3rd – Molly Mcnamara-Langton, Laura Cowie – 18pts.
4th – Kate Pinnell, Freya Tomlinson – 17pts.
5th – Miriam Garrett, Ami Jewell – 16pts.

10k Male
1st – John Terry of Exmouth harriers – 20pts.
2nd – Matt Robinson – 19pts.
3rd – Troy Talor – 18pts.
4th – Oliver Anderson – 17pts.
5th – Gary Richards of Truro RC – 16pts.

The top 20 Male & Female finishers in both distances earn championship points! We have medals for all and awards for the top finishers with free race photography:)

Canicross welcome on both stages (Also stages in the PGE 5k & 10k Canicross Championship sponsored by Non-stop dogwear

11/02/2025

Looking for a race in Cornwall in March? We have 3 options for you:)

Sat 1st Mar - The Polruan Shuffle, 12 Miles of challenging coast path from Looe to Polruan. https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7089

Sat 15th Mar - The Siblyback Lake Twilight Run, 2.5k, 4.8k & 9.6k, Canicross welcome. https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7127

Sat 29th Mar - Cardinham Woods - Forestry England 2.5k, 5k & 10k, Canicross welcome:) https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7233

10/02/2025

🌳MARSHAL MONDAY!🌿

A massive thank you to the small army of marvellous marshals we had with us in the woods on Saturday!

Thank you to the marshals for braving the cold & for giving us your precious time 🙌🏼
Thank you to the sweepers for ensuring everyone got round the course safe & sound 🙏🏻
Thank you to the guys & gals on setup, reg, finish & pack down for all of your help in ensuring a smooth event from start to end 👌🏼

THANK YOU to you all for being the cheery & supportive faces that the runners saw out on the course, around the course & as they crossed the very welcome finish line! 😍

Superstars all of you 🤩

And one last big THANK YOU for helping us celebrate our 6th birthday! 🥳

Lots of love
Nic & Dave
💜

09/02/2025

09/02/2025

I’m not sure which sadistic Joker thought it was a good idea to throw in that last climb up into Callywith but if I find them, by Jingo I will be giving them a piece of my mind. New & improved for 2025 they said, downhill all the way they said, easy peasy lemon squeezy they said, pfft. Over the years the course has changed, sometimes due to harvesting occurring and restrictions to certain parts of the forest, but primarily to keep you guessing & induce high levels of anxiety through uncertainty. Yesterday’s new loop seemed to go down well, even with the ascent & descent of almost certain death towards the end.

We released the hounds at 8am & discharged the pack shortly thereafter, within 45 minutes the front runners appeared careening down the slope at the end of the first loop, 45 minutes later they were crossing the finish line! Race day was cold but not quite as Alaskanesq as had been forecast, for the 5th time this year we had somehow managed to stay in favour with Taranis, which seemed to please the majority of the herd. Some of the staff were issued school picnic style lunch bags with sundry freezing items within to help cheer them up. I say some, because apparently I was not deserving of any form of nutrition on race day but was eventually slipped a ‘Sympathy’ fun sized Banana by a concerned volunteer who was apparently fed up with my moaning. I am led to believe it’s all about who you know.

Well done to everyone who took on that course yesterday!

Special mentions for:

Half Marathon
Lloyd Milbourn – 1st Male, 1st Open Male setting the course record with a time of 1hr 35mins!
Rose Harvie of Newquay Road Runners – 1st Female, 1st Open Female setting the course record with a time of 1hr 49mins!
Tudor Rees – 2nd Male.
Fiona Gamble of Runners – 2nd Female, 1st vet40f.
Max Knightley of Wadebridge Running Club – 3rd Male.
Lily Tamblyn – 3rd Female.
Peter Hunt – 1st vet40m.
Steve Lye of Yeovil Town Road Running Club (Non-Members) – 1st vet50m.
Sarah Marvin of Okehampton Running Club (ORC) – 1st vet50f.
Andrew Lowerson – 1st vet60m.
Karen Eccles – 1st vet60f.
Janet Watson of Runners – 1st vet70f.

Half Marathon Canicross
Eirin McDaid plus Loki of Ranelagh Harriers – 1st Male, 1st Open Male setting the course record with a time of 1hr 31mins!
Katrina Venner plus Tilly – 1st Female, 1st vet40f setting the course record with a time of 2hrs 27mins!
Max Watkins plus Ripley- 2nd Male.
Di Luckhurst plus Badger - 2nd Female, 1st vet60f.
Jack Elworthy plus Hollie – 3rd Male.
Cassie Cannon plus Lani – 3rd Female.

