DRIVERS may have to reassess their route through Abingdon as packs of runners pound the roads.

The Abingdon Marathon will bring more than 1,000 racers to Tilsley Park on Sunday, which will see several roads shut to traffic.

Dunmore Road will be closed from the Wootton Road roundabout to the park from 8.30-9.30am, with the closure stretching round to Dunmore Road, Twelve Acre Drive and the eastern part of Radley Road through to Thrupp Lane.

Brook Street in Sutton Courtenay will be shut from the Church Street and High Street junctions - known to villagers as The Triangle - from 8.30am until 1.15pm, between which times Drayton Road in the village will also be shut up to the Milton Road turning.

Dunmore Road will be closed between Wootton Road and Tilsley Park from 11am until 2pm, with residents in side roads only able to turn left out of their houses towards the town centre.

Exceptions will be made for emergency services and residents who need access to their houses.

Oxfordshire County Council will put diversions in place through Radley and Kennington.

This year marks the 35th Abingdon Marathon, which has been organised by a committee of volunteers including those from Abingdon Athletics Club.

Race director Gary Richards said the organisation team is relaxed about letting traffic through as soon as it is safe to, and said it is likely the closures may be more flexible as long as the runners have cleared the road.

Anyone who wants to watch the runners as they pass can get a good vantage point along Lambrick Way and Wilsham Road.