Marathon
Joanna Temple of Truro Running Club – 1st Female, 1st Open Female setting the course record with a time of 4hrs 5mins!
Matthew Row of .Austell RC – 1st Male, 1st Open Male setting the course record with a time of 4hrs 8mins!
Amy Whell – 2nd Female.
James Maguire – 2nd Male.
Jaine Hynes – 3rd Female, 1st vet60f.
Gavin Rowett of – 3rd Male, 1st vet40m.
Louise Lowry – 1st vet40f.
Marv Hine of .Austell RC – 1st vet50m.
Tanya Baker-Gill of AC – 1st vet50f.
Patrick Munn of East Cornwall Harriers – 1st vet60m.

Marathon Canicross
Paul Grayston plus Toby of Canicross Cornwall – 1st Male, 1st vet60m setting the course record with a time of 4hrs 43mins!
Jill Blow plus Orca & Fell – 1st Female, 1st vet60f setting the course record with a time of 5hrs 39mins!
Michael Jones plus Louis – 2nd Male, 1st Open Male.

Congratulations all!
Full results here: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7215/results
Event photographs are up on our main page😊
We return to Cardinham on Sat 29th march for the 5k & 10k!
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7233

We would like to thank Forestry England, Cardinham Woods - Forestry England Rangers, Woods Cafe, Cardinham woods, Nr Bodmin, Cornwall, Brand88 Print & Design, Paul from Peninsula Medical, Photography, Your Event Supplier, Results Base, The Event Depot Keeley, Emma & Erin for registration, Robin for marking, parking, finish, set up & pack-down, Paula, Barry, Chris, & Emma for set up & the finish, Teresa, Tim, Rich & Lucy for sweeping, Steven, Lee, Lowen, Nicky, Julie O, Julie R, Bethan, Steve & Tom for marshalling, and of course you, constant runner, for joining us on our pre-birthday and trying out our new Cardinham Loop!

09/02/2025

Its our Birthday!! 6 years ago today we put on our very first Purple Gecko Events Trail Run - The Cardinham Twilight 5k & 10k on the 9th February 2019! Unfortunately, most of them didn’t survive, but through a combination of improvements to our safety procedures and sheer blind luck, thankfully the survival rate is much more moderately higher than it was back then before the war…

So here we are, several thousand unsuspecting runners,144 shadowyevents (3 virtual), umpteen weather warnings, and a plethora of mumbled incoherent race briefings later, back at Cardinham, where it all began.

What does the future hold for PGE? Considerably more spandex, AI powered autobots at race registration that will take a sample of your DNA from your nasal hair to confirm your identity before stapling your race bib to your abdomen and the opening of our new South American Offices in Bogota.

To celebrate this frilly iron milestone we are offering you this…..

60% off of 6 events, for 24hours only, starting at 0001am and finishing at 2359pm on Sunday 9th Feb, here they are:

Coast to Coast Copper Trail Sat 10th May – Code MONICA
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7245
Smugglers Bail Out Sat 28th June – Code ROSS
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7109
Scorrier House Gecko Gathering Sun 17th August – Code PHOEBE
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7243
Scorrier House Halloween Sun 26th October – Code RACHEL
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7253
Haldon Forest Park - Forestry England Halloween – Sat 1st November – Code CHANDLER
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7254
Cardinham Woods - Forestry England 5 & 10 Mile – Sat 22nd November – Code JOEY
https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7255

08/02/2025

The Cardinham Woods - Forestry England Half & Full marathon is underway ! Full results as they come in here: https://resultsbase.net/event/7215/results

08/02/2025

Good morning.
Get up.
You have that thing you said you were going to do.
See you Svalbard.

07/02/2025

Saturday 1st March.
12 Miles of scenic Cornish Coast path from Looe to Polruan.
1600 feet of Elevation.
Sunshine guaranteed*
A few bits with lovely steps.
1 checkpoint conveniently placed not at the half way point to keep you on your toes.
Free race photography where you can smile and not look out of breath.
Optional return transport to Looe.
Cup of tea & biccies waiting for you at the finish. (No gingernuts).

*Cornish weather terms & conditions apply.

The Polruan Shuffle: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7089